The Shanghai weekend was quite the success. However, It was not very beneficial for my sleep. As anyone who knows me well I do not bode well with sleeping in vehicles…never mind a train! We were on a sleeper train with hard beds to Shanghai…it was less than pleasant. We got there and started the girls weekend. We got to the hostel and dropped off our bags and then went to the spa. It was nice to all go out for a fun little outing like that. After that we were off to Tao Bao to do some shopping. I was on the hunt for jerseys, a dress for tia, and some gifts for home…all were successful, along with a few purchases for myself ;) Somehow Anneli and I (the girl who’s stagette we were going for) are always shopping/bargaining buddies…we don’t know if this is a good or bad thing, as we always end up bringing out the most bags :S
After shopping we got into our coloured outfits and trucker hats. We went out for a nice Thai dinner where Sanya had some games for us to begin with. Anneli had on a veil and white outfit, so we did cause quite the attention…and the fact that we were a group of 18 female foreigners always attracts attention as well. After dinner we went to a sports bar where many of us felt extremely old. I know, I’m young, but the people in this bar were all around 17-18…it was a little off putting. So, after Anneli completed some of her tasks on her list we went to the club we went to the last time we were in Shanghai. This was a much better scene…loud music, dancing, free drinks, what else could you ask for? The night ended with everyone in tack.
The next day we headed to Element Fresh, which is a western food restaurant. I know we’re coming home soon, but everyone always enjoys the comforts of home. After breakfast we were back to shop for pearls and silk gifts. I was quite successful with that as well. I got a bunch of pearls to give as gifts, silk scarves and some silk ties…Riley asked for colourful ones…I don’t think he realized what he was getting into! Once we were all shopped out I decided I needed to do something touristy in Shanghai, so we went to the bund and walked for a bit. After Annali took me to get authentic Shanghai soup dumplings. Once we were done we met up with the other girls on the later flight at the hostel and were on our way to the airport. It was weird that this would be my last flight into Wuhan. Driving home from the airport it really hit me that I was coming home soon. Shanghai was really our last big thing to look forward to before going home. The other weird thing is the fact that I’m starting to make plans with people back home! I can’t believe I’m almost there.
It was our day of teaching on Tuesday. My English class that I’ve had all year long were super cute. At the end of class I thanked them and made a little speech and they all clapped when I was done and then had this big photo shoot with all of them and their cell phones. I felt like a celebrity. This continued to happen in all the rest of my classes of the day. I took a class picture and they all took pictures with their cell phones with me. It was a good and sad feeling all at the same time. It was nice to complete my first year of teaching, but I’m sad to say goodbye to my students. They are the ones that have really made this experience for me.
We’ve started exams and I’ve supervised 3 and only have to do one more…I was the first teacher to hand in all my marks…so I’m pretty on top of things. I did some work for my course today and then helped the grade 11 English teachers mark their exams. I was the little scantron machine for them and marked all of their multiple choice questions so they could focus on the hard part, marking the writing. Now, I am sitting here writing my blog! I think I’ll probably write one more on my very last day of work here, as I know I’ll have no work to do. My desk is all cleaned out already….so yeah, fun times for me J
We’ve got a bunch of wrap up stuff planned with the staff this weekend, so that will be nice to have a little last hurrah with everyone.
Ok, I should stop procrastinating from my school work now! Until next time!
-Taryn
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