My bags are packed. My roommate has gone. I've said many good-byes and see you in Septembers. My time in China is at an end, and it has been unequivocally fantastic.
Today was a day that I had set aside for packing, sleeping, and travel preparations, but being the insanely obsessively organized person that I am, I actually ended up having nothing to do today. I woke up at 6:45, which was not a great start, and there was a note from Andrea outside my door and a woman inspecting her room. When I couldn't fall back asleep, I watched some videos on YouTube and the one episode of BBC's Sherlock that I own while I rested and reclined.
Around noon, I decided to leave my room. I contacted a friend for whom Andrea left a phone card, and we met up outside for the handoff. I ended up taking the elevator with another girl from my program, Grace, and she was making plans for both lunch and dinner, which I joined. For lunch, we went to a steamed bun shop down the street from our dorm, and I had the tofu strips cold dish. This is my new favorite kind of tofu. It is a lot like a noodle, but it is tofu. My favorite preparations are when it is treated like a noodle or used to wrap vegetables like sushi. Anyway, I ate with Grace, Pooja, Feifei, Brian, Matthew, and Victoria.
After lunch, we stopped at the bakery for some final sampling of Chinese pastry, which I had yet to do. I got an egg tart and something filled with red bean paste, both of which were small tastes, sweet and delicious. At that point, Matthew and I decided to make a trip to the Silk Market for him to do his souvenir shopping and the rest of our lunch group went for manicures.
I really like talking with Matthew because he always has something interesting to say. Amid the talk of bargaining and which items to get, we discussed how to read people, views on souvenirs, seeing our families, and what we look forward to upon our return home. It was a really nice, peaceful time, but I think the fact that it was The End, the last shopping trip, the last chance for an adventure or story, was hanging over us a little and coupled with the rain, it was also a little sad in the nostalgic kind of way.
We got back at 4:45, which was just enough time for a decent rest before meeting up at 6:30 for dinner. My language partner, Helen, joined the group, which was really great because I wanted to see her one more time before going home. She went home herself for a few weeks, so I'm happy she returned to Beijing today because the timing worked out really well to see her again.
The group took the subway two stops to the Haidian Mall shopping area (near Carre-Four). It was later than anticipated, so we changed our plans and ate at a Taiwanese restaurant called Bellagio. My small table ordered a garlic ginger chicken (it was unexpectedly cold rather than hot), Chinese broccoli, and eggplant (my favorite, as always) as our dishes, and we had beef fried rice. Taiwanese desserts are a specialty, and I shared a chocolate ice with Helen.
I really loved being together as a large group for the last time, but I particularly liked getting to spend one more dinner with Helen. She has been the kindest language partner I could have asked for, and I am so grateful that she is my friend. I got to give her my broom, so I'm glad that went to someone who will use it, and as we said good bye in the foyer of my dorm room, there were endless hugs and promises to stay in touch. Really, we will, because there is a lot of geography between us, but I do care about what happens to her. We really did become great friends in the short time that we've known each other, and I appreciate how lucky I am to know her.
On the subway ride home, one of the guys was emphasizing the lastness of it all, and it was making me have a lot of feelings. I think he was trying to get me to react and possibly cry, but since there's such a mix, I just end up flapping my arms and ranting about feelings. It's all okay; I will be coming back to China, so it's not a true good bye, just the end of this particular trip with this particular group of people. I will miss them a lot, but I will see the majority in six weeks, and the others have e-mail as well.
I made my final run to the C-Store to get some food for tomorrow's breakfast and plane rides, then I finished my e-mails and went to bed before my early start to a long day of travel. I actually live the day twice because of the way I cross the international date line, so that's extra fun. I'm looking forward to the family hugs on the other end.
Today is awesome because I got to see my 中国朋友 one more time, have some great conversations, and spend my last day of Study Abroad in China with lovely people doing relaxing things.
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