Our Very Last Day in Hangzhou

(Caitlin)

So today is our very last day in Hangzhou. That is a really weird sentence to write, this feels completely bizarre. Saying goodbye to my host family this morning was just really, kind of unexpectedly, sad. Saying goodbye to my first host family was weird enough, but I’ve seen Willow in the past few weeks since, so it wasn’t goodbye forever. This time, especially since my host sister, Lei, was sick this morning and unable to come to school, it is for good. She promised to email me, and we’re definitely going to stay in touch, but I’ll miss John and Mary, my host parents (those are their English names, obviously). The thing about host families is that they made me feel so at home, and both of my host families were so kind and went so out of their way to be so welcoming, that the little box of Salem Gibraltar’s and sea glass bracelet I brought over for gifts seem kinda dinky.


But, on the other hand, we’re going to Beijing, and then home in a few days! This trip has been all kinds of awesome, which anyone reading this already knows, but we’re all pretty tired at this point, and I know I’m looking forward to seeing my family and friends when I get home. So in that bittersweet frame of mind, we start our last day at Hanggao!

Before that happens, though, I’m going to take a moment to fill you guys in on some of this past week. Last Monday, at around 1:30 (after English corner), the whole group was taken out for dinner and a nice relaxing day around West Lake with a friend of an old business associate of my mom’s, John Chen. I was just as surprised as the rest of the group when Ms. Lockrow got an email from my mom telling us that John wanted meet us, but we all agreed, and it was pretty fantastic.

First we went to Lingyin Temple, just near West Lake one of the largest Buddhist Temples still standing in China, which was incredible. There are about eight separate buildings on the grounds, and the ground are an extensive park with old grottos carved with hundreds of Buddha’s, though their faces had been smashed off during the Cultural Revolution by the Red Guard. It was one of the most beautiful places we’d been in Hangzhou, so I’m really glad we got to see it.

It was pretty hot out, so we all went for a short iced-coffee break at a Starbucks nearby (I was happy with this turn of events), before spending the next few hours till dinner walking around a handful of other beautiful places (including the gardens of the Four Seasons, which were nothing short of idyllic), and talking.

The rest of the week passed pretty quickly, with all of us heartily enjoying the best weather we’ve seen here (blue skies, mid to high seventies, perfection), but I think I can speak for all of us when I say that we’re going to miss it here. Well that, and we have a lot of schoolwork to make up when we get home, so may as well enjoy the quiet now!

Goodbye Hanggao, you’ve been great.