Last Day at Hanggao ... [LAST POST OF 2008 GROUP]

(Nick)

Before I talk about today, I must comment on last night's farewell banquet. It was so cool to see both of our host families, teachers, and friends together in one room - the energy was amazing. The food was delicious (of course) and there were many, many toasts throughout the meal. Drew, Emily, Cady, and I toasted both Madame Miao (the principal) and Lu Naichuan, the exchange coordinator. Madame Miao came over to each table and told our host families what she thought of us (according to her I am very handsome and my speech in Chinese was the best out of the four of us...HA). It was a great night and it was so hard to leave at the end.

Today was our last day at Hanggao. Jerry and I were a bit late to school, as usual, because Jerry overslept....rather than receiving detentions for being late too many times, students just get their name written down and they might be spoken to but most of the time they are just required to sing in front of their class!! There is definitely more trust between students and faculty...and it works. They never skip class, never leave class to go to the bathroom, and it is rare when a student is absent due to illness. I guess this is due to Hanggao requiring high marks on an exam to even be admitted, but it is pretty refreshing to see a school where everyone is in nearly perfect harmony. Anyways, this morning our papercutting class was cancelled because our teacher had a meeting, so instead we went to Free Mori and bought some delicious pastries, and also wrote our names on an apron that we later gave to our chef as a farewell gift. The next class we had was P.E., where we played badminton basically the entire time. We gave both of our P.E. teachers gifts, our male teacher a New England photography book and our female teacher a 2007 Grammy Nominees CD. We will miss both of them a lot....considering how much we have eaten here we might be needing them back in America after our families see just how much weight we've gained.

We then had our last Hanggao lunch. We presented our chef with the apron that we decorated, and then took a photo with him...he was very happy! All of our host siblings are very sad that its our last meal because once we leave, they will have to go back to eating the normal school food (which is apparently pretty bad). Patrick and Ella came into our room and we took some photos together. We walked out to English corner for the last time! I am really going to miss English corner, its definitely my favorite time of the day because we get to socialize! It's hard to socialize during the rest of the day since the students are so focused on their classes. It is also the only time we get to see Patrick, Ella, Frank, and Kathleen, the busy seniors...they have to sacrifice a lot each day to go to English corner when all their classmates are studying, and we are very grateful that they care so much about seeing us. English corner today consisted of LOTS of picture taking, email address exchanges, and presents! It was really overwhelming because there were so many people I wanted to talk with and take a photo with but not enough time! I tried my best to hug as many people goodbye as possible, take as many photos as possible, and yes, sing into one of my classmates recording devices so they will forever have my rendition of "I want it that way," by the Backstreet Boys. I will miss English corner so much...it feels like just yesterday that we had our first one! It is so fun to hang out with all the students at Hanggao without them having to worry about schoolwork (well, for the most part).

In the afternoon I took some time to write letters to Helen, Rose, and Derek, all English teachers that I have grown pretty close with and will miss a lot! The English department has been so hospitable...the 5 of us must be quite a pain to have in the English office but they have survived. I am going to miss Helen the most...she has basically been like a mother to us. Not only did she take Terry under her wing while we were in Hangzhou, but also us as well. She is so helpful and always so interested in us. I only wish I could've been at DS when she was the teacher of the Spring 2004 Chinese delegation. Four years later, and she still has a Dover-Sherborn nalgene water bottle and a DSMS sticker in her cubicle. She clearly got so much out of her time in the U.S. and her way of giving back is always being there for us! It is people like her that make me realize just how life-altering this exchange really is. I hope that I can see her again sometime in the near future! I am definitely going to miss her smiling face every morning at Hanggao.

After school I played badminton with some of my old classmates from Class 1. I'd really missed playing with them, as it had been 2 weeks since I switched host brothers, so it was really nice to be with them again! However, once we were done playing, it meant I had to say goodbye to all of them which was really sad. I hope to come back to Hangzhou sometime in the next couple years, but you never know, and although email is great, the prospect of not seeing them is too hard to bear!

We met at the school gate at around 5 PM, where we were joined by Patrick, Ella, and Baker. We went to our favorite Japanese restaurant near the school for a quick dinner before Patrick had to leave for more classes. Speaking of Patrick, I am pretty sure he is the Chinese version of me. We have a lot in common and even though I've only known him for 5 weeks, I would consider him one of my best friends. I think I will probably miss him the most out of anyone in Hangzhou, just because its not everyday that you meet someone who is exactly like you, and it will be hard to be so far away from him. I know he is someone that I will always keep in touch with, though, and hopefully our paths will cross sooner rather than later. Anyways, after a Japanese dinner and Patrick's departure, we took a public bus to Xihu (West Lake). We walked around for a bit, which was nice with the warm breeze. We went to Starbucks and sat around talking for a good 2 or 3 hours! It was glorious. At around 10 PM, we took taxis home (which is actually a hard task, vacant taxis are hard to find), and Baker dropped me off at my host families apartment complex. Since this was the last time I was seeing Baker, I hugged him goodbye. Baker was such an important part of our days at Hanggao, considering he was the translator for all of our teachers. He is probably the nicest, most warm-hearted person I know. I will miss him so much.

Tomorrow is our last full day in Hangzhou. Today was definitely pretty emotional though, since Hanggao has become so important to us in the last 5 weeks. It is hard to believe that it is basically all over. This exchange has changed my life in so many ways. But when I say exchange, I guess its really just the people involved that have changed my life. I am definitely going to miss living in China a lot, but most of all, I am going to miss all the people that I have connected with. I can't imagine my life without these people and I hope that this is just the beginning of a lifetime of friendships. As I transition back into Dover-Sherborn High School next week I will always carry with me the many unique experiences of my time in China. This was the best decision I ever made in high school, and no matter how stressful, tiring, and sometimes, awful high school was, my 2 months in China are what I will always remember when I think of high school. I wouldn't trade this experience for the world. Thank you DS (but mainly Viz) for giving me this opportunity.

See y'all in the USA! We will be arriving Tuesday night and I am totally going to school on Wednesday to see everyone. Zaijian Zhong guo, Ni hao Mei guo!

Yang Ni Ke