(FINAL POST of 2012 Exchange) Last Stop Beijing

(Mel)

Hey!

So here we are in Beijing, the last stop on our two month long journey through China, and I for one can not believe I’m typing this sentence- the time really flew by. Making the switch from Hangzhou back into tourist-mode was not an easy one. Leaving Hangzhou to begin with was not something anyone enjoyed but I think we spent our final days in the city the right way. Thursday night was the banquet where we got the opportunity to thank everyone for everything they’ve done for us during our time in Hangzhou and we really could never have thanked everyone enough. I’m not sure how they all managed to make us feel so at home when we were really twelve timezones away from everything that we’re used to. Friday night we went to do some Karaoke again with all of the host siblings and Swan (from last year’s exchange group who my family hosted) which was a great final gathering of all of the hosts. Saturday we spent the entire day with our translator friends (the year three students who have applied to go to college in the US next year so they got to be our translators). Then sunday we were with our host families (I hiked up a mountain for some sight-seeing), and got on the train at 6:30 PM - leaving Hangzhou behind.

Goodbye Hangzhou, KTV and Tennis

(Allen)

If I had to sum up the second half of this Hangzhou experience, it would only consist of two words: KTV (karaoke) and tennis. KTV has become the go-to group event, while tennis has become the go-to family event. In the past week alone, we braved the KTV rooms twice and each time I discovered something new. Slowly and slowly, Jim (Andrew’s first host sibling) has gained notoriety for his femaleness. There are some duets where he can single-handedly tackle both the male and female roles, and often times singing the female lines better.