Goodbye Xi'an!

I actually said 再见 to Xi'an on October 22nd.  Whoops.  I'm a bit behind.

The last weekend of classes was nice.  At the end of each class the Chinese teacher told the students I was leaving and introduced the new teacher who had been sitting in the corner during class.  Some of the students did genuinely seem a bit disappointed I was leaving.  A couple asked if I would remember them. 

On my last night in my apartment I went upstairs to have dinner with my friend / Chinese teacher from my first school. I rented my apartment from her uncle.  Her husband made us a wonderful dinner and gave me a box of the tea he always makes me when I visit.

On my last night in Xi'an work had a dinner for the A+ staff and teachers.  It was at a German buffet restaurant (that serves Chinese food) and the beer was all you could drink.   Yikes.

After dinner I went to a bar to say bye to my foreign friends. 

I was surprised at how sad I was saying bye and leaving Xi'an.  I had finally settled in and found a group of people I really enjoyed hanging out with.  I came a long way during my 21 months in China.  I surprised myself by loving the language and studying became my main focus.  As I could understand more and more of what my students said they became real kids and I looked forward to having class with (most of) them.  I also grew as a person in so many ways that I wouldn't have if I hadn't spent all 21 months in China. 

My next stop was Thailand.....