The long goodbye
Gak! Two-thirds of the month of June has passed! Ten days left to pack, clean and say farewell. Of course, I make it sound like a big deal, but really the packing and cleaning is proving to be relatively easy. Unlike, say, Sherri who has to clean and pack a whole big house, we only have have to deal with a two bedroom apartment and two years of accumulated clutter. It will still be a challenge to pack it all into eight suitcases, but accomplishing the task will be a rather quick process.Meanwhile, while the girls and I are cleaning, Yau Neih has been teaching her final classes and administering tests. It's been a surprisingly emotional experience. Not so much for us--we're of fine German stock and so sublimate our emotional extremes into headaches and ulcers and all that. No, it's the students who are shedding the tears. In each of the four classes that Yau Neih teaches, her last class has been a "bawl fest". (Of course, I think she shares part of the blame as she decided to sing a farewell song to them. Songs always tend to make folks emotional.) It's weird, you wouldn't think that she's had that big of an effect on the kids.
So anyway, we've got ten more days to take those last photos, swap e-mail addresses and shed a tear or two. It'll be interesting to see who stays in touch and who will drift away. In a amazing role switch, Yau Neih's been treating all the goodbyes as final ones while I tend to hold onto the optimistic maybe. She's quick to admit that "no, we won't be seeing you again." Me, I'll say that maybe we'll be back again someday. Intellectually, I know it would be a miracle if we even see two or three of these folks again. But then, ten years ago I was skeptical we'd ever be living in China.
posted by John @ 2:01 AM
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