Day Eight — The Last Full Day

By this time, I was getting sort of homesick. I woke up and China was outside my window, but I really missed my wife and Lean Pockets. Chinese food is good and all, but it can get old like anything else you do each day. I was enjoying each day and for that matter, every moment, but I longed for the comforts of home where I was king (note to self: erase that part before my wife reads it). I loved being around the combined cohorts and loved being in China, but there really is no place like home. While I longed for home, I also knew that once I got back home, I’d miss every moment of China and wish I could be back there for longer to experience more of what that great country had to offer.

 Starting off this, the last of our full days in this glorious country, we woke up early to make our way to yet another international school. While the other school was nice and quaint in its own little way, this school looked much more professional as it was housed in a large building of around five stories tall, complete with a nice playground outside. Of course, once we made our way past the security gates and inside the building, we were able to see just how nice this school really was. With a nice gym on the top floor of the building, complete with basketball courts, a rock-climbing wall and a dodgeball area, which gave me the chance to hit Midge with a ball while she wasn’t paying attention. She shook her fist at me, but I think that’s just how short people express gratitude.

 After leaving the school, which had more kids, teachers and other faculty that spoke English fluently, we made our way to a place that several of us had been clamoring for for quite a while – a place to buy knockoffs of all of our favorite brands. We didn’t get more than a few steps inside before getting sucked in to a small shop where they had knockoffs of many top brands, including Polo, LaCoste and other brands which cost too much for my anemic bank account back home to endure. This part of the trip sort of highlighted one of the great memories I’ll take away from China – the bargaining with vendors to try and get the best price possible, followed by the bragging of the price you were able to get down to to whomever would be willing to listen to your exploitive victory. Here, in this tiny strip mall on a small street in Shanghai, we went to work trying to get the best deal possible on knockoffs throughout the mall. Starting off at 10% or so of the asked-for price, we tried our best to get the lower prices possible on tennis shoes, t-shirts, jewelry, watches, sunglasses, DVDs and more from the various vendors within the confines of this mall.

After this shopping trip, we concluded our tour with a boat ride which was simply marvelous. Coasting along at a nice clip with raindrops hitting the boat and river alongside of us, we sat back for a while watching the magnificent view of Shanghai buildings that was compounded by a slight mist that was created by the rain and simply enjoyed the view. Of course, we were also able to enjoy a little bit of music and dancing on the first floor as well as a way to have fun and escape the rain at the same time.

Afterwards, we concluded our final night by heading back to the hotel a final time. Of course, we had to wake up early in order to pack and head out to the airport or risk staying in China for the rest of our lives. We all said good-bye to each other, save for myself, Jorge, Jill, Jairo, Lily, Molly and Dan who agreed to meet in the lounge a little later where we sat and talked for a good portion of the night. It was a great final day to end our final full day in China, sitting back and talking about the cultural differences between our countries, how much we would miss China but also how nice it was going to be to be back home at the same time. A little while later, the hotel closed up the lounge, leaving us in this slightly-dim area to ourselves, the last of the group. It was a little surreal. These people had become very close to me and it was a little upsetting to know that a few hours later, the trip would be over.