July 16 | Wuhu, Anhui

3:01 PM - Lao shi Minh says hello from the classroom with the kiddies! Day 2 of the Wuhu conference and my energy is pretty much drained but when you’re in China, you just keep on going! Looking back at the past 3 conferences, it’s mind blowing how different each group of students can be. Unlike my first two groups, whom were very young, this is my oldest batch of students (most of them are 18). I thought having an older group would be much less challenging than a younger one, but boy how I am wrong. It’s not about the age, it’s all about their English level – although some kids may have been 14-15, their English level surpasses some of these seniors! Never have I ever been more appreciative of communication in fluent English… it is astounding how difficult communicating the most basic things are – you definitely take it for granted back at home. Something as basic as asking a store merchant where a certain product is may take a good 10 minutes, versus the 10 seconds that it would take back in Canada (for example, went to the pharmacy to ask about a cream for my mosquito bites and was presented with a box of pills with a picture of a bug on the front cover… ya, no). Trust me, when I say it is draining, it is draining but definitely valuable experience. In general, the language barrier that we have experienced in the last 3 weeks is definitely an eye-opening experience that makes me respect exchange students so much more. Imagine moving to Canada, with minimal English knowledge and expected to pass the exact same BBA courses that us native-born are already struggling with – cannot even imagine.

Don’t get me wrong, these occasional moments of frustration all melts away when we see how collectively incredible these kids are. For example, yesterday was a rough day for me as I felt like I couldn’t get through to my kids – definitely one of the lowest points of the trip. Though when we hosted our ‘talent show’ at night, my heart was literally blown up into pieces seeing a line up of +20 students belt out the most beautiful Chinese ballads and even the kiddos in grade 6 knew every single world. Absolutely amazing to hear and see – definitely an unforgettable Wuhu memory. (Also, I think I convinced one of my students that I’m actually Chinese as I sang along to their rendition of Michael Wong’s ‘Fairytale’ LOL).

 Where did the past 3 weeks ago!? To think we only have less than a week left in China is heartbreaking. Before this trip, I thought by this time I would be anxious to go home but – again – I was wrong. Yeah, there are certain things that I miss about being home but this is too great of an experience to not want to continue to experience. Aside from family and friends, here’s of list of things that I do miss, dearly:

• The confidence that every washroom will have toilets and not a hole in the ground/not having to carry around tissue or toilet paper with me everywhere I go.
• Waterloo’s shawarmas. Nom. Oh, and sushi.
• Easy access of Internet/WiFi
• Driving! (but having a driver here is pretty sweet too…)
•  Access to my entire wardrobe… (#FWP)

July 14 | Wuhu, Anhui

11:20 PM - Woke up in Beijing, going to bed in Wuhu and am absolutely on cloud nine. Guess we were really saving the best for last. Pretty sure everyone’s jaw hit the ground when we pulled up to ACCSC (Anhui Concord College of Sino Canada). Stellar campus. Olympic sized swimming pool, clock tower, water fountains, gorgeous new buildings… everything is perfect. From those who went last year, we heard we don’t need to share a bedroom anymore, but when we got here, I don’t think any of us expected to each get our own apartment suite. My suite has two separate bedrooms, a kitchen, living room and two balconies… unnecessary for one person, but I am not even close to complaining. Seeing that we booked a hostel for Shanghai, it’ll be nice to get one last lapse of luxury before we re-do HK style for the last leg of the trip haha. All the girls are close by too, so I foresee us continuing our new tradition of kimono parties from Beijing ;).

Tomorrow is the beginning of the end as it will be the first day of the last conference. It’s not even our first day of school plus we’re the teachers yet I always feel a tinge of nervousness for the start of each conference! You never know what to expect – tomorrow we all get a new group of kids and fittingly, Wuhu has the largest group of conference goers to-date… in a way, Shenzhen and Beijing were practice runs for this massive one of over 60 people! Praying to the heavens that there will be some angels in the group (flashback to Shenzhen… it almost made me never want to have kids). Each school has its own unique qualities that makes it charming in such different ways – Shenzhen was like a vacation resort, Beijing was more of a small, intimate experience and I am assuming that what makes Wuhu special is its grandeur. Excited to see what tomorrow brings – lao shur Minh is ready to do this one more time ;) (translation: teacher).

It is astonishing how it’s almost midnight and I’m wide-awake, seeing we flew today By the way, Beijing airport is absolutely gorgeous. You know I have a thing for airports and Pearson was always the Holy Grail of airports. Sorry, Pearson. You have been dethroned. Actually, come to think of it, it’s amazing how none of us have hit rock bottom or burnt out yet considering how much we’ve done in combination with the lack of sleep. I can honestly say I can get used to this go-go lifestyle – this experience has changed my entire outlook on ‘productivity’ as it is mindboggling how much you can do in 3 weeks, but you can go 3 weeks back home with accomplishing nothing close to significant. Going back to Canada, I definitely want to upkeep this ‘milking your time’ attitude – some things will definitely change for the better.

Lasting words: be present. If you’re always searching and looking for more, you will always miss all the great things that are currently on your plate. It took me awhile (aka 2 weeks into the trip) for it to finally hit me that I am in China. So trying to remind myself every single day that there is no better time than here and now.

July 14 | In the clouds, Beijing

12:32 PM - Another farewell, another flight. Currently on the plane making our way from Beijing to our next destination – Anhui (Wuhu). Why don’t I ever learn my lesson to charge my devices!?!? Part of that blame should go towards the lack of working outlets – (this seems to be a reoccurring theme in Beijing, so those back in Canada, please appreciate electricity haha). Scratch the inkling of skepticism in the last post. Beijing is absolutely beautiful. Every goodbye seems to get harder and harder and I can’t even begin to imagine how difficult it will be to say farewell to Shanghai, our last destination. Last night, Rachel (she was pretty much our go-to, English speaking liason/tour guide/Chinese mother for the week) took us out for our last, (very authentic) meal in Beijing (peking duck and beers if you were wondering). We all went around the table to say what our impressions were of China thus far, and it really struck me hard that 1) holy shit, we are in China and 2) the second farewell means we only have one more conference to go. Last night was definitely the definition of bittersweet. When the driver dropped us off back at the school, this was our last chance to say goodbye to Rachel and I was definitely more emotional than I expected. Not going to lie, I shed some tears as I hugged her goodbye – it was a mix of saying farewell to someone who you may never, ever see again and realizing that this is the end of another incredible chapter of this trip.

I haven’t done this for either Shenzhen or Beijing, but I thought it would be kind of neat to write out what my expectations are for Wuhu before we actually land, and then compare what it is actually like at the end of the week. From what we are hearing, ACCSC’s campus is the newest of the three and from looking at photos and floor plans, we cannot be more excited to see this spectacle of a campus. I have a thing for modern architecture and design so I am hoping and praying that this will be a sight to the eyes!

July 11 | BCCSC, Beijing

Hi friends, currently sitting in the school library during the lunch break where students always get 2-hours for. To see how intensive education is in China makes you really appreciate how easy you have it back home. School days are literally 12 hours here, hence why the long breaks. Once a day, the intercom system would blast some incredibly creepy, eerie song accompanied by some female voice for a good 5 minutes. I asked my students what that was and its an ‘exercise break’ for their BRAIN and it comes on once a day. The voiceover is telling the students to do some exercises to rub their eyes and massage their temples… what is this. Some things I will never understand. Then again, a lot of weird things happen here and you definitely get desensitized. For example, one of the students has a casual pet snake he carries around in his pocket. Guess what made a surprise appearance in class yesterday? I shall upload photos of the sheer look of terror on my face. BUT. You will be proud of me as I held it… twice. Border line about to pass out, but so proud of myself for going through with it (after a couple minutes of screaming and others trying to physically restrain me, of course).

Since today is the last day of the conference, we’re already thinking about our game plan for the weekend. BCCSC (the boarding school that we are staying/teaching at) is located on the outskirts of core Beijing so we don’t really have much to do after the day is done here. However, we do have our own driver to take us into the city on the weekend so tomorrow, we’re off the see the Great Wall of China! As cool as it is to do all the touristy things, to be completely honest, it’s the little things that I enjoy the most. For example, one of my favourite things about this trip so far is being immersed in an every day lifestyle that is so different than ours – for example, as dumb as this sounds, one of the highlights of my week was something as basic as walking to the market in the pouring rain. Although this is an extremely wealthy school, the roads around it aren’t paved so we were walking through pools of rainwater and mud, our clothes were soaking wet, and I didn’t have an umbrella so I just wrapped a scarf around myself – and I absolutely love it. We are so used to living in such a developed city and take our infrastructure for granted, forgetting that not everyone lives the same way we do. Don’t get me wrong, I’m super excited to see all the sites but nothing will be as memorable as the little details that will make this trip worthwhile. (Minus the washrooms here, one thing that I will never miss, ever again.)

Almost time to go back to class. I am absolutely in love with my kids. I had a really (k, really is an understatement) roudy group of kids last week, and their English wasn’t as developed as these guys are, so this week was definitely a breeze in comparison. It’s really touching to talk to them and listen to their life goals and wishes – for being so young, they already want so much in life and are already planning life beyond China. Since SCCSC is positioned as a school that combines Chinese and Western education, all of these students will be applying to overseas universities upon their graduation. Not a doubt in my mind that they will grow up to be incredibly intelligent, seasoned individuals and jet set around the world. :’) So proud.

On a sadder note, I don’t know where the time has gone. I think I am in major denial of how far we are into the trip… I genuinely believed we were on Day 8, when Graeme corrected me saying that we were on Day 12 (I refuse to believe this). Shenzhen felt 4x longer than the Beijing conference but all the content and even our schedule was identical. It could be a couple things – since we already ran all of this content once, we have a better gage of how it runs the second time around. The English level of these students is exponentially better than last weeks, so in comparison, it feels like we barely need to lift a finger here. Also, since the school is located in a more remote area, there is absolutely nothing to do at night so it feels like we live in this micro-bubble since every night is pretty much the same.

It’s hard to say whether or not I liked Beijing or Shenzhen better – both are incredibly beautiful cities in completely different ways. Since the trip is so long, we are starting to feel really accustomed to living here and we have created a new norm. With that said, most of the time it doesn’t even feel like we are in China and you forget that you’re actually going to go home. As normal as every day feels now, I’m still trying to remind myself and how much of a blessing this is to be able to experience what we get to do every single day.

July 9 | BCCSC, Beijing

6:10 PM - Sitting in the school cafeteria and just finished another (amazing) Western dinner. As nice as it is to eat authentic Chinese food for the past couple of weeks, I can’t complain about the North American food that this school serves. Such a nice break from random animal body parts (half kidding) ;). It’s scary how fast the conference flies by the second time around. Wishing it would slow down a bit – sometimes I miss home but as soon as I remind myself that I’m in China, makes you never want to leave.