The End --Nina

Our last day of school was last Monday (per usual, we found out when finals were four days beforehand), and I left Yongfeng for the last time (for now!) on Tuesday afternoon. The school held a send-off party for us, in which various teachers and student representatives gave adorable speeches about us, and we received lots of cards and little presents. The homeroom teachers were in charge of getting the kids organized to do this, and my classes' homeroom teachers were a little last minute about all of this. But, my kids still got together lots of little things for me by themselves, from homemade cards that I'm not allowed to open until I'm back in the US, to cell phone charms and glow-in-the dark bracelets. Most importantly, I have everyone's contact information (screen names and phone numbers), so when/if my kids have internet access, we can still be in touch!

The dean giving a speech about us at our send-off party

Abby and I pulled another (almost) all-nighter on Sunday night, getting together our goodbye gifts for the kids. We had taken a picture with each of our students individually, so we printed those out and wrote personal notes and certificates for each kids. We also gave everyone a goody bag full of candy, pens, playdo, and stickers.

We spent all of Tuesday packing up and cleaning our rooms for next year's fellows. We also had the glorious task of cleaning an extra bedroom where every past fellow has been throwing their unwanted stuff for the past four years. Since there will be four fellows next year, we need that room, so we sorted through everything and tried to put things in organized boxes!

That week also marked the last days at Yongfeng for the 6th graders. We threw them a little graduation party. I put them in charge of the schedule of events, MC-ing, and music. It ended up being a karaoke party with lots of fun party games. We also ate the American candy that their pen pals had sent them. There were a fair amount of kids crying at the end, when we all sang "Pengyou" (Friend) together, a classic Chinese song about friendship and supporting each other. It seems like they really appreciated what a special place this school has been to them for the past six years.

The 6th graders showing off their American presents

The boys acting like flirtatious women during some party game that I don't quite understand, since the kids organized it

Pipe cleaner decorations! (It's supposed to say Graduation Party, in a mixture of Chinese and English.)

Their homeroom teacher, singing them off to middle school

I have been getting choked up over everything and anything this past month (watching the kids leave school at the end of the day, listening to my 6th graders randomly break out in song together during art class, writing this blog post, seeing my 4th grade girls cry when they were informed of the exact date of my last day, looking at various pictures, etc). While there have been many rough aspects of this year that I cannot wait not to have to worry about soon (water outages, repetitive and bland meals, late-night lesson planning, and visa problems, to name a few), leaving Yongfeng for the last time was a very sad occasion. This has been harder on me emotionally than leaving college was. My students have become like family to me (as has Abby, who will also be hard to part with!), and I will miss them dearly. We gave our students our American and Chinese phone numbers, and both of us have been receiving random calls in the past week, which gives me hope that we will manage to stay in touch with some of them.

Next year, our program will be sending four fellows to Yongfeng, and I cannot wait to see what they do for our school and to support them as much as I can! I'm currently traveling around China with Abby and my two cousins who came to visit, and I have a few odds and ends to tie up to help get ready for next year's teachers, then I'm officially done with the year on July 15th, when I fly back home. But, I know will be back someday, hopefully before my 4th graders graduate! Thank you to everyone who has been reading my blog all year and supporting me from afar. I will see you in America!