Fei ji

I cannot even half believe that we came home from China one year ago! So much happened the last year it's nuts, but... it also flew by. I don't even understand where the last two years went, seriously.

I was just thinking about trying to explain to my young class of students (they were all ages 6-7) that I was leaving the next day and wouldn't be coming back. It went down something like this:

In my broken version of Chinese

Wo (I) fei ji (flying) mei guo (America) tomorrow. And i twitted my arms int he air like a little bird.
They all stared back at me. So I said it again, much slower. Then I said it in English, with the same movement. Then I said it slowly again in my version of Chinese. Finally, Phil (one of my most favorites, he was sooo cute and chubby and smart) got it. His eyes got really big and he shouted something in Chinese, and my whole class gasped and kept saying noooo and we were sad together.

Living in China was one of the happiest times of my life. Which boggles my mind, because I had almost zero access to the sun (thank you pollution), zero access to food i was used to (pig intestines just weren't doing it for me) and zero access to what i affectionately call a western toilet. But, I did have the cutest little Chinese kids in the world, the sweetest coworkers, and most importantly, Danny. Life was just so simple. No bills, no real expenses, no distractions.

It was so fun working all week and planning all week where we would travel on the weekend. It was fun taking long train rides through the chinese countryside to visit various destinations. It was fun making new friends everywhere we went. It was just dang fun. Chinese people are the kindest people in the world.

My plot for my return has begun.

My boy Phil (described above)