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6/8/2005

Today was the day to say goodbye. The DUFE students came in and out trying to bid farewell and gave us presents. It was hard to image in such short period of time we became so close. When two groups of people with such different backgrounds met, ordinarily it would take a long time just for warming up for each other. This time was rather different. Both groups were excellent, open and adaptive. I would make a bold assertion that they were not typical Americans or Chinese, respectively. The American side changed their Chinese counterparts’ perceptions of Americans and the Chinese side changed their American counterparts’ perceptions of Chinese. One of the DUFE students said she thought sometimes the SU students were not Americans. This summarized the unique experience the best.

While packing, I entertained some of students in my room Vivian, Tracy, Biscuit, Sharon, and Jessie who came over and gave me some nice gifts. Sharon wrote me a note and asked me to read it during the train ride. Later, Rose, Cui and Michael also dropped by. They made my packing more fun. I normally don’t enjoy packing.

The DUFE students helped us load the bus and nearly all of the class came over to say goodbye. Cliff, Tammy and Wesley who came to airport to pick us up were also there to see us off. It took a while for us to hug each other. About 15 of them including Cliff, Tammy and Wesley came with us to the train station. Without their help, dragging our luggage to the train was near impossible. After loading our compartments, they were ready to leave. Again, another round of hugs. While saying goodbye Jessica gave me her uncle’s phone number in Beijing in case of emergence. What a nice gesture! They really did all they could to help us.

Just a few minutes after they left, we started to miss them already.

posted by Unknown @ 4:43 PM