The Last Hurrah

Only a week left in Yichang! There's still so much I'd like to do, but we have so little time. I don't know how the other Canadians feel, but I personally wouldn't mind staying longer!

When we were finishing up our work placements last week, I went to the University to help Natasha out with her final exams for one of her classes. That was real interesting! The students had about five minutes to read an article on Halloween, and then I just had to ask them a few questions to get them talking. The mark that I gave them was 50% of their total mark, so I felt a bit crummy afterwards because I gave some students a pretty low mark. Didn't fail anyone though (unlike Natasha).

After that there was a HUGE goodbye party for our group. It was incredible - the whole school was out watching in the bleachers, and the students had prepared various dances, shows, and songs. There were decorations, dressed up MCs, camera crew... Quite professional. Some of the acts put on for us included a fashion show that had traditional costumes from all of the minorities in China, a hip-hop dance, a girl who sang 'Hey Jude', and even the Ba Shan in which we all got up on stage and danced with them. The participants who worked at the University also prepared a little presentation. Steph and Vince read poems, and Natasha demonstrated the magic chair game (I'll have to show everyone when I get home). And somehow... I got suckered into singing a Chinese pop song. Yup. With a microphone, in front of hundreds of people, all by myself... I got up and sang a song not even in my own language. I still can't really believe I did that - hearing my voice on the speakers made me cringe... And the funny part was, after the show was over, so many people ran up to me and asked for my picture or email address! Hahaha... Too funny. Awesome night though.

Last weekend my host family and I went to the Three Gorges, but this time we took a cruise up the Chang Jiang on our very own boat. Just my family and a few other friends they invited. The sun was out and the sky was so blue. I had so much fun with Hu Song just kicking back and watching the beautiful scenery. My host dad is working on a video he is making me to take back to Canada. It's a compilation of all the trips we have gone on before, and in the next while he is going to film 'A Day in the Life of Joe'.

Right now we are in the middle of 'De-Briefing' and 'Re-Entry', where we reflect on everything we have done in China, and prepare ourselves for what is to come in Canada. Hu Song and I are actually the Vice-Supervisors, so we have been pretty busy the last while. We're all planning a goodbye party for our host families, which we just found out is going to be at a big hotel. Everything there is provided for us free of cost, and in exchange, we have to help them promote the Hotel. Yup, it's going to be one big promotional event... But we needed to do something special for our families, and they really aren't asking for much. Plus, there is karaoke there... So it's going to be a blast.

My picture website is updated with the trip to Three Gorges, our Halloween party, and a few from my Tae Quan Do class.

Hope all is doing well in Canada, Thailand, Australia, Mexico... All those countries my friends and family are living in right now. Talk to you all later!

-Joe