It is the last day of life in YiZhuang. I am moving out of the apartment in the morning. Then it is one week of living at the hotel where all of the new teachers have been held up for the last ten days and then I am off. It is odd to think that in just 24 hours Simon, TJ and James will be replacing Beth, Mark and I, this has been my home and now I leave which means this year in Beijing really is over. It has changed me, challenged me and will me with a stronger sense of myself and what I am capable of.
But there isn’t a lot of time to dwell on these things or be too sad about the end. I am also only nine days away from Part 2 of my Chinese Adventure, Part 1 being over now and better than I could have ever hoped for. My big suitcase and just about everything I own in China is being stored at Mark and Lindsay’s new apartment which I will be crashing at when I come back through Beijing before flying home. Yesterday was the marathon day of final prep before the trip.
First off a note on Chinese Trains. You CANNOT purchase tickets no more than 10 days before departure and can only purchase them in the city of departure. This means you can hope for the ticket you want if you get there first thing in the morning on the first day available. If not you are at the mercy of what is left. After Tibet it is this second option that I will be using (not by choice of course but that is just how you do things in China, and after a year here I know that no use trying to reason it or change it, just go with it…TIC). So fingers crossed everyone that we are able to get the tickets that we need as we work our way around China.
Yesterday was ten days until Tibet and so we woke at 5:30 a.m. and headed to the Beijing West Train Station (there are 4 stations just in Beijing) to be there as the windows opened to buy our tickets. Permits in hand and Chicka our local friend on speed dial for translation issues we waited in line.
The trip there being three days we had decided to fork out for the soft sleeper of which there are only 50 to begin with on the train. Get up to the window and are told “mei yu” (don’t have). OK we will take a hard sleeper. Can we have a lower bunk? No, all that are left are the upper 3rd shelf bunks. On the up side we saved some major yuan by getting these tickets. Of course at this point we were not too concerned about the type of seat just getting the ticket was the priority. Our permits are very specific what days we get there and what day we leave. We needed to make sure we were booked on the train for August 31st! Got back to the apartment at 10 a.m. Pack, Pack, PACK! Then move everything across the city. After the move we treated ourselves to a good drink on the 65th floor of the Hyatt. Having rained Saturday for 24 hours the view was amazing! To sit and identify locations all around the city, reflect on the year here and look forward to the weeks ahead was a great way to spend the early evening.
It was a great weekend, and bittersweet. The hardest part of the weekend though was knowing that Joan was walking down the aisle and I could not be standing beside her on one of the happiest days of her life. I know that she and Mike will have a lifetime of happy memories to share, but to miss this one was hard. Congratulations Ponie, you were in my thoughts here in China.
Tibet here I come!
