Always the silver lining
As I made my way back from Kunming, Yunnan’ s provincial capital, I felt tired and dejected. I had travelled three hours to see an English speaking doctor and the traffic was delaying the journey home to five hours.
I had stayed in the city overnight with the most helpful lady, Kelly, who works for the volunteer organisation I have come with, we watched a film on an actual sofa and I got a really good night’s sleep. After my Chinese phone ran out of money I was essentially a bit stuck so I walked around in search of students (who would speak English) and borrowed someone’s phone. I called Kelly and as ever she stopped what she was doing to help and told me where to meet her so she could pick me up. While I was in the taxi on the way to meet her, I really felt for the first time how far away from home I am and how in China I really am a foreigner.
Sitting on the hot and crowded bus the next day, I knew I had to make a decision about if I can stay here for as long as I planned. Sadly, at that very moment, home was beating China by miles.
I arrived back to school and trudged through the door and as I dumped my rucksack on my bed, I noticed a small collection of letters and cookies. Once again, my students had reminded me how much I love teaching them, why I am in here and gave me a brighter view of China. I opened one later, from a girl who has been writing to me for a while (she comes over once a week to pick up my reply) and smiled as she concluded with “I’m sorry to hear that you are unwell, take care of yourself and we hope you come back to teach us soon.” Another, from the girl who gave me the Easter chocolate, read: “Are you ok? I’m very worried about you, so I will see you tomorrow. But I won’t trouble you for a long time.” I almost cried when I then received a text saying “we all miss you in class today, we like you.” It’s these things that make planning the lessons and going to class worth it even when I feel horrible.
When I get home, weather or not if that is now sooner rather than later, I know I will miss the students the most and they make my experience here what it is.
