As I sit in my room all packed and ready to leave for Beijing, I can’t help but realize how quickly this trip is coming to an end. And besides the cockroach that crawled into my room and I’m not sure where it went, that has been the worst part of this week: recognizing how quickly time is going by.
Teaching this week was the most fun it’s been. Even though it was our last few classes ever, I enjoyed these the most because it seemed like the kids were genuinely enjoying themselves. Karen and I played a game called "Pyramid" with our students and they remembered close to half of the words in the game. The rest (the ones that WE had actually taught them as opposed to them learning from their school teachers) they had no idea. But the fact that they didn’t remember what we taught them didn’t bother me at all. They were really into the game and were very excited when they would get a word correct. Seeing them have fun was worth so much more than knowing that they remembered what "pajamas" were.
It was sad to say goodbye to some of the students I had made meaningful relationships with, especially my jazz students. Yes, when we come back from our trip we will have more rehearsal time together, but even leaving them for a week is hard. The kids were so upset when I told them, and we shared a giant group hug that reminded me why I had wanted to do this program in the first place. Some of these kids were students taken from the journalism class and stuck into mine since there were too many people, and now they were staying 10 minutes after everyday to ask me more about the dance and make sure they were doing everything that they could. The growth I was seeing was unbelievable! We had finished learning everything and just needed to put the finishing touches on it. I was so proud of all of their hard work, and I’m looking forward to getting the whole group together again next week (including my kids out from the chicken pox). Our final show will be so special!
In other news, the rest of the week brought lots of memorable moments. On Wednesday we visited the Vocational high school and it was really awesome to get to interact with some older students. Although their English was not nearly as good as our middle schoolers from No. 9, they had a lot of similar interests as us. It was a different vibe at the high school; it felt more relaxed and everyone seemed to have a place in the school. They put on a show for us, and I was blown away by the talent. Our infamous meme dance seemed like a walk in the park compared to what these kids were pulling off. The dancers especially blew me away. The next day we went back for a little bit and got to learn some choreography from the K-pop group, which was incredibly fun. It was amazing that we could connect on such a personal level without being able to communicate. Dance and all art forms are so special in that sense. It transcends all.
Art was also the thing that brought us together with the children at the special needs school. The student I worked with had hearing problems, so we spoke through gestures and body language. We drew a picture together and the finished product wasn’t terrible. I’d say pretty good actually. He was very young compared to most students we have interacted with thus far, probably in third grade, but he had more joy than all of them combined. We got to play with them again on Friday and it was so much fun. It put some things into perspective for me: in particular, how happy they were. Their lives at such a young age are already so much more difficult than mine , but yet they lead them with such positive and joyous attitudes. I want to emulate this as well.
Finally, I feel that I keep getting closer and closer with the rest of my team. I keep learning more about them and am so fascinated by their stories and how wonderful they are. The more I know, the more inspired I am. They are all so passionate and driven but at the same time so quirky and hilarious. I’m so glad we’re all on this program because these are people I probably would’ve never come across normally at Duke, and they’ve now become a part of my story. I know that when we go back to school we will all stay really close.
I’m looking forward to leaving for our vacation this week and getting to explore more of China and its culture! There’s no place I’d rather be right now :)