Our final performance was just yesterday, but it already feels like several days have past. This theme seems to be a recurring one recently. Although it does feel like I have been in China for a while now, the past several weeks have been a blur. When I try to reflect back on events closer to the beginning of the program, I can only remember a few bits here and there, but I am glad that I took many pictures and videos along the way. They help me remember more of the trip and feel the same emotions I felt during those times.
The fact that we have already completed our English classes, extracurricular classes, and final performance has not kicked in yet. I have not realized that we are basically finished with our program yet. I feel like there is some other activity or excursion for us to spend time with our students, but I recently realized that I might not have a chance to see my students again this time in Zhuhai. The last day in Zhuhai after our personal trip will also be our last one with our host families, and I definitely want to spend it with them, as I often went out with my students or other Dukies during the day and night and did not get to spend as much time as I would have liked to with my host family.
My host family has been so good to me. They always try to make accommodations for my schedule and take me around Zhuhai to enjoy new foods and experiences. I wish I could have spent more time with my host family, and in spite of the excuses I could make like my host brother always doing homework in his room on weekdays and in cram school on weekends and me trying to spend time with other students, I think I could have done a better job connecting with them and furthering our conversations. My host brother did not perform as well as he would have liked to on his final exams, especially the English portion of the exam, and I take partial responsibility for his poor performance. I know part of the reason why my host parents agreed to host a foreign student was for their son to improve his English by engaging in conversations with me. I do not think I did a good enough job, so I feel a little guilty. However, a few days ago I tried to explain some study methods that I like to use myself in school. Hopefully they can help him perform better in the future.
Yesterday’s final performance was pretty hectic. Us Dukies were trying to rehearse and get down the lighting and background/music, but most of the time it seemed as if the stage and lights crews were busy doing other things and did not really prioritize our requests. However, I tried to remind myself that these people also have a lot on their plates and have a lot of stress and pressure on them. I was also glad that I was able to help my fellow Dukies by compressing videos, creating new videos for backgrounds, and directing the lights crew for a few performances. The past few days, I felt that I was a little useless because my Journalism class was already done. It was nice to see us all join together to put this show together.
Lastly, I previously was not really sure of our contribution to the students. But after seeing some of my Journalism students after the final performance, I realized that I made an impact, at least in their lives. They were really excited to see me and showed me the Journalism booklet they picked up. I had not seen these students for a while since Journalism class ended earlier than others and we had our Beijing, Luoyang, and Xi’an excursion, but seeing these students again made me realize how many friendships I have made here and my impact on some lives here.
