In my Ch.ina life, I tend to roll in groups of three.
First there was the Dream Team. My dearest friends, classmates, and workmates at HDU. There's also my CREW, my traveling group of the best people I will ever have had the chance to travel the world with. My best memories in Chi.na are with these two groups of people.
Then I came to ZJU and bonded into a group of 3 again. Two of my classmates and I have become really close and formed a little unit. We sit in a row in class. We help each other out with school stuff, life stuff, living stuff. It's been almost 4 months together of intense classes and intenser lives. We bonded together quickly because we can get each other's humor because we are all native english speakers.
Today we lost a member. Waaaaaaa.
The three of us had breakfast together this morning one last time to say "zai jian" to Kenneth. He's going to Hong Kong next week to visit his dad, than back to Vermont where he will finish school.
Kenneth is one of the most interesting people I have ever met. First of all - he's seriously a global citizen. Born in Hong Kong, English passport, USA green card, and attending college in the US. What are you? :)
He's a comedic relief, always late, has a horrible memory, and doesn't believe in jackets in the cold weather. And he sleeps in class. Every day.
Stephanie and I will miss him these last few weeks in class! Our row in the middle of the classroom will seem so empty.
Our semester officially ends January 20th. But because some students are studying abroad for a semester, they must leave early to make it back for the "western" time line of classes beginning in January after Christmas.
Another of our classmates, Ondrej from Prague, also left this week. We had a jolly farwell for im in class. He was quiet and kind. I hope to make it to Europe one day to see all my European classmates. They're good people.
a goodbye breakfast of Hangzhou's famous xiao long bao and red bean soup:
on the street where I live. Peacin' out.
This is one of the worst parts of extended life abroad. People leave. Out of the afformentioned 2 groups of people (dream team and the crew) I'm the only one left. My classmates will soon be dispersed to new classes for the new term.
I was contemplating all the wonderful people that I have known in Hangzhou that are not here anymore and I was struck by how lucky I am to have come into contact with such great people. How lucky I am to have had something that makes saying goodbye hard.
Bon Voyage, dear friend!
Nothing makes the earth seem so spacious as to have friends at a distance; they make the latitudes and longitudes. ~Henry David Thoreau
walk slow. xoxo.
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