Bye Bye Disney and more Guangzhou

We had a typhoon! The worst of it was while we were on a bus, then it moderately rained for the next day and a half. Total fail. AND I had to work on my day off to make up for it! Boo! This is the only picture I got...

I went to Disneyland Hong Kong with Elsa! Because she'd never been to Disneyland...or Hong Kong! 

Walking in:

Elsa: "It's not really magical for me, I'm an adult."

Five minutes later

Elsa: "I want to ride the Merry Go Round!!"

Yup, she definitely wasn't feeling the magic...

Chinese version of the Haunted Mansion... it wasn't haunted, or spooky, but still a neat ride.

Elsa got some neat pictures of the light parade at the end of the night.. I stole them :) 

Buzz Lightyear!!!

I also went to Disney with my roommate, we got a fancy tea lunch! And this is all of the pictures because I went...2 weeks before with Elsa. 

I had to get my fix before they took away my silver pass!

Then, it was time for the big last day, our last day, Elsa and I decided to make the big life change on the same day. Our final day would end on the last day of the term for my favorite class with my favorite little ones. I know... I know... you're not supposed to have favorites, but, let's be real, it happens whether you want it to or not. The goodbyes were hard, we got many well wishes and I got asked more than I would have liked, "Are you going home to find a husband and get married?" So, it turns out, you get it from either side, leaving the country it was presumed I was looking for love, now I'm leaving a country and it's assumed I'm leaving to find love. I did find love, in the most amazing forms, just not one that I can take home to marry. 

We were teaching "sofa," I swear!!!

Tigger Class. NanNan, Kang Kang, Sam, Alan, Tong Tong, Rong Rong, Mavi, Grace
Bei Bei, KaKa, Kensi, Vivian, MinMin and Nini <3

Tigger class is silly 

Last Day with Pooh Class! Tony, Walter, Jerry and Kate

These were the ones that made me cry. Jose, Rainbow and Xi Yuan.

And Victor, so naughty, so smart, and so ACTIVE <3

Eeyore Class YuXin, Yao Yao, TongTong (again), Rainbow, Amelie, Niko

Victor, Ariel, Jose, Cynthia, Kitty, and Xi Yuan

Some of my favorite people! We went to BBQ, it was delicious, and that night turned out much differently for me than expected. 9/5/16

I got my 1 year pin for Disney! 

 And by more GZ, I met more ridiculous nights with the people I love and will miss so unbelievably much. <3

Turns out, I suck at pool in China, too...

#HEE group Also known as Haley, Elsa, Eva. We had a girl's day and got our nails done, I also got my eyebrows shaved into shape, that was interesting. I was informed it did NOT in fact make me 1. more Chinese, or 2. LOOK more Chinese, well damn... haha

I let them order, so, it was amazing. Spring Rolls, (turns out you wrap them in lettuce and add carrots and radish to it an it's like a Vietnamese taco ish thing, in other words, delicious), fish, Pig's neck and fried tofu. 

 Eva told me it very Chinese if I act candid in photos, so that's how she took them. haha.

As my time winds down in China, I find myself reminiscing about how different it was, just a year ago, when we arrived. I have officially been in China for... a year and 2 days as I write this post. I leave for Greece 2 weeks from today. I am officially done with work and trying to spend my time with the people I don't know when I'll get to see again. Some people, I know I will, some I know I won't, and some, it will take some time but I will, someday, some I'm just hoping to. <3 

I have a few more adventures before my time here is up, though.

Hangzhou!

Somewhat on a whim, a week or so in advance, a friend told me she was going to Hangzhou, where she used to work and asked if me I wanted to come. So, wanting to travel more before I leave, I decided, yes, absolutely. Though, admittedly, I knew about jacksquat about it before I went. It was one of the prettiest cities I have been in while in China. I landed in blue skies and greenery. Like, I saw large patches of grass for this first time since Australia. While there, we found out something called G20 was about to happen (sometime in August) where leaders from all over the world were coming to Hangzhou to discuss.. things. So, in preparation of that, the city was kind of crazy. For example, it was quite hard to find a hotel that would rent a room to foreigners. Once we acquired one of those rooms you were NOT allowed visitors, local or otherwise. We had a slip from the hotel that we had to show the clerk before even being allowed on the elevator up to our room, we also had to carry that paper with us to prove we were registered somewhere. For the first time in China, at a restaurant, like 9 police officers came in and asked for passports and locals for ID cards, if we didn't have those slips we would have been taken to the police station. What would have happened after that, I have no idea. Also in preparation for the summit, the roads had been redone, bus stops had been redone and (the fronts only) of buildings had been repainted. Anyways, upon arrival, this is the (rather pretty, honestly) airport I walked into. I didn't get a better picture, unfortunately.

On the way into the main city hub, I saw lots of neat buildings (it's hard to take pictures while in a cab...).

Lovely bunny decorations at the hotel!

After arriving and getting a hotel, we met up with a family that Maeghan used to tutor their 8-year-old daughter for. The grandmas cooked us AMAZING traditional Chinese food...and stuffed us to the gills! Speaking of... I ate fish gills for the first time, strange texture, wasn't my favorite, not terrible. There were eggplants and other veggies and beef dishes and it ended with this super sticky rice with sugar that was also awesome. Then, the mother, Yo Yo, and her daughter, Angela, took us to the Lingyin Temple. We didn't get into any of the temples but just walking around the outside was spectacular.

Yo Yo knew a lot of the history and some stories about it, the best part? Angela, her daughter, who is EIGHT, mind you, was translating. This little girl was so impressive!

Lingyin Temple was pretty much where I took pictures in Hangzhou. It was a whirlwind weekend.

That night we went out to dinner at one of the expat spots Maeghan frequented before coming to Guangzhou. I met some of her local and foreign friends from there. 

The next day in the INSANE HEAT, we trekked over to West Lake, which I really wish I'd gotten more pictures of, it was beautiful. I was paying the price from the night before so while Maeghan and her friends went to a movie, I went back to the hotel and took a nap. Later, we went to meet up with her old co-teacher who now works at a Four Seasons in Hangzhou. Free dinner at the Four Seasons? Yes, please. We had chicken, fish, salads and other things, all delicious, and even ice cream for dessert! It was an absolutely amazing time, but, alas a whirlwind and we had to get up around 4 the next morning to catch a plane so we didn't stay out very late. We did spot a place for street tattoos when we were walking through a night market though, had to refuse but there was someone there getting one. Yikes...

Not as clear as I'd hoped but, West Lake at night.