Montana & McDeviltoast (and friends!): June 22nd: Wednesday parties and Erin's farewell dinner

Day 279

First class's lack of enthusiasm sapped my energy (Junior 2, go figure)then the next class revujenated me. Andy, David, Zelda, Abe Frohman and the two girls who think he and his big sausage are "very lovely." Andy gave me a DVD of "Starship Troopers 2" and Steven the teacher gave me a double CD of Grammy winners 2005 (cringe), two Haimen melons which I plan to share with classes 7 and 8 on Friday.

After lunch I partied with class 1(3), listened to the Beatles songs I taught them in the last year, Queen's "We Will Rock You" and "Midnite Vultures" by Beck, which is a cross-international party record. I doled out pennies to thos who could answer Mr. Willis's trvia about the Beatles, then gave some to Lily, Alice and Mullet just becuse they're my favorites.

After a break where I uploaded pictures (so so many) and gmailed them to myself, it was time for the Harry and Monkey class. I called them up to the front and explained, "Two students in here were very nice to me, made me feel very welcome in China. They would eat with me in the dining hall and talk with me so I was not lonely: Harry and Monkey."

I gave Harry the Yao Ming bank Chen Ping had given to Heather, and gave Monkey my Coca Cola soccer jersey but told him it was not just for playing football, he could wear it anytime. He's my favorite because he's small and always has a rascally grin. He gets picked on, but he tries and he may not know much English, but he sat with me at dinner and endured my questions good-naturedly anyway when others were too shy. I'll miss that guy.

I uploaded pictures (a neverending process) until about ten 'til 6, when Erin and I walked up to the hotel for her last night in Haimen. We sat and waited for the others to join us.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Erin asked if I had spoken with anyone about it and I told her I had last night, but not today.

"Oh my god!" she said. "You should call them!"

"They know!" I insisted.

And waited.

"Call Heather," she ordered.

"As soon as I get up to call, they're going to walk through the door."

"Call her and make sure!"

I began to doubt myself at this point and walked over to the front desk, who then motioned me to the "business center." I dialed and Heather answered, and said she and Rhys and Jeni were inside the building, as I had predicted! I drop-kicked Erin's little notebook.

We sat and ordered, chatted about memory stuff, drank Tsingtao and Dynasty wine. After the meal we decided to each order a hot chocolate cake dessert, which ended up taking the kitchen around 45 minutes to expedite. Unacceptable. The waiting and mix of beer and wine made me lethargic. I did not feel at all like going to the club as was originally planned. Neither did Erin, who was going to stay up and pack for most of the night anyway.

We scheduled to meet for the hotel's breakfast buffet next morning to see her off (the school shuttle was at noon.) and I uploaded more pictures (endless sea of students' faces) before exhastion claimed me.