Wrapping Up What We Started in Style

I never would have guessed that today was the last full day of my assignment. I guess as the saying goes, time flies when you’re having fun (and when you’re busy). The main activity today was the closing ceremony back at the volunteer service college. We were planning on leaving early in case there was some traffic. The only problem was that the van hit traffic getting to the hotel, so we didn’t leave early after all.

As we were waiting, I fired up my laptop to go through the presentation and quickly realized I need to charge it because I had been using it on battery for the final presentation at Hante.

When we got there, Katherine and Zoey surprised each of us with handmade photo books from all of our time together. Each of us had slightly different stories that highlighted the interactions they had with us all. It was super sweet and something I’ll definitely look back at with very fond memories.

Before the presentation, Carosa wanted to put in a new slide with some details, but she didn’t say that until the ceremony started. I’m not sure if it was just because it was super hot in the room, or the added stress of making last minute changes (I’m fairly certain it was just the temp), but I was really uncomfortable. Katherine was really nervous about not being fully prepared which I felt a little bad about, but reassured her that it would be ok since we had essentially done the exact same presentation yesterday.

The Link team went first, and Ivonne gave a nice introduction to their project, while their client Kevin couldn’t express enough thanks for being selecting into the program. And then came the A-team.

I kicked things off with an overview of the client, the project, and the design thinking pieces before handing off to Matthias. He covered the agile, development, and management pieces. Then Maria started to cover the learning management pieces. It was at that point that we started getting pressed for time by Xaio Yin (even though we were only 17 minutes into our 30 minute presentation. The program was running a bit behind, so I think we were getting a bit of a squeeze. Accordingly, when I went back to cover the last few items, I made the decision to cover just the high points so that we could respect the time we were given. I would have liked to share everything that we were able to do for Hante, but I made the decision I thought was appropriate at the time. Carosa wrapped things up with some nice comments about us and the progress that we made for them.

After the other two teams’ presentations, there was a media session with four newspapers that wanted to cover the program. We had decided in advance that I would cover that so I went downstairs with a rep from each of the other teams (and our clients) to answer a few questions. Since there were so many of us down there, there wasn’t much for each of us to say, but we all did get to answer a few questions, which was fun.

After that, we all went upstairs and started to say goodbye again. We weren’t sure if we were going to see Katherine and Zoey again… Which was really sad to think about. They both started to cry 😦 However, we decided that we would invite all the PAs out to the bar with us so that we could hang out one more time together.

For lunch things really started to come full circle. It was Kempton’s birthday, and he said that he wanted to go back to the noodle place we went the first day I got there. While we were waiting for the food to arrive, we took over some display in the mall outside the restaurant and got in what would be the last set of group photos as Ivonne was leaving after lunch.

I thought the food was ok the first time, but today it was actually really good. I got a spicy noodle and pork dish and ate the whole thing. We of course had some Tsingtao with it, which had a small, but good memory to go with it. When Matthias was pouring some in my glass, he poured about an inch of beer. I looked at him and asked, “Matthias, after a month, do you really not know me better than that?” At that point, he filled it to the brim! He does know me. 🙂

After lunch, it was time to finally pack. Packing to go home is always easier to do than going because ultimately you just need to get everything back home — as most of my clothes were dirty. I did sort all the laundry and made sure that those things that were clean stayed that way. While I was packing things up, I found another post-it note from Korey that somehow made it through the month without me finding it — which was something to remind me how i was really looking forward to being home. Since I had brought over all the schwag from the US, I was doing much better from a space perspective than most of the other folks.

After that, Matthias, Maria, and I went back to the underground mall where I hoped that my order for a dinosaur backpack had come through… Unfortunately that it didn’t, but I still found a pretty neat monster backpack for Crosby and a little cute stuffed animal backpack for Carlyn.

While I was waiting for the two of them to come back from Carrefour, I also saw this really cute dress for Carlyn that I couldn’t say no to.

When we got back, it was about time to get together for the evening celebration for Kempton’s birthday which also turned out to be a clean out the fridge and bring all the stuff that won’t fit into your suitcase party. We also brought the remainder of the Tequilla to do a little prepartying before heading to the bar. We all also got a chance to wish Kempton’s twin happy birthday in Austin via video chat. I’m sure he thought we were all nuts! Kempton’s makeshift hat probably didn’t help!

When the Tequilla bottle was empty, and the snacks and leftover beer were mostly gone, we decided to do one more thing before heading out. We each shared something that we learned or were thankful for after spending a ton of time together for the 4 weeks. It was really fun to hear what everyone had to say, and served as one last little bonding moment before we knew we would all part ways the next day.

We capped off the night at Club New York… Again almost coming full circle. It had definitely been a great place to hang out and listen to the live music over the last 3 weeks. And the final night didn’t disappoint! We had 5 of the PAs and Lulu from the Angel Center join those if us remaining as well, and everyone was out there dancing and having a great time. By Susa’s request, I even got the manager to bring out beer pong one last time (though this time no free beer). We’d gotten to know the band pretty well, so as a send off, they pulled me up on stage to sing “Shut Up and Dance” one last time. This was the type of place that I could see myself hanging out at regardless of where we were, but the fact that it was in Qingdao and felt like a little slice of home while I was so far away made it even more enjoyable. They even had kettle corn!

When the band finished their third (and last) set, we all walked home and said some preliminary goodbyes, because we knew not everyone would be leaving at the same time tomorrow. We also got one last selfie in with the A-Team out in front of the hotel on the counseling rock. There’s no doubt in my mind that I’ll miss hanging out with my new friends from all over the world, but I’ll always have the memories to take with me, and it will certainly be good to get back to my family. I just wish I could bring everyone else back with me.