The time has come, the walrus said…

It’s my last month of Peace Corps service. In. Sane. Not to sound cliche, but it really did fly by. And leaving is truly bittersweet. 

Throughout my service, I’ve learned that:

• I like teaching
• I’m good at improvising
• I can live pretty minimally (I can’t wait to throw tons of crap out when I get home)
• I can be lazier than I ever thought possible
• Either I am much less mature than I thought, or I’ve regressed (and I’m OK with that!)
• I can go for days without showering
• I am spoiled by Chinese students and Chinese teaching hours
• I can eat rice almost everyday for 2 years straight and still love it

While there are many reason why I’m excited to leave (missing people, food, my health), I’m also really sad to go. I’ve made some great friends that I see several times a week. I’ve even made some awesome Chinese friends. Like many PCVs, two years is both just enough and not enough time. Enough time to miss home and get tired of the problems. But it’s like, just when you’ve found your groove and connected with students, it’s time to go.

If it weren’t for my health issues, I definitely would have considered a third year. Why? Because I have students that offer to take care of me or buy me fruit when I’m sick. They tell me I’m their friend instead of their teacher. That they’ll miss me and remember me forever. Last week, I went to support a student’s dance performance and she told me the dance was dedicated to me, and she hugged me and told me she loved me. And whenever I need help, students offer to give it.

This past weekend, I was hanging with a student that told me two years ago that after college she would have an arranged marriage (which she didn’t want, but family, religion, and community pressures would force her). While we were chatting this weekend, she told me that, after graduation, she might have a job lined up as a translator with a friend, and that she wants to travel and take care of herself, be independent, despite all the pressure to be a wife and the idea that “a degree is enough [for a woman]”. I’m extremely proud of her and so happy to hear it. I really hope she’s able to do this. 

While I do have students who can be lazy, not care, or maybe don’t like me, I’ve learned the lesson that all teachers learn: it’s those few exceptions that make it all worth it. It just sometimes seems that more of these exceptions exist here than they would elsewhere.

I’m looking forward to the next chapter of my life, but I will never forget my Peace Corps experience. I got to live out the dream I’d had for over a decade. And I got to do it with the person I love. It’s been the best experience of my life.