Soccer in ZengCheng

We just got back from the soccer tournament in ZengCheng today. It was a hot, exciting, and emotionally draining weekend, to say the least. Rex was focused and intent on the success of his soccer team and I was balancing all the many directions I was being pulled... from visiting with former students to watching soccer games and cheering both the new and the old school to catching up on the latest school gossip (of which there was plenty) to running errands in town... there was enough to keep me busy for more than just the two days we were there.

Flying into the Guangzhou airport was a bit of an eye-opener for me! It was a beautiful day both in Xiamen and in Guangzhou... sunny, about 80 degrees, blue skies... and then we saw it. It was from straight out of a science magazine... the dome of pollution... a thick, brown, choking haze just hung over the city. It was so strange because I was just looking out the window admiring the clear view when all of a sudden everything just got blurry. When I looked straight into the horizon there was a very obvious layer of haze. I took an interestingly sick photo of this that you might gag when you see, so be prepared.

Everyone hopped on board the bus for the hour drive to ZengCheng. I was honestly surprised at how many of my former students were still there. Last I'd heard, so many had left... and I guess my 11th grade class has gone from 19 students down to 9, but there were quite a few of my younger students playing on the soccer team which made watching the XIS -vs- UIS game really difficult. It was really nice to get to see these kids that I spent so much time working with last year (class, CAS, boarding) and see that most were doing well. There were three teachers left from last year (we thought only two had stayed, but the Korean teacher was also there). The new teachers are almost entirely Australian or British... and most have never worked internationally before. We could tell it had been a tough year for all of them. I did get to see some of my friends from the Chinese staff. Our lab tech, Ivy, was still there. We kind of keep in touch via email and she had purchased me some stuff for class that I can't find in Xiamen. Ian and I wish we could kidnap her and bring her to work at XIS!

Yvonne and I took a sunset walk around campus on Friday evening... that beautiful place that was their home for 3 years and ours for 1. Rex and I never had made it up the hill in the back of the gardens on a beautiful day for sunset, but I finally got my photos on Friday!

What a gorgeous place... I do miss living on such a beautiful campus. I did make peace with the fact that we DID make the right decision by leaving UIS, though. We miss the area, the location, the people... but too much has "not changed" as far as the way the system is run. There is an air of negativity amongst the staff and headmaster and the communication is still lacking. For instance, we were approached by the lady who is kind of the liaison between the owner and the staff, asking for 3600 RMB. When we asked why it was explained that we had used their buses for airport transfer... yet had never been informed that there was to be a fee for this service. She was not happy that we didn't have the money to fork over to her... but we were not happy that this was the first we had heard of this charge. Rex and I rolled our eyes and counted our blessings for making the switch. Too much stuff just like that went on all last year to just brush off as coincidence. Some things never change.

Yvonne and I went into ZengCheng on Saturday for a day of errands and pampering. We had spa pedicures with paraffin wax treatments, lunch at the "Muslim Noodle House", and ran a few errands on the list. Mr. Li, our taxi driver friend from last year, was very happy to see us! He was such a friendly guy who was kind of our personal Chinese tutor whenever he drove us places. We would teach him English words and he'd teach us Chinese. I definitely miss Mr. Li!

We made it back to the soccer fields in time for the final game... XIS -vs- Hong Kong Academy. It was a tough game that kept me on my toes, but our boys were beat after winning 6 games in one day. The other team was just in a little better shape and pooled enough energy to score on us in the second half. It was a tough loss, but we got 2nd place! I think that's pretty awesome. My baby is an awesome coach =)

It was a bitter sweet saying goodbye again today. We left in June with heavy hearts thinking that surly we'd never have a reason to go back to UIS-ZC. As fate had it, Rex and Ian coached the middle school soccer team whose tournament just happened to be at the old school. It was tough to go back, knowing the circumstances of which we left, and it was even more difficult to say goodbye again... to the kids, to Jacque and Mike (Rex's workout buddy), and to our former home. Will we ever make it back there again? I guess we'll see what our soccer district has in store for next year's tournament. Then we'll see.

I'll leave you with a funny video that we see each time we board a domestic flight to Xiamen. It speaks for itself.