The Closing to a New Beginning

After returning from Beijing, I get to enjoy my last 4 days in China. I got to celebrate Pengfei’s birthday, get an International haircut, eat goat, and celebrate Mother’s Day within those four days. I have fully embraced my Chinese life and family.

I have to go back to Shanghai to catch my flight back to America, but we decide to make another road trip of it. The gang reunites, Li Miao, Tian Ji, and Terry venture with us to Shanghai. Although, Didi was unable to join us, I was finally successful with getting a good picture with him.

I’ve never bonded with a group of people so quickly in my life. We became best friends and family in a matter of weeks. Although we never spoke the same traditional meaning of language, we did speak friendship and willingness to learn about each other as best we could.

My final night in China is one that will never be forgotten. Once arriving in Shanghai we struggle to navigate the crowded and confusing roads of the city, Pengfei soon becomes angered by this, but I find it somewhat comical. I listen to him curse in Chinese and of course I mimic him to add some type of comedic break to the situation.

We wonder the street of Shanghai for our last time as a group this time. After we had enough exploring the unknown city we make our way back to the hotel. We share dinner in the hotel, my last meal in China, and then they decide we must celebrate, so they order the American beer on the menu, Budweiser. To my surprise, it isn’t the normal bottle size. It’s huge.

One round turns to two, three, and four. Soon I find something incredibly funny and cannot contain myself. I erupt in heavy laughter. Soon the whole group follows my cue. The other customers of the restaurant soon take notice and begin staring. We decide we have had enough fun downstairs and make our way up to the rooms.

The last account of the night I have is making the nonsmoking room’s bathroom a smoke box with Li Miao and Tian Ji. We share numerous cigarettes and we communicate verbally. Somehow we understand each other and I’ve realized I’ve not just made friends, but brothers for life.

The next morning I wake for the first time in China, hung-over. Just in time for my long flight back to America. This ought to be interesting. We exchange our goodbyes and I promise I will return to China.