the final chapter

The last week wasn't as hard as I was expecting it to be. We stayed pretty busy practicing the songs & dances our kids performed at the end of the year for the school and their parents. As well as practicing the song and dance WE had to perform. Yikes.

The older kids sang Let It Go and danced to Santa Clause Is Coming To Town. And the younger ones sang Jingle Bells and danced to Justin Bieber's All I Want For Christmas. It was pretty freaking adorable. Our last day of teaching was Wednesday :( I didn't think I would ever miss preparing lesson plans, or trying to teach little Asian kids what glue is used for. But I do. I miss it so much.

On Thursday, we had a party with the kids. But it still didn't feel like we were saying goodbye.

We went to tuck in the kids that night, which was hard.

Then the next day was the final performance. We got up early so we could help the kids get ready.. i.e. do their make up (even the boys). It was super fun! We headed to the auditorium and I met some of the kids' parents. I hate performing in front of people, buuut I did it. Then our kids were up and they did SO good! It was weird seeing them go home with their parents after it was over. It wasn't goodbye yet, but it was pretty darn close. 

When the kids came back the next Monday - the last Monday - we went and hung out in their classrooms since we didn't have ILP anymore. The teachers were super nice about it, too. So that was good. We laughed, we cried, we took pictures and videos. I spent the majority of the time with Klan. He had been especially clingy the last couple of weeks, which only made it harder.

We got permission from Marine to tuck the kids in one last time that night to say goodbye.. since we would be leaving the next morning. :( It was rough. I was crying, the kids were crying.. it was super emotional to say the least.

I went to say bye to Klan first, because I knew it would be the longest and the hardest. Not to mention the lady in that apartment always kicked us out super early. I translated a note into Chinese so he could understand how much I loved him and would miss him, and of course I gave him some candy too, as well as a friendship bracelet I had made. He hugged me tighter than ever before and would not let go. It was heartbreaking. More painful than any heartbreak any boy had ever caused me. It was just too hard, so I promised him I would come find him in class the next morning before we left. 

The goodbyes didn't get any easier. Alan sat in my lap and just cried. The younger ones didn't seem to understand that we were leaving, and that we weren't coming back.
Then we went up to the girls. They handled it rather well. Instead of crying, they laughed with us and gave us gifts. Wendy gave me a pomegranate so that was neat. It made it a little easier knowing I would see most of them the next day.

...Until the next day. Me and kenna went down to the classrooms 15 or 20 minutes before we were supposed to leave. Part of me wishes we would've gone sooner, but at the same time it just would've made things even more difficult. As soon as the teachers saw us, they stopped mid-lesson, and invited us in. The kids swarmed us in one great big group hug. It was the best group hug I'd ever had.
There were three different classrooms, and Klan and Mike (our favorites) happened to be in the last one. There were lots of tears and lots of hugs. Just before we were about to leave, Klan stuck a piece of paper in my pocket and told me not to look at it yet, gave me one last hug, and told me he loved me. Then we left. I opened the paper to find that he had written me something back in Chinese. I had Marine translate it.. 

"Teacher Kaylie, I love you so much. I know you need to go back to America. I miss you so much. Could you stay here? Please remember me."

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I went to China to teach these kids, but I learned more from them than they did from me. They taught me to love deeper, laugh longer, and live better. I will be forever grateful for each and every one of them.