My Last day in Hangzhou

My Last day in Hangzhou
Sunday 29th January off to Xiamen tomorrow

I have not got enough paper to write down my experiences in china.
 We have had 4 lots of visitors stay with us over the past five months.
Les and Valmai.  ....   Wayne's brother and wife
Sheila Overton......  My mother
Chanelle and Adam ...our daughter and fiancé
Denise Duboulay.... Chris friend.
I hope their experience of china was as amazing as ours. They all said that china was not what they expected.
We tried to show them all a  diverse china. Les and Valmai came at an extremely busy time in China so it was a learning curve for us too Never again will I travel in national week . Even though it was an experience it was one I really don't want to happen again. We took in too much too quickly with 1 billion others.
Mums visit taught us alot about Chinese hospitals, seeing as she was unwell and in hospital for 5 days. So she was thrown into the culture on a different level. She has plenty of stories to tell about her adventure. It also was a pre run for my unexpected day surgery. We knew what to do and where to go and I was able to have a day op within 3days of diagnosis. All went smoothly and we couldn't fault the care at the Sir RunRun International hospital.
Chanelle and Adam's trip was very short. They came to Hangzhou for 3 days then we all went to Shanghai for the Aussie new year for 2 days after that we helped them board a train to Xian. We did heaps of exploring in their short time with us and enjoyed their company immensely. Adam wore a winter hat and gloves for the first time and Chanelle learnt to bye subway tickets at the enormous stations in Shanghai.
Denise came for two weeks and everything was Amazing, with being a fairly new traveller she adapted to the food, culture and language with an open mind.
I loved having her with us even if Wayne did say we never shut up. I had some serious English to let out.

My stay has been quite different than I imagined. After many interviews for a job that wouldn't interfere with our travel plans I managed to volunteer at a school that I could see from our apartment window. There I made many friends and became recognized around this community. Many a time walking for pleasure I came across locals that would say, "Ni hao "laoshi" hello teacher.
I did dancing lessons at the beginning of our stay until it got to cold to get out of bed and thoroughly enjoyed the music, company and exercise.
With NO Chinese language I have done really well. I now can recognize some words and even some characters. I managed to go to the markets by myself , get into taxi's and give instructions, (charades comes in very handy). I also managed to take many a bus to various places. I think we have walked most streets in Hangzhou sometimes I would get a little disorientated, but that's a girly thing. I know where all the best toilets are .... ie clean western style with paper.
This university in Hangzhou is an international university I cannot tell you how many people I have met from all over the world. My Facebook is looking quite diverse.
The culture here is very different. Being an independent thinker, a wife and a mother of three very independent  children  and a grandmother of children being raised with the same independentsy it is very, very hard for me to get my head around this culture.

My time here with Wayne has been great. His chinese has improved , there was not  many times he got frustrated with the language (iPod came in handy a couple of times) . He has also taught me alot about this country some good, some not so good. whether  I agree or disagree with the way things are done around here it makes no difference. It is the CHINESE WAY and most of the time I don't know if they know what and why they are doing things but it is how it has been done in china and has been DONE the same for many years .It is THEIR WAY . When you think you have it figured out you haven't IT IS CHINESE LOGIC it is just the way it has to be here.
My thoughts are with the internet and technology and so many young people travelling and westerners visiting China this has to have an effect on the future generations.

Ps I have not cooked or put domestic duties to the fore front for five months.
My time here has been very relaxing and I cannot count the number of foot massages we have had. We have eaten at one or two restaurants most days and sent many boxes home with valuable stuff for me. Wayne has looked after our interests and spoilt me very much. To balance university and holidaying has been tricky at times but he managed to do it in style.
To everyone reading this, go easy on me when I get home. I am going to have reverse culture shock I know it. It is going to take me awhile to ease back into western culture and I am going to love it...........