2009.07.13: July 13, 2009: Headlines: COS - China: Blogs - China: Seattle Post Intelligencer: China Peace Corps Volunteer Dustin Ooley writes: Departure
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2009.07.13: July 13, 2009: Headlines: COS - China: Blogs - China: Seattle Post Intelligencer: China Peace Corps Volunteer Dustin Ooley writes: Departure
China Peace Corps Volunteer Dustin Ooley writes: Departure
"I cried again on the bus, this time sobbing with the realization that this goodbye could be permanent. I might never see these kids again. Or even if we meet again, our lives will be different. They will be teaching in the countryside. They will likely be married, and they might even have children. In any case, my time as a Peace Corps Volunteer in China was finished, even if I didn't technically close my service for another few days. My students were my community in China. I was leaving my community."
China Peace Corps Volunteer Dustin Ooley writes: Departure
Departure
A student sent me this picture in an email with the subject line, "The day you went away..."
The students gathered at my house clutching gifts in plastic bags, and the time to leave was fast approaching. They worked like ants, hauling my luggage down the stairs in groups. I had arranged a 14-person van through the foreign affairs department to take us to the bus station, but a jeep was waiting at the bottom of my stairwell. "The van is broken," the foreign affairs official explained. The students looked at one another and I said, "Quickly - get on bus 11 and meet us at the bus station."
When everyone had arrived at the bus station, we ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and waited for the time to leave. Students stood around talking and making jokes while they ate the sandwiches, and I finally realized what was going on: they were trying to keep the mood light so nobody would feel too upset about my departure. I sat down on a chair in the lobby and cried. It was hard to look at my students, most of whom had come from the class I had taught for two years.
We loaded my luggage on the bus, and the students stood in a line by the door. In China, where students never seem to hug one another, it was odd when a student asked me, "May I give you an embrace?" I hugged my students, saying goodbye before I climbed the stairs of the bus. I waved goodbye and found my seat in the back of the bus. Out the window I saw that my students were crying, and old memories came rushing back.
I cried again on the bus, this time sobbing with the realization that this goodbye could be permanent. I might never see these kids again. Or even if we meet again, our lives will be different. They will be teaching in the countryside. They will likely be married, and they might even have children. In any case, my time as a Peace Corps Volunteer in China was finished, even if I didn't technically close my service for another few days. My students were my community in China. I was leaving my community.
The night before our goodbye, I stood with Maria, B.Y., and Amanda in the middle of the soccer field. We prepared two floating lanterns, writing out wishes on the outside and lighting the fuel cube. The lanterns floated slowly up, out, and over the dormitories, carried by a light breeze. "A floating lantern!" we heard a student cry from the dormitories. We watched the lanterns disappear over a hill in the distance and walked back to my house.
Posted by at July 13, 2009 7:03 p.m.
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Headlines: July, 2009; Peace Corps China; Directory of China RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for China RPCVs; Blogs - China
When this story was posted in July 2009, this was on the front page of PCOL:
Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
| Director Ron Tschetter: The PCOL Interview Peace Corps Director Ron Tschetter sat down for an in-depth interview to discuss the evacuation from Bolivia, political appointees at Peace Corps headquarters, the five year rule, the Peace Corps Foundation, the internet and the Peace Corps, how the transition is going, and what the prospects are for doubling the size of the Peace Corps by 2011. Read the interview and you are sure to learn something new about the Peace Corps. PCOL previously did an interview with Director Gaddi Vasquez. |
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Story Source: Seattle Post Intelligencer
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - China; Blogs - China
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