The End of An Era

Students come and students go here at Omeida. It's not uncommon to have 10 new students come in on a weekend, and at the same time see 10 more leave. They can stay for however long they want to sign a contract for. Some may ink for 6 months or a year, and others as short as a week.

So around 8 A.M. this morning, Eric and Vincent left on a bus to head back to Beihai. They were only here for a few weeks to study during their university's new year holiday, and will start back to class on Monday. And since Robin left last weekend, the last of my first crew of friends has now gone.

I met these guys the first day I arrived at Omeida and stepped out of the taxi to self introductions from all of them. They invited me out the next night and ever since then I've spent most of my time with them- everyday for lunch and dinner, weekend trips, etc.

So, last night a group of us went out for dinner and 'happy' (what they call fun). We took quite a few pictures in front of the school before we left for the restaurant. Here's one, from left to right, with Sonny, Vincent, Nancy, Eric, Me, and Freeman in front...

Dinner was nothing short of exceptional as always. The picture shows two types of beer fish (one spicy, and one spicy spicy), beer chicken, potatoes, and cabbage...we also has green vegetables and a sugar bread dessert that came out after the picture was taken. Dinner usually isn't just dinner, it's an event or an occasion. So, we ordered 10 or 12 of the 24oz local beers and just talked, ate, and drank, and made cheers, or gang bei, to Eric and Vincent to have a safe trip and happy lives. They taught me more Chinese, I taught them more English. So now, women shi hen peng you- we are all great friends. Here are some more pictures of us...one is Sonny, Me, Vincent, and Eric. The other is of Eric, Vincent, Jenny, Sonny, Sunny, and Nancy.

After a couple hours at the restaurant, we headed for KTV, one of the karaoke bars in town. And again, with no surprise like the first time, it was an experience. The Chinese love their karaoke. We had our room, beer, snacks, fruit platter, and just sang at the top of our lungs for 3 or 4 more hours. The English selection is prettty limited, and since all Chinese seem to love Backstreet Boys, I was forced to rock out to 'Everybody', 'I want it that way' and 'Larger than Life.' I also sang some Semi-Charmed Life, Van Morrison's Brown Eyed Girl, and Michael Bolton's Dock of the Bay.

We all vowed to keep in touch, everyone hugged and made pinky promises to make a trip to Beihai in June to visit, then we said our goodbyes. I then actually ended up going to a different karaoke bar and joining 2 American teachers, a guy from the Netherlands, and 4 other students for the rest of the night.

So, although three weeks isn't exactly an era, it's still the end of something. But, I've now begun to network. I'll have a couch to crash on and a local tour guide if I ever make it to Beihai, Shenzhen, Nanning, or Changsha. All the students and teachers are great at Omeida, and I have several good friends here and look forward to making many more.

I'll truly miss these guys. Eric says I am his brother, his American brother, and his first foreign friend, and the same goes for me in return. He's given me a Chinese name, Zi Xuan, and said that I can take his family name, Li, since we are brothers. In only three weeks, we've created the type of friendship that it may take some people a lifetime to make, and I hope we keep in touch for a long time to come.