With this post, I am officially ending the O'Tooles in China Blog.
Our school term ended near the end of June. Immediately after school ended, Jane and I planned to head to Shanghai so that we could get home to St. Louis to see friends and family. The plan was to visit America for just under two months, then returning to Changzhou. I had signed a second contract to teach at the school the next year, and Jane was planning on working on some independent business. We had round-trip flights. As such, we packed into a few suitcases some summer clothes that we planned on wearing while back in town. We left our apartment furnished and full of our stuff, planning on coming back.
We woke up at about 5 a.m. the morning of departure. The school arranged for a minibus to take us to Shanghai. When I went outside our complex, the bus was just pulling up. We loaded the tired kids onto the bus and made our way to Shanghai, which was about a 2 hour drive away. (At this point in writing, I am really happy that I kept the blog. I have no memory of what happened as we arrived at the airport. Thankfully the blog exists of our days in China so that there is no lapse of memory of the events of the year). I do remember the flight to America, which was about 18 hours. Etain was designated as a lap passenger, meaning that she was intended to sit on Jane's or my lap the entire ride (yeah right). We were nervous because we were told it was a full flight. Luckily, we had two of three seats in one row, and then two seats in a row behind it. A guy that was in the row with two of the seats either had little interest in sitting with Jane and the two girls or was nice enough to recognize the cramping, and he found another seat further back in the plane. As a result, we had an entire three seat row and two seats in another section. The plane ride was pretty long, but overall everyone did quite well, with only a few episodes here and there (as is to be expected).
We touched down in Detroit, with about a four hour layover. We found a play area in the airport and hung out there for almost the entire time. We were all pretty tired and anxious to make it the final two hours to St. Louis. When we got in the plane, the captain informed us that there was going to be a one hour delay before we could take off. By this time, the kids were pretty sick of planes, and it made for a long last few hours. Nonetheless, later that afternoon at 5:30 p.m. or so, we arrived in St. Louis.
When getting off of the plane, there was an easy to notice feeling of familiarity. People were very nice and helpful; not that they weren't in China, but there was just some unexplainable difference. We headed down the gate to see our families ready to welcome us home. It was nice to be home.
As it turns out, it was so nice to be home that I wanted to stay. Over the next few weeks, Jane and I had many serious discussions about our plans. Though we had return flights and enjoyed our time in China, we decided to stay. I was offered my old job. Jane was aware of potential employment opportunities, and eventually joined on with Merrill Lynch. We moved to Columbia, MO, buying new cars, a new house, new phones, enrolling in a new school for Dan, finding a new (Chinese) nanny for the girls. All of this was done in about three weeks. Jane headed back to China alone to retrieve the items that we had left in our apartment. She was able to talk to Jiu Jie again, being very sad to tell her that the kids were not returning (we even looked into the possibility of bringing Jiu Jie to America, but it did not appear to be legally possible). Jane was also able to see some of our old friends and say a final and proper goodbye, as well as eat hot pot a last time.
We are now back in Columbia, MO and all is well. When moving back, things seemed to really fall into place without hassle. Cars and the house were bought without problem (maybe everything just seemed easy after living in China for a year). We feel that we found the perfect school for Dan, had he and we are enjoying a role in that community. We even found a Chinese nanny, Xue Bin, for the girls. As a result, the girls continue to speak Chinese every day. I still speak Chinese to the kids, at least with respect to the little phrases that I know.
Thus ends O'Tooles in China. China was a great experience that I am very thankful that this family was able to enjoy. In the months that we have been back, we still look at all of the pictures that we took and reminisce about or experiences there. There are days when we wish that we could be back, enjoying hot pot on a street corner or sightseeing some 3000 year old temple. Being there for that year has changed each of us, at least in part, forever. I personally need to thank Jane for making the opportunity possible. And I need to thank the readers of the blog for living the adventure with us.
Some pictures of the kids in America are included. And now, a final zaijian.
