The Goodbye Week
On December 19, 2019 by Keturah HaferkampFor everything under the sun there is a season. A time for hellos; a time for goodbyes. This is goodbye time.
Friday
B and the kids attended the final baseball league session of the year before the holidays. Making so many friends has been the single delight of our children’s time in Guangzhou. We did not expect that they would have opportunities to make friends but here we are yet again, surprised by joy.
Saturday
On Saturday we had the opportunity to speak at a conference and then after that we had a wonderful group lunch with families that have become our friends over the last several weeks. Again, the depth of conversation about travel, raising and educating children and theology added flavor and quality to our experience as parents who are global citizens. These new family friends are a beautiful gift to our lives. We will surely miss them.
Sunday
Our favorite day because we spend it with the international Church. Rarely can connection like this be experienced in one’s home country. To lay aside differences in order to come together in Peace every week is no small feat. It is the LOVE of our lives to be members of this group. These people are in our hearts. ❤ First we attended worship services and then fellowship in the hall with coffee and tea and and conversation and then lunching and lingering until 3 or 4 in the afternoon. All day. Every Sunday. It is the BEST way to spend a day…or a life…or 10,000 years.
Monday
Back to work. This final week in the classroom was about final projects. So Monday I heard a Phd group present their final projects. Then met with another professor to take a class photo together. Then afterward a scheduled goodbye lunch with the girls’ Mandarin tutors. Such sweet young women that we wish we could bring back home with us! We will miss them.
Tuesday
The students had the option to schedule a class party (which I would have attended) or they could opt to stay in bed and not meet. They chose sleep. If I were them I’d stay in bed too! Lol. But I am so thankful to have been their teacher. They are brilliant, quirky tenderhearted. They make being a teacher a joy….Since the students opted to forego a party I was free to take my daughter’s to their Chinese lessons! Brian had the rare treat of staying home to work in Peace. The girls and I went shopping for Christmas gifts.
Wednesday
…was my last official work day. The last Phd class presentations did their Conference Simulation final projects in morning.
The last MA group opted to meet up just to take a class photo! Don’t tell anyone, but these guys are my favorite group.
Thursday
A scheduled Goodbye Dinner that the university department graciously hosted on behalf of foreign faculty and their families. A banquet in China is a wonderful and delicious experience. My department colleagues are kind and generous people. I’m glad to have met them and grateful for the privilege of working alongside them. They have helped me be a better teacher.
And exit…
And Friday we fly. ✈