As seems to happen when the year runs out, time moves faster and faster.  Myself and the other foreign teachers all realize how little time is left here, in Shenzhen, and the pressure builds to get out, to see the city, hang out together.  Unfortunately it has been incredibly humid and hot the past month, blanketing the city in discomfort.  We are all parting ways soon; already Brian is gone home.  Nick will move to Beijing, Darragh to Urumqi.  Even Miki, one of my best Chinese friends, will be leaving Shenzhen in the fall for grad school.  For all of that, it is a comfort to me to know that I will be back home in the fall, here.

In an effort to spend time together, Sunday was devoted to hanging out.  The first half of the day was spent at KTV, the term used here for karaoke.  Brian and I met up with Miki and Michael, her boyfriend, and we proceeded to demolish numerous standards in our respective native tongues.  That was the first four hours.  Later after lunch, Brian was tagged out, replaced by Darragh, and a new slew of Chinese teachers from his school.  They all insisted on singing gentle Chinese love songs that succeeded in sucking all the fun and energy from the room.  Darragh and I combated this with exuberant versions of Living on a Prayer, KoRn’s Falling Away from Me, and a particularly spectacular The Show Must Go On, from Queen.  All told, I was singing KTV for 9 hours and enjoyed the chance to practice my Chinese songs.

Post-KTV, our group of six headed out for Hunan food, partaking in a tasty, spicy meal in central Shenzhen.  Upon leaving, I asked the teacher who owned the car we were using to give me her keys in Chinese.  For whatever reason, she complied and I found myself behind the wheel of a Honda in the middle of the city.  After I said ‘of course’ to her question of whether I had a driver’s license, we were off.  On the freeway, I topped the car at about 80kph, to which all the girls said ‘oooh so fast’.  They drive quite slowly here.  When we got to the bar I parked the car on the sidewalk.  That is okay for some reason.

We all stayed at the bar, joined by Brian, Nick, a friend of his from the states, and Miki and Michael.  For some hours we played the Chinese dice game and practiced speaking Chinese, passing the time until we left for some late night food.  Out on the street, as usual, there were fantastic late night options for eating.  Afterwards we parted ways and I headed home, climbing over my school gate one last time before I leave.

Tonight I take off for the summer holiday.  I’ll touch down in Malaysia for a transfer overnight before I head off to Indonesia for a week of hiking and temple exploration.  After that I’ll spend a day in Singapore and head to Australia for the rest of the summer to work on farms and wander the wide red earth expanse of the Outback.  It is exciting to head out on the road again but I am sad to leave the past few months behind as we part our own separate ways.