Addie's Blog

First stop on our mother-daughter Ireland road trip? Dublin, of course. Full of history, culture, and a happening pub scene, Dublin was the perfect place to begin our travels to the Emerald Isle. 

It’s hard to believe my time as a laowai (foreigner) in China has come to an end. What an incredible time it has been. From experiencing the rich, unique culture to teaching 1,200 young Chinese students every week, I'm so thankful for these experiences. I wouldn’t have traded my time here for anything else.

To our favorite furry friend, to the wonderful people we’ve met here, to our brilliant students. Goodbyes are never easy. I suppose if they were, we’d all miss out on the connections that bring us close together and ultimately make saying goodbye so hard.

After ten months of living in Xi'an, we finally did what tourists do and visited the most famous cultural site: the Terracotta Warriors. Were we impressed? Sure. Were we more happy to find the place not too crowded? Absolutely (how very un-China). Even though we knew what we were going into, we still enjoyed ourselves at the Terracotta Warrior exhibit. 

What a week of celebrations! On Friday, we were fortunate to celebrate Children's Day at our school, and Sunday to Tuesday we celebrated the Dragon Boat Festival— one of China's major holidays. Read on to learn all about the activities we experienced, the food we ate, and all the wonderful memories we made. 

Over the past couple of months, we’ve spent most of our afternoons learning tai chi, a form of Chinese martial arts. I wish I could say this was a leisurely activity we chose to do on our own, but it wasn’t— our school asked us to take part in a city-wide competition. We were their token white people.