The Last Day - Number Fifty-eight

The final day started at 740-ish.  I got up and gathered a few of my belongings and then headed out to the various stores to try to get David some unique bottles for his collection. On the way there, I met an older man who spoke very good English. I talked with him for a long time about America, agriculture and other assorted topics.  He had been in the Ministry of Agriculture for the Chinese government so he had been to many places outside of China to see the observe agriculture there. I have to say to it was one of the more fascinating conversations I had all summer - how fortunate I came upon him on my last day.

I got David a Coke bottle and got myself a package of yogurt to eat as I had not eaten since lunch the previous day. My appetite has been waning because of my lack of daily intense exercise (typically due to poor air quality constraints). I then walked to the bakery and got a fried dough puck and checked out the store there for bottles. I will have to get David some of the bottles from the Sesh Wan place tonight (if I can manage it...).  I checked with the store downstairs for bottles and then walked to Carrefour and continued my search there. I did pick up some more chrysanthemum tea to take home.

I went to the lab to say goodbye to everyone and to get the flash drives from Lili. I told Yulan that 630 would be the time for dinner and told her to tell Faith. I then reimbursed Lili for what I owed her on the lunch card and went and said goodbye to Dr. Cheng. I treated myself to some tofu and fried rice for lunch - at my Sesh Way place, naturally.

When I came back to my room, I got engrossed in what is happening in the Middle East, and the exterminations that are going on there. It is wrong and something should be done to prevent it.  There is some bad stuff going on there. ISIS or IS is going crazy and killing everybody that is contrary to their "beliefs" They are brainwashing the children, slaughtering innocents, and not seeming to worry about the repercussions as they are taping all of it. I feel bad that I have been so out of the news loop here. I spent the next 4 hours hanging around my room reading about the situation in the Middle East and working on my paper. I have nearly completed the first draft (yay). I reward myself with playing guitar and ukulele.

At 623 I left and knocked on both Albert and Vincent's doors before heading down alone as none of them were there. I waited at the door for Yulan and her boyfriend. There I ran into Samesh, Albert, and Vincent and told them about dinner. Yulan showed up late of course at 640 (keeping with tradition), and then we all headed over to the Sesh Wan place.  We had a good meal of fish, tofu, meat, and a very good tomato-type soup. There were large chunks of tomato and meat in the soup and it was kind of a sweet type soup. During the dinner, Yulan told me that the African guys all look the same to her. At this I burst out laughing. She really could not tell black people apart.

I paid for dinner and managed to get David some bottles. We then headed back to the dorm, and Samesh and Albert gave me some of their country's currency. I have yuan of every denomination here (except for First Baptist, that is...).

I finished up most of my packing and got ready to head back to my US of A in the morning. My flight leaves at 300 PM on August 12th and I arrive home at 350 PM on August 12th. Pretty cool that I get to relive 13 hours!  Can't wait to be home.

Good night and God bless!

P.S. For those who have been following my exploits in Beijing, I hope to have one or two follow-up posts regarding my return home and my Borlaug-Ruan internship presentation for the Global Youth Institute (which is to be held in October in Des Moines, Iowa).  Thank you for your readership and your support.

The clean shaven, swimmer hair version of me.