Last few days in China, with Dad

After returning from Shanghai late Tuesday night, we spent our time in the Ningbo-Beilun area. It rained almost constantly until Saturday, but we still got out and about. I introduced Dad to the Beilun area and the friends and “family” who were still in town.

Putting the bikes into the back of the taxi van.
Adolfo opted to bike all the way back!

On Thursday, we went for a bike ride out to the beach, a nice, long two-hour bike ride through the green countryside, in the rain. Backs splattered with mud, and faces wet with sweat and precipitation (it was still around 85ºF), about two miles away from the beach, the bike that Dad was riding came up with a flat. Nevertheless, he continued on the rim to arrive at the beach, just as the taxi I had called 

Dad walks in his froggy-Vibram shoes, in the rain,
back after dropping the other bike at the school

showed up. Perfect timing. That evening, Dad and I made burrito fixings with all the leftover supplies we had in our cupboards and fridge, and the guys (a couple of our friends, Adolfo and Ben) came over to eat and watch SYTYCD.

On Friday, my friend Fan took Dad, Adolfo, and I to the Ningbo Youngor Zoo. We saw pandas, touched rhino butts, fed lemurs pieces of a cherry Lara Bar that I had in my purse, and saw a bunch of other animals… like one of the 10-15 ligers that exist in the world (yes, a “liger” actually is a legit animal!). We went into Ningbo in the afternoon and showed Dad around the little Chinese city (of 11 million people, nbd). After spoiling our appetites with wasabi-flavored DQ Blizzards, we went to Laowaitan, the foreigner sector of town, and ate at an Irish pub.

Lions. Up close and personal. No zoom.
Just through the chain-link fence.

We watched some tigers fight for and eat a live chicken that some zoo-goers tossed into the river in front of us.
PETA would have had a field day.

Yup, we touched the rhino butt... 

...we ignored the Chinglish signs warning us not to.

Lazy pandas.

Feeding lemurs Lara Bar pieces.

Fan and the lemurs.

It started to drizzle again, so the lemurs took refuge in this shelter.

Convincing a zoo employee who was on break to ferry us over the moat to lemur island,
since the bridge operator was at lunch, and the drawbridge was therefore drawn.

This was the only photo I shot of the liger, apparently.
(He was rubbing up against the window pane as if he wanted to snuggle with me.)
Fuzzle boy. 

Swans and geese and ducks and flamingoes and other various birds were in this pond/lake.

Wasabi-flavored DQ blizzard! This is Asia.

Saturday, I spent the day starting to pack. Dad helped me take down all of my décor, and I started boxing up the kitchen and other items to give away.  Lots and lots to give away. Some friends came over to take their pick of the piles. Seriously. Piles and piles of stuff to give away.  Dad and I got Korean food for an early dinner!

This was only SOME of the stuff in the giveaway piles!

Korean Cafe

Shelley and Alice came over and I gave them going away presents,
not including all the extra stuff they took off my hands!

Sunday, I got to introduce Dad, as well as my friend Fan, to my international church. Though significantly less people in the congregation now that the universities are on summer break, the sermon was inspiring (“works and miracles”), and I got to introduce many of my church friends to Dad. That afternoon, I took Dad to get a traditional deep-tissue Chinese massage, and I got my last cupping. The sun finally broke through the clouds, after the morning thunder and lightening storm and downpour. Things dried out in the muggy heat, and Dad and I walked around the riverside parks of Beilun. Lovely. In the evening, we met up for one last family dinner with my Beilun family.

 

Massage time for Dad!

All day Monday was packing and check out day, tying up loose ends before leaving. After Dad and Adolfo headed out for a bike ride to the beach (via a different route, and with a rental bike this time), I went to the bank. True to the “TIC experience,” the bank couldn’t make the transfer of all my remaining funds in my account, so I had to call on the gracious help of one of my friends to help me out. That’s the short story.  

Whew! It all fits! Packed!
Thanks for all your help, Fan!

Back at the apartment, with all my piles of stuff, I conveniently patched/just covered up the damage that Jett puppy did in his boredom (the chewed upholstery on the backside of the couch and the spots on the wall that were gnawed into—as for how, I’m really not sure) and all the scuff marks from bike tires and whatnot. A full crew of no less than seven people came to inventory and check out the apartment. All's well that ends well. I assured them that the chewed-up aircon remote (ahem, Jett was still teething back then!), as well as any other damages, could be paid for with our remaining utilities stipend.

Checking out of the apartment; somebody from the School Board,
the landlords' apartment agent, a prospective client, our Ayi,
and there were more people behind me!

For the rest of the day, and well into the evening, Fan, Dad, and I loaded up Fan’s car with multiple loads of stuff that we ferried over to various friends’ places. Let’s just say that we redecorated Kate’s house with added stuff, and she’ll be delighted with the little scavenger hunt I set up for her return! Surprises in August! Woohoo! I continued to inventory all the clothes I didn’t need to bring back with me, and the donation bags grew. I even left a suitcase behind for a friend.

Last view of a sunset from our 28th-floor apartment in Shi Mao, overlooking Beilun.

At what was the end of the “day,” Fan took us to a Japanese restaurant, and I ran into one of my former colleagues, which was unexpected, even in our “small semi-rural village” of Beilun, population 3-4 million.

Good thing Dad was there; when Fan got a flat, Dad changed the tire!
(It must have been the weight of hauling around all of Kari's and my leftover stuff!)

Upon returning home to my nearly-empty apartment, where there was wifi (well, sorta), I read my email (because my phone was not working I did not receive the message an hour earlier when it came it; my phone conveniently ran out of money on the account the evening before I was to fly out). Air China cancelled one of our flights (the connecting one to Beijing that was to depart in 9 hours), and I needed to contact Expedia immediately to see to arranging a new itinerary…

(TBC)