All My Bags are Packed...

So, it's our last night here. I'm up way too late. I've had a million things to blog about and tons of pictures to post, but just haven't had the time. And now my cord for my camera is packed and everything will have to wait until we get back to American soil.
These past few weeks have been a whirlwind of trying to fit everything in and saying goodbyes. I don't think I'm ready yet to be done--emotionally or physically. But, tomorrow is the big day whether I'm ready or not. Our plane leaves at 9:00 pm.
Here are some highlights of the last week and then I'll have post all the pictures later. I haven't even posted my Beijing trip pictures yet and that was nearly a month ago!
Monday night the Yeung's took us out to dinner at the Herbal Cuisine restaurant. We had never been there, so it was fun. We really enjoyed the food and of course we enjoyed the company. The Yeung's have been great home teachers and good friends. They are always willing to help with anything. One of the hardest things about leaving here is leaving the wonderful branch. We have met some AMAZING people and have had so much fun. Hopefully, we will be lifelong friends with all of them.
After dinner, I went up to bridge club to get our last night of playing in. I think I've already expressed how much I love bridge. And the more I play, the more I love it. I will miss having a regular group to play with.
Tuesday during lunch we went to the pool. It's a good thing we did too, because Wednesday a huge storm came in and it's still raining. But, Tuesday was a beautiful day. In fact, the pool was filled with a lot of the teachers. It's a great way to spend a lunch break. All of Britton's friends were there. They are at the age where they can just swim around and play without much adult supervision. It's so nice. Shane and Jason played with them, taking turns throwing them around and playing shark and whatever else. Melanie and I played with Haley and Ezra and just talked. Good times.
Tuesday night our Aiee watched the kids and Jason and I were able to go to Guangzhou for some last minute shopping. It was really nice to have a night out together, it hasn't happened in a while. We went to Beijing Lu which is a really fun pedestrian road filled with tons of great shopping. We also went to Tianhe, but we didn't really find what we wanted there.
Wednesday after work we went with Mel and Shane (and Naomi) out to dinner. The kids had a kid pizza party all together with Maddie and Brianna babysitting. They were so excited to be able to have them babysit them one last time. When we got home Britton said, "Maddie and Brianna are so funny, we laughed at least half of the time you were gone." I'm glad they had so much fun because we had a great time going out. After eating, we all went to get foot massages at the resort center. I haven't been at all since we've been here because my feet are so ticklish but I actually really enjoyed it. There were only a few times when it was too ticklish to handle.
And today has just been a crazy "packing and giving away things" day. I can't believe how much stuff we have. We have had to go through our bags numerous times trying to see what we can get rid of to free up space. We're finally packed and we got all the essentials in. And luckily we have nice enough neighbors and aiee's who are happy to take the stuff that we are leaving behind.
Now it's nearly 1 am. Jason and Shane are out getting noodles and massages. A very fitting thing for our last night here. Jason is really going to miss Shane. They go for a midnight noodle run or massages or both at least once a week. I love that they are both night owls and can hang out at night and Mel and I can both get up early and go jogging in the mornings. Man, we sure are going to miss them. I can't think about that right now though or I'll get too sad.
This week at work has been fun. Monday was our last day with students and then the rest of the week we've just been doing grades and cleaning up. I tried to pace myself a bit, but I've still been done with everything for days. But, these days are still fun just hanging out with my colleagues trying to entertain ourselves. Shaun reads us random trivia from the internet and Murray and I are having a free cell competition. (Murray's killing me right now with a winning streak of 21 in a row!) The others are still gradually getting their work done. It's just fun being in the office all day long with everyone getting to chat and joke around. I'm going to miss my office and my colleagues. It's been a fun and interesting dynamic to be a part of.
So, here's what's on the agenda for tomorrow:
6:00 Morning jog with Melanie
7:00 French toast breakfast with Britton (he requested that I wake him up before I leave for work, we used to always have french toast together before he started to go to school later. Now he sleeps in every morning)
8:00--11:30 Last day at Work
12:00 Manicures and Pedicures with Melanie and Haley
1:00-4:30 Finish getting rid of everything
4:30 Final apartment checkout
5:30 or 6 Off to the airport
9:00 We'll be in the air!

So, I better be getting to bed!