Departure Day – Time To Say Goodbye!| 3 min read
The last month of training has flown by so quickly and it almost doesn’t seem real that we have approached the end. This day never gets any easier for interns when it comes to saying goodbye after forming such close bonds and friendships with fellow participants during the month in Beijing, though knowing that you have made so many new friends and learnt so much is an amazing feeling!
Hugs, promises of visits to different provinces throughout China and words of encouragement for this forthcoming semesters teaching between interns continued all day and well into the next as group by group the interns left for their placements throughout China.
Throughout the departure days, interns were excited to be beginning the next stage of their journey and to experience first hand what it is like to be a teacher interns in a Chinese school and explore their new city. Everything that the interns had been building towards in the last month was now going to be put into action!
And it wasn’t just interns departing! Some of us here on the TTC team were all packed ourselves ready to accompany the majority of interns to their provinces. Our team was set to visit different regions of China alongside interns including; Inner Mongolia, The south provinces of China and central regions, with even more visits to be done well into the semester.
Armed with my own backpack I looked as though I was set to be away for months as alongside 17 interns and another staff member I embarked on a 32 hour train journey to Chengdu: Sichuan province.
Although an epic train ride, the time passed so quickly as I filled up on numerous noodle pots and gazed out of the window at the beautiful mountains appearing, as we got further away from the north of China.
Arriving in Chengdu a day and a half later we were picked up by the areas placement partner before all being taken to a restaurant to enable the interns to meet their schools and contact buddies for their region. Chengdu is notorious for its spice, so after trying many traditional spicy dishes (and drinking lots of water!) interns were dropped off at their accommodation.
The interns were each given a buddy at their schools, (usually one of the schools English teachers) which was assigned to help and support them over the next semester.
After interns were settled our staff then returned to our Beijing office, were we will continue to give support throughout the semester. We wish our entire teacher interns the best of luck during their new adventure and for the rest of the semester! look forward to seeing everybody again soon!
