Farewell Huaxia!!

As much as we weren't ready for it, our day of Farewell to Huaxia came all too quickly on Saturday. First came lots of laughs with deep expressions of friendship and gratitude, then came more gifts and a final huge banquet and then... the tears ... so, so many tears! And they weren't cute, gentle tears - it was a literal flood of emotion. Be glad that you weren't there because not one of us who was present managed to escape "the ugly cry." 

Now that we are almost home, we realize what a precious and fleeting experience our delegation trip has been and we already miss our dear friends back in Beijing.  We've made memories to last a  lifetime and we can't wait to share more photos and details with our school community when we are back in Dallas. Most of all, we look forward to welcoming Huaxia to UA in October. Xie Xie!

Our delegation with all of our Huaxia hosts

Our farewell included a wonderful and spirited talent show

A Huaxia student honored us with a Chinese fan dance

Our seniors entertained with their freshman dance

Alex and her host sister made us all laugh and cry with this beautiful duet

 

You can see how much the crowd loved their duet!

More gorgeous gifts for Ursuline Academy

A final delicious buffet prepared by the Huaxia school cafeteria

One of many gifts from a host family was a traditional Chinese portrait - Can you recognize this student?

Students of Chinese Language thanked Dr. Yang for her years of dedication and inspiration (here's where the crying began)

Another huge gift - one of several giant photos which Caroline is bringing back to Dallas

Saying goodbye...

Morgan hugs her host mom goodbye

Soooo hard to leave

And so very sad as well ...

Friends forever

Bye Bye Huaxia - we're waiting for you in Dallas!!