Day 13: Happy Birthday, Pablo!

It's Pablo's birthday today on our last full day in Changsha, so he will be back in the spotlight. Pablo is our trip photographer and has been actively engaged in all we have done. His favorite parts of the trip so far have been the food and visiting famous tourist sites, particularly in Beijing.

We first visited the Hunan Museum. We only had time for one exhibit and saw the artifacts from a 2,000-year-old tomb unearthed in the 1970s. Pablo liked how the tomb was recreated in the museum (it is three stories deep) and enjoyed learning how ancient people were buried. 

We then drove to a vegetable market near Nanya Middle School where we were met by the principal and a group of their 9th grade students. The students toured ours around the market and then we walked to their school for photos and a gift exchange. The Nanya students had many questions about our day, our dress code, dating life, and American pop culture and sports. 

Our next stop was to the Yali Guangda Campus, the newest campus in the Yali system. It was being built last year so we are the first Foote delegation to visit. We took photos once off the bus and then went to the cafeteria to make dumplings with the students. The school had a huge delicious cake made for Pablo's birthday and we all sang to him and ate cake before making and eating dumplings for lunch. 

Our students then gave presentations about Foote to English classes and played games with the Yali students. We then visited a music and dance class, and ended with a martial arts lesson on the soccer field. After lunch and each class we visited, our students were mobbed by Yali students wanting pictures. It was overwhelming for them but they handled every interaction with grace. 

We loaded up our "tour bus" for a drive to the farewell dinner. Sofia said it was a good time to "recharge our social batteries."

The farewell dinner was wonderful. There were more performances, including an unexpected reprisal of the dance our students performed a few days ago. Pablo was once again honored for his birthday in spectacular fashion. More gifts were exchanged, toasts were given, and the students left with their host families for their final night in Changsha! 

Pablo's Highlight of the Day: Getting two cakes in honor of his birthday and receiving so many gifts from Yali students. 

Pablo's Challenge of the Day: Carrying around all of his gifts and managing all of the attention he got at the two schools we visited.