United as 1! [Day 7]

-August 19, 2009-



It was day 2 in the new room upstairs for our common meeting room and all the Chengdu Youths were already upstairs waiting for us; so were the volunteers! We were ready for a fun and exciting day in the Telus World of Science! As we were united with our Chengdu friends, we began talking like mad; as if we haven’t seen each other in ages! Downstairs and out the doors, we all loaded on to the bus with our friends ready and revving to go!

The drive to the Telus World of Science wasn’t a long one so we didn’t have to wait long to get there. The sun was shining so it was a very nice drive to get there. We arrived and as soon as we got off the bus, we all began taking pictures of the outside display with the balls falling in a cool contraption. Then we walked inside and was greeted by a man-which was a paper cut out that we all thought was real (found out it wasn’t when we were about to wave and noticed he didn’t move at all and that he looked awfully skinny). Once again we were separated into different groups to go about the galleries in whatever order we desired. We covered the body gallery, the mystery gallery, the Davinci gallery, and space gallery. Each of them was so much fun! There was a lot of interaction between the Chengdu youths and the galleries; smiles plastered on faces, looks of amusement and much more.
After we went to the IMAX theatre to watch ‘Fly me to the Moon’, which was about three flies going to the moon with some astronauts in 1957; it was rather different and funny. My Chengdu friends were all comparing the characters to the people on the visit and some of the comparisons came close which gave for a good laugh. While we watched the movie, I was between the two twin sisters. Since they didn’t understand and were slightly tired, they took mini naps when things were slow. At one point both of them were sleeping on my shoulders at that same time! I was afraid to move in case I woke them! Once the show let out, we ate a delicious and healthy lunch! Nice warm soup (since some of the Chengdu youths found it extremely cold out), sandwiches, cookies, and refreshments. It tasted so good and was a nice light lunch. After, we finished looking at the galleries and went to the star theatre to watch a show about telescopes. Everyone found that the chairs were comfy and that the show was great.
After another bathroom break, we went back on to the bus and began takeoff.

Our shuttle landed at the Kinsmen Sports Centre, where we got to go run around and play some sports! There was basketball, ping-pong (everyone’s favourite), badminton, volleyball, and jogging around the track. There was such a congestion of people around the ping-pong and badminton nets, which made me think, ‘so Asian!’ (No insult intended at all, more like pride in these actions.), and I couldn’t help but smile. I played a game of doubles in badminton with two small boys and another girl, It was so much fun! My partner (which was a small Chengdu boy) came to me every time we scored a point and gave me a high five! We were burning up the court! (ha-ha!). When we were playing sports for several hours, I changed into some sweats and when I came out, all my friends didn’t recognize who I was! That surprised me! That made me wonder if I looked that different in sweats and sports gear! During the time of play, the Chengdu twins (girls) along with my friend and I were interviewed to give our take on what has happened and what we thought. It was so much fun too, because the reporter was so relaxed and ‘chilled’ out when he talked with us, yet he still appeared professional! That was so neat. After the interview, some pictures were taken and one of the twins ended up sitting on something red which made her pants all dirty! It was right on her bum which made it even more funny to clean! We had tide to go and we attempted to clean her pants (her back in particular), but every time we tried, someone would start laughing so she would jump up and not let us help her. So we decided that my friend and I would go in so the two sisters could do it privately. It was so funny.

Everyone had a great work out and we all felt slightly tired. It was nearing the end of the day but we still had several more things to do. We first went to another Chinese associations head quarters to visit and thank them for their support. Finally it was dinner time and we went to Dynasty Century Palace to go eat. It was a nice little banquet for the Chengdu Youths, volunteers, and sponsors. A slideshow played and everyone loved the pictures that were taken because they would always be in awe and laugh at what they saw. They genuinely love it! Then we also watched some of the interviews that happened during the visit of the Chengdu Youths. Whenever someone the Chengdu Youths knew was being interviewed, they would loudly clap and cheer for them! That showed to me how much bonding these guys had had together and it was irreplaceable. They had become so close in such a short amount of time, it was amazing. The food was served and we all ate and ate and added lots of hot sauce and chilli oil to all our foods. Very delicious! Then some speeches were given and gifts as well. Everyone was thanked and the party had begun! The Chengdu Youths in response to all these gifts, began to sing and do another performance for us (like at City Hall). Following this act, the Chengdu youth continued to sing for us in either solo groups or in trios. There was even a time when the both sets of twins went up and (sort of) sang together. It was so funny though because the one little twin boy would either mock the older twin by pretending to lip sync or dance behind her while she was in front. That would for sure be a show I would pay to see! After the singing was done, all the Chengdu Youths and volunteers went and signed the welcome banner in memory of this once in a lifetime event. Once again more, more mingling happened and people began writing out email addresses and exchanging phone numbers and contact information. I know one thing for sure, I felt like a celebrity at that moment when everyone was asking me to sign stuff for them. I enjoyed the excitement and happiness that everyone was feeling.

For the second last time, we all boarded the bus and headed back to the hotel. We said good bye, collected our belongings and let them sleep, for tomorrow we will party; they aren’t going to leave without a big celebration.

Over the course of this week, I can really feel the uniting of everyone despite the language barrier and distance we had (have) to travel to see them. It’s going to be hard to say good bye to them. I can feel it already. But they will have to leave, and the times we shared together will not be forgotten. It will never ever be forgotten. The bonds we built have become so strong that friendships like ours will last a life time.