Beautiful Goodbye

[For those not in the know, the title is an allusion to a "billy rock" song by Jennifer Hanson that gained alot of popularity early in 2003. Click on the link to hear a clip.] Below is a photo taken by Katie from the bus as we departed Liping, (you can compare it to my photo at the bottom of this post):

We rose EARLY in the morning to have a quick breakfast and catch the bus that would take us to Guiyang, the capital city of Guizhou province.

As is the custom every year, the multitudes came out to see us on our way, and wish us a safe trip out of the town. And I, as usual, resolved not to cry because such effusive, sentimental displays are un-British, and unseemly. During my first exodus out of Liping, I did have a small breakdown--a bizarre quick burst of tears, accompanied by squawking noises...I don't have a real good explanation for it, but maybe I was sleep deprived (a condition that tends to make me more emotional for some reason). In any event, my apologies to Her Majesty, the Queen. This year, however, I was considerably more successful, and not a tear absconded from my tear ducts.

This is not to say that I am heartless, or that I felt no sorrow in leaving behind my 宝贝 and the other friends I made during the summer trip. On the contrary, I was saddened to depart the quaint, peaceful life of this small town, and considerably saddened to depart from my students and friends.

...my students and friends, who came out in droves to see us off. Which, in a rather awkward way, made them appear less like students and friends, and more like groupies, or stalkers. Of course, students and friends can come see one off, especially when he is leaving them for an extended period of time (as we were in this instance). Nonetheless, when students and friends come to see one off in numbers sufficient to constitute a mob or numbers that approach the populations of very small, obscure African nations, that can create an effect markedly different than that produced by 5-10 friends waving 'bye' at the airport.

Truth be told, leaving (or often, coming to) Liping makes me feel like a weird sort of celebrity: there are multitudes waiting for you outside of your bus; some people are crying; some people are down-right sobbing; everyone is waving; many of them have brought you 'good-bye' (or in some cases 'welcome') gifts; things are being shouted; there is a general feeling of chaos. All we're really missing are some electric guitars, a few kilos of cocaine, and a pair of gianormous lips and we'd be the Rolling Stones!

And it feels like celebrity, because all these people love you, as if you'd done something great, when all you've really done is something you love doing.

But really, it's better than being a celebrity, because all these people actually know me personally, and I know them. They have come to wish me off neither out of obsession with my 'celebrity,' nor out of some fallacious belief that I embody an ideal, movement or type of music that they enjoy. They do not idolize me, nor do I depend on their patronage to bankroll my prodigal lifestyle. [Apologies to those of my A-list celebrity readers who take offense at my stereotypical treatment of the celebrity-fan relationship.] My connection with them has much more egalitarian roots than all that. And egalitarianism is the basis of friendship. And having friends is better than having fans--hands down.

So you will notice that while my photo lacks the clarity of Katie's, the former has several advantages of its own over the latter: a) Sam is in my photo and not in hers; b) many of the people in her photo look stoned and/or dejected, whereas my photo captures a happier mood; c) kids in my photo are wearing cool headbands; d)I think the fuzziness in my picture captures the fogginess of the weather as we were leaving; and e) Sam is in my photo and not in hers.