Farewell from Chengdu

Somehow in the past few weeks, the powers that be in China decided to restrict access to our CCAOM blog…which has meant no stories and no photos. So, I decided to send this via email in the hopes it can be posted within Canada. Our time is quickly coming to a close here. Jonna and Natalie left for the airport and their return flight to Canada this morning as they will be writing the D.TCM exam on May 29th. They’ve been working really hard preparing it alongside our regular studies, so best of luck to them on Friday! The rest of us (Jason, Michael, Eliz and myself) have only one day of clinic and classes left, which is almost unbelievable. Tomorrow brings not only a completion to our program in China, but to our five years of study together in Canada. It’s a bittersweet goodbye we’ll be saying when we leave here, and an exciting beginning to what’s next. For some of us, it will mean preparing for licensing exams in the Fall, for others it will mean embarking on a professional practice upon our return…imagine that…ha! We will all be heading our separate ways over the next week. In the short term, Mike will be returning to Victoria, Jason to the Squamish area, while Eliz is heading to London and I will be going to Tibet. Last night the University and Hospital Administration hosted an amazing graduation for the six of us. There were congratulatory speeches and toasts, beautiful framed diplomas, a delicious dinner and entertainment (the President of the University sang Karaoke!). We had a fantastic time and felt that it was really a celebration of all that our time here and the past five years have come to symbolize for each of us. Because I can’t post this myself, I’m not able to send many photos…here are a few I thought you might like to see.

Jonna celebrating her last day of school with a little dance

Natalie trying to pack herself into Lesley's suitcase for the trip home

The 'girls' enjoying a final foot massage together

Lesley receiving some TLC at Dr. Wu Jie's clinic

Photo with the Foreign Affairs Office (FAO) staff and all our translators

The gang with our diplomas!

Photo with the Hospital and University Administration, our Professors the FAO and our translators at Graduation

Jason signing our Graduation banner

Mike, Marianne and Jason at our Graduation dinner

This has truly been an unforgettable experience that we are incredibly grateful to have had. We look forward to sharing more tales of our time here once we're settled back home.

Man zou,
Lesley