So, this post is about goodbyes. This is my last week at Roots & Shoots, and I’d like to say a few words.
First of all, goodbyes are hard. My first time in Beijing as a foreign exchange student, most of the Chinese people I knew were either my internship boss, my teachers, or my TA from Dickinson. These were the Chinese people I became closest to, because most students at Peking University wanted to befriend me to be their free tutor to pass their TOEFFL exam, which made for a one-sided relationship, and made me feel taken advantage of.
But, Roots & Shoots has been the exact opposite. Today at work was my “last day,” (Wednesday really is my true last day) and everybody is asking for my skype, and email address to keep in touch. At Roots & Shoots, every intern gets a picture of Jane Goodall and a chimpanzee that is signed by everyone, and a picture with a banner of Roots & Shoots, as well as cake or fruit. I really felt touched by each and every person, and intern. I actually looked forward to going to work, which most people can’t say. That’s the sort of job I hope to find after graduating MIIS.
- This is only the people at the office today. Mostly, lots of interns, but some people knew they were not going to be there for my last day, and still wanted to say goodbye to me.
Earlier, I forgot to mention a day in the life, so this is what our stretching looked like:
- Our daily stretching.
Secondly, I have translated quite a bit. I sound like a broken record, but that has been most of my main tasks. I have finished one more project, the Eco-Action Beijing, which shortly afterwards, should have the news page up shortly. This week, I will be working on another wetlands project translation, and hope to finish before I leave on Thursday. But, hard work doesn’t go unappreciated. Today, I was praised as the second intern they’ve had who can translate Chinese to English, since most of the interns are Chinese, and their English translations are sometimes a little awkward, not the way a native English speaker would say.
Speaking of translation, I’d like to mention another proud moment for me when I transferred at a subway station a few weeks ago. I was walking past, when I saw a Wildaid advertisement with Jackie Chan for No Shark Fin.
- In this picture, the text says “Each year, around 70 million sharks are killed because of their fins. You can protect the oceans by just saying “No” to shark fin soup. The Wild Aid slogan is the black part, which then says “When the killing stops, the buying does to.”
So, I hope I am not the only one who knows about it, but I hope the message really reaches people, for the sharks’ and ocean ecosystem’s sake. This sort of picture is to stop consumer demand for shark fin soup, and hopefully then stop the need to supply shark fin, and hopefully using an economic method towards conservation.
This is just a few words for how I feel about this last week. I have some extremely mixed emotions about going. I know I am excited to be going to Vietnam and home, but sad to be leaving behind my Roots & Shoots family. But, the good news is now I have a family to visit when I come back to Beijing, and trust me, I will be back here again, I promise. And with that, I should sign off. Zaijian!
