Farewell Mr Pan

So this afternoon we said our farewells to Mr Pan and family. Being the national day week long holiday, they are today off to Suzhou for a couple of days with Mr Pan's father and friends. We simply could not leave without saying goodbye to Mr Pan so we have spent the majority of a long, sleepy day hanging around the apartment awaiting his return to the school.

Jann brought 3 wonderful kangaroo toys with her from Australia so we could present them to Mr Pan, Mr Shen and Raymen. Secretly I wanted to keep one for myself!

Mr Pan, his wife Oolan and daughter Delia stopped by this afternoon. It was certainly a sad farewell as they have become a mini family to us and we know they think the same of us too. Mr Pan has just done more than we could ever have expected or asked for, nothing was ever a problem or unsolvable and we really will miss him. With any luck we will hopefully see him one day in Australia, and we made it clear that if Delia ever studies in Australia we will take her under our wing and try to repay some of our debt to Mr Pan. Our time in China would have been a very very different experience with out our beloved Mr Pan!

Of course, Mr Pan can't arrive without a present, and this one was really spectacular.

We have wanted a traditional Chinese tea set for a long time now but have yet to buy one. Mr Pan has a couple and he used a similar one to this the time we went to the teahouse for lunch, teaching us the proper method of pouring the tea. So it was with great pleasure that are now the owners of the above set and we will think of him whenever we see it.

Goodbye Mr Pan! We hope to see you again some day!