We started today with a speaker briefing LGM about our keynote speaker for the day, Mr. Richard Brubaker. He founded volunteer program called Hands on Shanghai, which has since expanded to being Hands on China. He works to improve the lives of less fortunate Chinese people. He does things like paint schools for children and create educational programs for kids.
(Adam, Steph, Aaron, Jordan, Alexis, Katie, and Ayesha waiting for the keynote speaker)
(Nick and Mack)
(With Adam)
Rich, as he called himself, was so down-to-earth and a really great speaker. He emphasized the importance of sustainability, which was very relevant to our water scarcity simulation. He also stressed that social, economic, and environmental sustainability cannot be separated - they are all intertwined.
Like many of our other speakers, Rich also talked about how relationships are so important to success and happiness in life. Throughout this past week, I've really taken this idea to heart.
Some other important things I learned from Rich are:
1. Commitment leads to change
2. A good leader needs a high tolerance for pain
3. Classroom education is important, but so is hands-on experience
4. To get people involved and focused on a cause, start with a relevant, local issue to get their attention
We had a speaker debriefing LGM after Rich's speech and then we boarded the buses to go have lunch in Old Shanghai. I ended up in Papa John's with Azahn, Ayesha, and Alexis. Azahn really wanted to check out the sketchy vendors in Old Shanghai, so he left before the food came and told me to grab a box for him. We wanted to leave the restaurant quickly, but it took me about 20 minutes to get the waitresses and waiters to understand that I needed a box for Azahn's half of the pizza. We only had about half an hour to wander around Old Shanghai, but we managed to get some shopping in, so that was really nice.
(Me and Azahn on the bus:)
We had our final LGM meeting after lunch. No one wanted it to ever end. We made a poster for Zach, telling him what a great FA he was and how we were going to miss him. :'(
(Zach with the poster)
Everyone was really sad for the conference to be over...
(Lucretzia and Katie)
We wrote some GYLC reflections in our handbook and I realized how much I have actually learned over the course of this trip. Next, was the certificate presentation. Earlier in the week, Zach asked us to sit with someone on the bus or get to know someone that we don't always hang out with, so we could present them with their GYLC certificate of completion at the end of the conference. My partner was Gafur, who made the sweetest speech about me - it really brightened my day! In my speech about him, I talked about how kind, funny, and generous he is. He even saved my hair from being closed in the elevator doors this morning! He also can make the most believable frog noise, which is awesome.
Anyway, after getting our certificates, Zach had a gift for all of us. He made us a poster with some words of wisdom to help us with life in general. It was a brilliant gift. I've actually never been given anything so thoughtful before - I was speechless. He gave us advice about everything - from leadership to personal relationships. I copied down the poster and typed them up here too:
*ZACH'S WORDS OF WISDOM*
1. Human BEING vs. Human Doing
2. Center your life where you derive/find meaning
3. Be insatiably curious and voraciously persistent
4. Leadership doesn't just roar, sometimes it's the voice that says, "I'll try again tomorrow."
5. When confronted with pain, relationship, or conflict...push into it (I'm sorry vs. Forgiveness)
6. Surround yourself with people old and young, rich and poor - especially people you find a challenge to care for
7. Find people you admire in life and adopt them
8. Be present too!
9. Be content with plans that don't work out
10. You can only date/be in a relationship with the current version of a person. Not a potential future version.
11. People want to join in on an adventure, not be one.
12. You will get hurt. Don't close yourself off to life as a result.
We all told Zach he was very philosophical and that he should write a book. At least he knows he can count on 22 customers if he ever writes one...but really, we were all blown away by our last LGM meeting. It was so...perfect. Below is a picture of our whole group with Zach.
(Top: Aaron, Crystal, Claire, Alexa, Me, Allie, Lucretzia, Adam, Ayesha, Steph, Nick, Katie P., Katie B., Brianna, Marianna, Zach, Jordan - Middle: Gafur - Bottom: Vivian, Sarah, Ashleigh, Mack, Alexis)
We had our first slot of real free time today because we didn't have to go out to buy lunch or anything like that. I just chilled in the hotel with Katie, Adam, and Victoria. Afterwards, we got ready for our Farewell Dinner, which the FA's transformed into a dinner/dance for us. We wanted a dance so badly, so it was so nice of them to arrange it for us. It also meant that we got to get dressed up!
(Me and Adam)
(My Farewell Dinner Table :'( )
After dinner there was a slideshow, which was so sad. My friends and I were in a lot of pictures because I gave my camera card to the program coordinators one day, so they could use pictures for the slideshow. Score!
We applauded all of the program coordinators and FAs for all of their hard work, and then it was time for student speeches. Each LGM group was supposed to have one speaker to talk about their GYLC experience. Zach came up to me and Katie during dinner and asked if one of us wanted to make the speech. I volunteered to go up for our LGM (the Japan group - obviously the best one:). The first speaker, who made her speech right before me had prepared and written out a whole speech - she must have known about it ahead of time. I'm glad I didn't know about it beforehand though - I wanted to speak from the heart.
I was so nervous and excited to speak in front of the 300 GYLCers. I made my speech all about relationships, and how over the course of the program how important relationships have become to me - especially ones with my new friends who live all over the world. I thanked Zach and Jenny, our bus FAs and Terry, our travel manager.
The best part was that while I was up there, I looked into the crowd and saw all of my new friends. They were cheering and smiling, and I knew that they had my back no matter what. I even got a high five on the way up from some random guy that I'd never met before. Here I was was with 300 people that I had known for less than two weeks, and they all somehow supported me. It was the most amazing feeling in the world - even thinking about it right now is making me tear up.
After speeches, it was time for the much-anticipated dance. I'm not going to lie and say it was amazing, but it was decent seeing that the FAs pulled it together on such short notice. Different people from each LGM donated their iPods with a five-song on-the-go playlist to play. The music was actually disappointing, which surprised me, but all that really matters is that I got this last night with my friends.
(Dance floor)
We only had half an hour together after the dance because we had to be in our rooms by room check. I had already decided that I would pull an all-nighter though, so I could say goodbye to my friends. Adam was going to be the first of my friends to leave at 4:30 in the morning, so I knew sleeping was out of the question...
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