Please note that this post was written in 2015, without any knowledge of the events soon to unfold throughout the region. I hope that its lighthearted tone is not insensitive; certainly I would not write it like this now, retrospectively, but for the time being I preserve the original text. ~TJC

Disaster has struck Xinjiang: armed police turned up at the Kuitun apartment and told them their visas had expired. The school’s ability to get a visa depends on their relationship with the prefectural police. Kuitun is in Yili, placing their police HQ five or six hours away, so their school was unable to pull the right strings. Unable to get visas, they were told with very little notice that they’d have to leave Xinjiang, and possibly China.

We’re a close bunch, and wanting to say goodbye we dropped everything to visit. Kieran joined us to get a Friday evening bus, but by the time I was home from school (Tom, inexplicably, had a week off) they had just two left. Bollocks. There were only two train tickets left, too. Bollocks! Private car was ¥80 each, but they took us to a corner shop on the way and dropped us off exactly where we wanted. You pay for convenience.

‘Where we wanted’ wasn’t the girls’ apartment, either. They were still on their way back from Yili getting visa extensions while Project Trust organised another project. We went to KFC instead. When Kieran and Jordanne are together, the conversation usually turns to fast food (having both worked in it back home), and since it was open (and warm) it was as good as anywhere else. The trio arrived an hour later, clad in school uniform – very fetching blue, white and yellow trackies.

Calum and Mac arrived later on a train from Ürümqi while we helped with some emotional packing. They’d started to settle in for the year, and now each have more stuff than can comfortably fit into one 20kg case. I’ve been left with an apartment key so I can pop down to Kuitun to send their clothes/UK food/knitting needles in instalments. They did a remarkably good job of packing given the short notice. We got a few bits and bobs they couldn’t carry and no longer wanted. I now have a lovely whiteboard, a couple of novels and several purple hangers (what does it matter if I didn’t need them?).

Apart from the looming farewell, it was a lovely weekend. On Saturday we were invited to lunch by Jordanne’s waiban, who took us for a banquet – an incredibly kind thing to do (not cheap, either). Saturday night was spent ‘out’. There was a small incident involving a dare, Tom, and the floor on Friday night which (probably) incapacitated him on Saturday. He came to their favourite Uighur restaurant for noodles, but wasn’t up to anything more and so headed home. KTV is ever-popular in China. We filled several hours with old classics (and surprisingly recent stuff), and tried a few clubs, but were (A) the only ones dancing and (B) the only ones not employed there, so we left fairly quickly. Still a fun evening.

It was a relatively early start on Sunday so the Golden Trio could get a bus to Ürümqi Airport, and from there a flight to Beijing. After a day with Mike, they’ll fly to Jiamusi in Heilongjiang province. Look it up – it’s literally on the other side of China! The rest of us trickled off, Tom and I accompanied by Kieran to Karamay.

Though absolutely horrible to say goodbye, it must have been ten times worse for the trio. We’ll still see them during holidays, and they’ll get to experience two provinces in the furthest reaches of China; two completely different cultural influences. And I suppose that’s what we should focus on: the positives; the silver lining. We’re still their friends and we still care about them, no matter how far away they are. And it’s not as though that should come as a surprise to any of us; after all, we had to go through the same thing, and consider the same positives, when we decided to come here in the first place.

—TJC

Featured image: Seeing the Kuitun Trio off! CW: Liesbeth, Kieran, Jordanne, Calum, Tom, Mac, me, Becca.