so i'm procrastinating from packing up my room and dusting off my backpack for one last journey in asia (for now...) and i've just been thinking about what a year it has been. it seems like yesterday i was at LAX with chelsea, saying goodbye to our parents and going off on the biggest adventure of our lives thus far. it's been a year of teaching and learning a lot from the most adorable students, meeting new friends who i hope i'll remain close to for years to come, having old friends come and visit and creating new memories with them, and traveling and seeing some of the most beautiful places on earth. what a year it has been.
this past week at school was a lot of wrapping up loose ends--getting students to complete missing worksheets, finishing testing, end of semester parties, and of course saying goodbye to all the students and faculty members. i knew i was going to have a hard time saying bye to all my students (tun-tun and oops especially), but i didnt realize how hard it was going to be to say goodbye to my co-workers. The head of the english department, miss kim, has been amazingly helpful all year long and im not sure what bradley and i would have done without her. the thai teachers in my class were always so helpful and even though we spoke different languages and had a hard time understanding one another they became my friends at school and helped me out whenever they could. the managers of the school, kru noi and kru gai, seemed really sad to see bradley and i go. kru noi even asked if i would want to marry her son and stay in thailand with her.....or if she could just come to america with me! i told her she could visit anytime!
the foreign language department out to lunch on our last day
saying goodbye to the kids was hard.....and not just because i was so sad to leave them, but hard because all the kids were on sugar highs from their class parties and were running all over the place! oops gave me a big hug and a kiss on the cheek when i said bye-bye to him. JR clung to my leg and made me take 20 pictures with him before he let me go. tun-tun pouted and wouldnt take any pictures with me, but he gave me a big hug at the end of class that made my heart melt. i just love that little guy. these kids made such a huge impression on me and i'll always look back at my year with them with wonderful memories.
a few of my littlest kids.... my N2 babies (minus tun-tun who was pouting in the corner)
K1/1
half of my N1 kids
ting-ting, care and i
me and oops <3
tomorrow morning katie bradley and i set off on our big trip to INDIA. i am beyond excited for this trip, but also a little nervous. i have heard how overwhelming india can be, so i think im just going to take a deep breath and take in all that i can. we fly into kolkata tomorrow afternoon and the tentative itinerary is to head up to darjeeling for a few days, cut across to varanasi, check out the taj mahal in agra, hopefully ride some camels in the desert before making our way to new delhi, and from there fly back to thailand and spend a week back here before heading back HOME.
so i guess this is my final post for my year of teaching in thailand!
love you all and see you soon!