wow… I can’t believe it’s over… and i managed to have one of the happiest and saddest days of my life today.. happy because I was feeling good again… rash/welts/mystery illness seem to pretty much be gone (fingers crossed!)… made a bunch of pb& honey sammiches (could NOT, for the life of me, determine what was jelly and what was meat sauce in the supermarket… scary, eh?… so i went the safe route with honey)… for the kids and staff as a “thanks and good-bye”… joined a friday afternoon water fight with the kids and got my butt kicked (but managed to get a few good, bowl fulls of H2O out there, as well)… and took class I, the insane clown posse, as my final class… and then, the part i’ve dreaded… leaving…
started with class IV gave sonam dekyi a respectful smile and nudge (that girl will be a force with which to contend) and made my final, “brilliant” impression by spilling pasang’s ink all over her desk… (hey, at least I’ll be memorable, right? ;)… and, of course, there was helpful tenzin always ready to lend a hand, even when teacher makes a fool of herself on the way out… :)
class III… funny… smart… sweet… with just the right amount of smart-ass… my kind of kids… I had so much fun with them… “mr. no” … shrewd lobsang t and kelsang… sherab (right), the hi-larious wolf in sheep’s clothing… sweet, funny and a demon in a water battle, pema… and the quiet duo of mindol and yangzoom…
class I is where I lost it… and I’m not sure when I’ll recover… how weird is it that this class of mostly wild, raucous and totally nyon-pa (crazy) children was the hardest to say good-bye to? Perhaps it is because, despite the fact that my leaving had been a topic of discussion at school much of the day, the majority of them looked surprised when I stopped by to say my final farewell… mostly, though, it was the look of sadness in tenzin n.’s, tseshoe’s, tenzin d.’s … and, especially, sonam’s eyes ... sonam...(below.. on the left) had been sort of mad at me all day about leaving... so tough...)… when they welled up… shit… I just tried to keep it together… most of you know I’m pretty crappy at that and know that I hugged them all (a few especially tight)… waved… blew kisses… and then ran my ass upstairs to the office and bawled…
a nice... last dinner at dunya... and a noticeable difference in street traffic... will comment more in the future...
there’s no way to describe (even though I’ve tried daily) these kids and this place… there is joy where most would see sorrow… family where many would see orphans… courage and brilliance where some would see disability… and, perhaps most important… hope where most would see despair…
I hope, someday, to give jatson chumig… and all its teachers, workers, leaders… and… of course, children… even a quarter of what they’ve given me over the last two weeks…my gratitude is endless..
ka-lee shu dâng tu-jay-chay, jatson chumig…
i will return…
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