Goodbyes

Well...the "Goodbye Phase" has begun and it's a lot more difficult than I expected. I guess (prepare for a cliche) you never know what you've got until it's gone. I didn't realize how amazing my school, students, department, and colleagues were until I was forced to say goodbye to my first "work home" these past few weeks. It was difficult, to say the least, to say goodbye to people who have helped me become a better educator over these past two years. I was given the opportunity to teach the courses of my choosing, which helped me bring passion into my classroom. At the same time, my high school challenged me (well...more so the kids challenged me) to look for a variety of ways to teach and educate. Yep....in the words of Boyz II Men, it was "hard to say goodbye".

My friends and colleagues organized goodbye parties and dinners in my honor, which was GREAT. I've also been receiving some pretty cool gifts for my trip; the best so far being a journal from my students, a South Africa travel guide book from my Social Studies department, and a map of South Africa from one of my close work friends that is now comfortably situated on my apartment wall. The warm gifts, cards, and words have meant a lot to me :)

Now I'm focused on moving on to my month-long full time job: Selling/getting ride of cheap used stuff, my car being the main focus. I'm actually using the EXACT same qualities that I used while teaching high school kids, patience and flexibility. They will be my BF's for the next month.

On to some good news. I'm beginning to get more pieces of the puzzle, and I found out I'll be training in the Mpumalanga Province which is situated in the northeastern part of the country. I'll be about 50 miles north of the capital (Pretoria) in a village near a small college. I will soon know more about my three months of training, but as of right now, I just know the province.

Counting down the days....till next time!