I keep avoiding writing. It's not because I don't have anything to write. Quite the contrary, I have too much to write. And most of it is about goodbyes, or endings, or at least beginnings of endings.
When I was in Uganda, someone told me to look at our move as a "continuation of the journey." I'm trying to look at it that way. Really, I am.
But today I handed in my Indonesia tax id card today and signed "exit" paperwork at school. The physicality of these actions magnified the finality of this whole experience.
And of course, in the midst of all the planning, shuffling, and goodbying, little wonderful and not-so-wonderful things are slipping by...
....dinner at Kenara's Indian Restaurant with Shana and Dawn. We exchanged Jakarta horror stories about dentistry. We ate spicy food. We turned down the offer by the cute Aussie to "Come join us at the bar ladies!" And we dreamed about our futures while enjoying Gelato at Tuscano's.
....eating my delicious salad from the "organic guy" and biting a rock! Two cracked teeth later, I'm wishing my return to the states was a bit sooner than two months away. Can I go two months without fixing my two cracked teeth?
....Madi winning the Middle School Writing Contest for the entire Foreign Service Youth Foundation (as in the entire world!) and planning her early return to the US so she can attend the award ceremony in Washington DC.
....saying goodbye to my seniors. Celebrating the completion of the AP exam with my awesome students as we dined on cinnamon rolls.
....mourning the bewildering anti-JIS climate, facing daily protests outside our school gates, and driving by to see men throw raw eggs at our school.
....teaching Melody and Beata (my teacher-friends) how to make cinnamon rolls and pies. We crowd in the kitchen mixing, rolling, and taste-testing while my kitchen ceiling drips water from the huge storm outside.
....purchasing the first plane ticket for the first departure. The first real ending and the first tangible beginning. Oh my heart.
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