Day 23: Goodbye, No Problem, It's a Wonderful Life, Barack Obama

Well, this is it. My journal "swan song". I can't believe its over... we fly out tomorrow morning and it could not have come any faster. I really feel ready to go and as though I have no regrets; it feels like I've accomplished what I'd hoped to and kind of as though I've taken from this particular experience about as much as I could have given the time frame. But, at the same time, I don't want to leave my kids or the relationships I've built or the exhiliration of exploring another culture. We all have to say dasvidanye at some point though.

Today was a fairly usual morning; as always, I circulated the room constantly to work one-on-one with students. When the kids found out it was my last day, many of them were curious as to where I was going and were asking why I wouldn't stay. The beautiful thing about my age group is I still got to have a little attachment to them; I feel like the older age groups are mature enough and saavy enough about the nature of international education (changing schools each year and meeting all sorts of people temporarily kind of allows kids and people in general to disconnect or easily move on from relationships) and aren't as outwardly impacted by the loss of contact with someone. The youngin's, however, still want you there forever. I'd only been there a little over two weeks, and they were all begging me to come back and not to go! My mentor teacher took a picture of me with all my kids and printed it out immediately, gluing it to purple backing and allowing the students to sign the back of it. It is probably my most prized possession I will be bringing back from here, without a doubt.

Saying goodbye to all the staff was hard too. They have been so wonderful in accepting us and "showing us the ropes" around Astana. Its incredible how adaptive and cest le vie the teachers are; its probably their semi-nomadic lifestyle :) but saying adios to them hurt about as much as saying goodbye to the kids. Their kindness and welcome will not be forgotten and I intend to pay it forward with newcomers and the like.

After classes, we moved all of our things to Tim's apartment and traveled one last time to Baiterek Tower and then continued to walk for 3 miles (it was cold, but we didn't realize it was -30F cold...) to Akorda (the White House, so to speak... President Nazarbayev's house) and then through the "oil arch" as I call it towards Chan Shatyr. Needless to say, we felt as though we got a good last impression of Kazakhstan and look forward to seeing how it will grow. Then it was time for dinner, ice slides and ice skating (for Keri) at the Ice City and then finishing up the "pack up your life" process. Now it's a little after midnight my time and I'm exhausted, but can't decide if I should try and tough it out by staying up the three hours until we leave for the airport... hmm, decisions, decisions...

I will let you know when we land safe and sound in Seattle. Thanks for coming along for the journey, see you back in Spokane soon :) hopefully with a complete portfolio!

Chels