Five weeks from today Holly and I will be boarding our plane, headed for home. Our departure date of June 11 gets closer and closer with each passing day. It is hard to believe that our time here is coming to an end.
Yesterday marked the end of our basketball season. We played Don Bosco in the semi-finals of the high school tournament. Our girls were defeated by a large margin. The team we played was the team we beat in the super cup championship last semester. They came fired up, ready to beat us yesterday. The lady Dragons put up a good fight, but Don Bosco played better and they were more determined to win. Although the season is over, the girls have asked us to continue coaching them through the end of the school year. This showed Holly and I that they are committed to the team and want to continue working to get ready for next year. Coaching this team has been a highlight for me this year, and it will be one of the things I miss the most when we leave in June.
The end of the school year is also quickly approaching. Next Friday, May 14, is a national holiday. School will remain closed for the following two weeks for the WAEC Exams. Ricks will be the hosting site for this standardized test. We will host 6th, 9th, and 12th graders from all around the Monrovia area. School will resume on May 31st for one week before final exams. I only have 9 days left to teach my students before their exams. Where has the year gone? My students and I have worked hard to get all of their quizzes and assignments done before the WAEC break, so that we can just review for the exams and have fun when they return to campus.
I have started making a list of things that I want to do during the two week break. This is a nice opportunity for Holly and I to get to do some last minute things before heading home. A good portion of that will be spent with people that have become a huge part of my life over the last 9 months. Leaving our friends will be the hardest part about returning home. Part of the break will hopefully be spent seeing places that we have yet to see. I have fallen in love with this country, and there is so much beauty to be seen and enjoyed. There are also several things that I want to buy before leaving. These things will be a reminder of the last nine months and the life changing experience that I have had, but they will never be enough to fill the part of me that I will leave here. Hopefully the two weeks will be enough time for us to do all of these things.
I feel like time is something that I so often take for granted, and forget how valuable it is until it is gone. In August I had no idea that May would arrive this quickly. So much has happened, but yet there is so much that I want to see happen. I have been reminded by friends and family of the seeds that I have helped plant here, some of which I have seen grow and others that I may never see grow. The things that I have done and accomplished here are the ones that are easy to talk about. I am excited to get to share about the ways I have seen students and teachers grow during the last nine months. I can’t wait to talk about all of the progress that has been made at Ricks Institute. But then there is this “thing” that I will never be able to fully explain. There is a life change that is hard to share with others, knowing that they cannot even begin to understand. There is a part of me that will always be in Liberia. Something about me has changed and I don’t know that I will ever be able to put that into words. I do know that I will forever be different than I was nine months ago.
No comments:
Post a Comment