One last set of exams...

Ok, so they were only midterm exams, and the students all did quite well, but for me, it is my last set of exams as MCC bought my ticket home two weeks before we close the school for the term... (my ticket is purchased for a month from tomorrow!!!) I have warned the teachers, telling them all how much I have appreciated teaching with them this year and how much I admire their commitment to the children. They told me it was clear I really tried, that I had done a good job, and that it was clear I really cared about the students and had good relationships with them. This conversation was one of those that tells me if I was sitting for an exam of life, I seem to be passing... and I really have loved teaching here, getting to be part of this great venture of education.

Exams meanwhile are always a bit of a break for me, as I spend most of the day sitting and watching to make sure my students don't try and cheat, or steal as they call it. Also, my children are brilliant... We are always short on rubbers, so they are always borrowing from each other, and they were totally utilizing a balloon left over from our last celebration as an eraser. They really try, and keep on working towards their dreams.

In other news, it is getting colder, heading towards July as the coldest month. I used to think it was supposed to be raining a lot now, and while it does some, this is the cold season, not the rainy cold season... so after learning this, I was less alarmed by our lack of rain even though I do think our short rains were shorter and on a funny schedule this year. Still, it is getting cold, so when we aren't in school or playing sports, the children spend a lot of time just leaning up against the old dorm across from the kitchen because that wall is the best place to attract the afternoon sun and to pass the afternoon away cracking jokes and chatting. I have had some pretty hilarious times there this week, for if I walk by, the children are quick to invite me to come hangout, and always even if I was headed somewhere else, I have to say yes... for those are the times where you stop and wonder if life can get any better than this... While I love teaching, I always look  forward to the afternoon hangout times...

Meanwhile, in other news, visitors arrived last night. There are a group of six or seven women from Canada who will be here for ten days. While people have been here throughout most of my year, I do not know if this sort of a group has come before with such an element of being a group. However, they have come with our big partner who I have met as she has already visited twice since I have been here, and coming with her, I know that while I can still play host, they will be quite well taken care of and I can keep about my daily life. They took the fact htat we have mice in residence quite well(and hung all their food which looks pretty funny) so I have decided so far, they are okay... They are just the first of a string of visitors who will come between now and when I leave.

And leaving... I still can't believe I have been here ten months and my time is racing to an end... In Devotions the other day one of the girls shared Ecclesiastes 4:1, there is a time for everything under heaven. I have decided that will be my lens for leaving. There was a time to be here, and there will be a time to come home... and I have the tune to some American folk song in my head... Still, random tunes aside, I have found that a helpful context to keep my flood of emotions in, and as much as I can, I have begun to prepare myself and my children for a time of saying goodbye, wanting them to know just how much they all mean to me...