16

Today was my last day on project, and while it is nice to finally be done and have a few days off to breathe and pack before I leave, it was also sad. Over the last 8 weeks I have gotten to love the 128 children in the 6 classes I taught. I've invested in their learning, hugged them a million times, kissed their bumped knees and scratched elbows, played innumerable games of soccer (and lost every one), chastised, laughed, listened, taught, and sung. It's been great. I will miss their faces, and it was hard to answer small requests like "When will you come back?" with uncertainty and the knowledge that it will be too long until I see them again. Today, I feel like I've come full circle in my experience as a teacher. It was my first time experiencing the attachment that is created through regular interaction and an investment in the lives of students. It is beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time.
Claudia will be leaving for Quebec tomorrow morning and that is a shock as well. With her leaving I am reminded that my time left here is limited and that I too will soon be watching the volcanoes and sprawling mountains of Guatemala recede in the distance. Again, bittersweet. I have trouble imagining how I will slip off the Guatemalan skin I've been clothed in for the past 3 months to put on my everyday "real life" garb once I'm back home. And so the countdown--another countdown--begins. 16 days.