I LEAVE WHEN!?!?!?

Well, surprise of my life today: I had for 3 months been under the impression that I leave Sunday November 29th when in fact I leave the 28th---TOMORROW.



Now, I had thought I was leaving on the morning of the 29th so leaving the 28th at 11pm really isnt that big of a difference. But it did change one thing: I leave tomorrow. And when tomorrow is here, I leave today.



Tomorrow will probably be one of my busiest days in Cambodia--even busier than at the VERY beginning when I was all over the place for a week. I'm going to lunch with friends, going to the orphanage, saying goodbye to students, goodbye dinner, I promised 248 people I'd "swing by" to say bye to them. But I ride a bicycle. And they don't live close to each other. So I imagine I'll be doing a lot of running around all over Siem Reap.



Saying goodbye to CLFCA today was surprisingly okay. I had thought that they would be the ones who would be really hard to say bye to. I brought my ipod with a music player I bought a couple days ago, along with a huge bag of flashcards, paper, pens, books, games, some cups, spoons, ice cream, and sprinkles the day was perfect. I got a few adorable presents--a couple new bracelets, some earrings, a basket, and some paper trinkets--but the coolest present came from Heng: he made me a statue of Buddha. I was so, so so in shock! They take forever to make. hah I was so in shock, in fact, that I lunged at him with a hug. Mid-lunge I remembered that that's totally not okay in Khmer culture but it was too late. After an awkward kinda hug/handshake/awkwardness I thanked him and we talked for a half hour about education and Cambodia and life in the United States.



Tonight after school at KHK I went to get sweets after school with Bunleap, Thea, and one of Bunleap's friends. It was, as always, very nice, but the sweet that they ordered me literally was beans, coconut milk, and ice. I had forgotten to ask for no ice. Like a good guest, I sucked it up and ate it--ice and all. So, we'll see if my stomach makes it through the night. Cross your fingers!



Bunleap insisted on paying because "You help my country, I buy you sweets." After CLFCA, before my class at KHK, Thea and I went on his moto to the nearest internet cafe where we made him an e-mail address and skype account. I gave my e-mail to a million people--Sreyneath (one of my brightest students at KHK) promise me that she'd e-mail me soon......even though she doesn't have internet or an e-mail account. She's adorable. It was really hard leaving Kanara. She and I've been teaching together for about 2 months. My first impression of her was off of her knowing very basic english..thinking to myself "why in the hell is this lady teaching these kids?" But knowing her now, she's one of the most beautiful ladies I've ever met. We became really close and were even a little teary leaving..I bought her a new eraser, some markers, and gave her the rest of my number and alphabet flash cards. Also, I ran into Sophannara (who I had sucessfully avoided since I stopped teaching with him). We awkwardly talked for a little while and set up a time to meet tomorrow. I'm gonna burn him a CD of some good songs that our kids can sing along to. I'm also gonna try to record my voice as one track saying goodbye to the class. I think they'd REALLY love that.



After going out with the guys (and awkwardly running into Li at school. haha), I went downtown to say bye to my tuktuk driver friends I play cards with every weekend and 4 or 5 friends. Gave them all my e-mail address. Stopped by the Warehouse to say bye to Sony and T..unfortunately Sony had taken the night off so I just wrote him a letter. Was super bummed he wasn't there. He's on my "I'll try to stop by tomorrow if I have time" list. On my way home I grabbed some of my favorite 62 cent noodles and a carton of "Tropical Juices". And, here I sit in my room still in shock that I'm leaving tomorrow. I don't have any "one more day"s left!!!

"Kgnom awt chong douv tror lop Amerique...chong muoy ah tet teit!"