So Long, Farewell...

So the headliner is... as of next month we will finish our tea and biscuits, say goodbye to the Queen, and pack our bags for another adventure. Yes, we are heading off to the home of Krispy Kreme, Lady Liberty, and "The Hoff," the land of the roaming buffalo, Wee for a Wii contest, and spiky-haired kids in braces eating fast food! We're moving to the good ol' U.S.A.! We are very excited. (^_^)

Last week was my last week of work. It was quite an emotional week trying to finish up everything as well as saying goodbye to the students - we all cried like babies! I've said a lot of goodbyes over the last few years, and I'm starting to appreciate the feeling you feel when you are genuinely sad to leave someone behind. I think it's a good kind of sad to feel out of all ways of feeling sad because it means that the time you have had together has been that good. I'm really thankful for that. Despite the hard times we have had in other ways while we have been here, I'm so glad that I can look back at my work experience and say how good it was and how much I will really miss it.

Of course the students made my last days really special by bringing in loads of food and presents. You really cannot find any kinder, more giving people anywhere; they continually overwhelm me with their genuine love and appreciation. In the end I feel like I am leaving behind amazing people whom I am really proud to call my friends rather than students.

After one of my classes, one of my advanced students invited me back to her house to hang out with her family. In a lot of ways I feel like one of the luckiest people in the UK because I have gotten to do things like this. I have seen sides of life here hidden away that are so rich, I just wish there was some way for people who have any hesitations at all with misunderstood groups like Muslims or non-native English speaking immigrants to be able to experience what I have experienced in getting to know them as face with a name that smiles at me and shares themselves with me. I can't tell you how much I have learned from sitting around the table with a bunch of Muslim housewives; they have really given me a privileged inside view on everything from arranged marriages, growing up as a woman in a Muslim country, making a life in a country that isn't home, family life, loss, faith, and keeping traditions while adapting to new ways of thinking. I've learned so much from all of my students, each one with a unique story and background, some of them coming from places I had never even heard of before coming to the UK. I think the biggest thing I have learned in dealing with so many different kinds people is that every man is just the same, only living in different circumstances. The hopes, dreams, fears, sorrows, and joys are all the same, and are certainly more poignant when shared together as they have with me. This really challenges me to a new level of love for humankind no matter how misunderstood or marginalized a person or group is.

On a lighter note, I had my first Mehndi (Henna tattoo)! Here's a picture of Iram and I right after she applied it!

Learning a wee bit at a time,

Kristy