May 25th through 26th (Days 138-139): The First of the Goodbyes

May 25th:
This morning Stacy and I shared one last coffee moment before I headed off to fellowship. She leaves tomorrow with Dan and Julie, so we've been trying to do a few of the "traditional" things that we've enjoyed together over the past few months. We had a large gathering at fellowship today. I really enjoyed the songs we sang. Dan led the music ... another pleasant memory to look back on as we soak up our last few moments with them. Enjoyed a great potluck lunch, then over to Dan and Julie's to move some of their furniture to my apartment. It was not as stressful as other moves I've participated in. The guys took care of everything and before I knew it, the apartment was brimming with fun goodies - a wash machine, a bookshelf, a microwave, portable desk, and a bunch of kitchen things.

It was close to 4pm by the time we got everything moved. I visited with Stacy, then ate a yummy dinner - sauteed green beans and onions with the leftover meat from our Greek dinner. Enjoyed chatting with a few friends from back home before heading for bed.

May 26th:
Sore and tired as I sit down to write this entry. I went to the school this morning at 8:30am. It was hard getting up ... I don't think my body was ready for the weekend to be over. The students had their math final this morning. They will have finals the rest of the week and then they will be out for SUMMER BREAK! My job this morning was to move between the two fourth grade classrooms and read questions out loud. Some of the kids tried to get the answers out of me, while others said, "Miss, this is so easy!" Some of them finished in 30 minutes, others took the full two hours. After the test was finished, I went into the teacher room and graded tests with all the other teachers. It didn't take too long since I had three other teachers helping me. After we finished, John came in with his finals. His questions were much more in-depth, so he wanted to be able to give partial credit. We came up with an assembly line that helped speed things up (it was getting close to 1pm and we were supposed to be at a team "Goodbye" lunch at 12.) We finally finished grading at 2pm. It was nice to see the other teachers pitch in to help us. After picking up visas and salaries, we headed over to Dan and Julie's. Thankfully we got to visit for a few minutes before saying "Goodbye." Stacy had gone back home to get her bags, so John and I hopped in the taxi with Dan and Julie back to our apartment. We said goodbye to Stacy and waved them on their way. We hopped in two separate taxis and went back over to Andy and Lisa's. Chilled with the team, then John and Mary had to get home as they were expecting visitors.

Went with Andy and Lisa to Zeri Park to celebrate Zander's 3rd birthday! I had a blast, especially since I was the only one small enough to fit on the rides with Zander! :)

We had fun on the Ferris Wheel together (and yes, Andy shaved off his facial hair for the summer)

There was a great view from the top:

After we covered almost the entire park, we went back to their place for dinner. Mm-mm good! On the taxi ride home, the driver complimented me on my Kurdish :) I had an expat friend tell me that if I ever wanted to boost my language-proficiency esteem, I should just hop in a taxi! Though I know I am far from fluency, it was nice to be reminded that God has brought me a long way in the language department (one step at a time). I can be thankful for understanding so much more now than I did upon arrival.

Came home and cleaned up house/new furnishings. Did a lot of scrubbing, so my body is really tired now. John got the washer set up, so that will be something fun for tomorrow!