It is just after 5:00 am and I’ve woken up early for the last time.  At least, the last time with the purpose of driving to Bangkhonthiinai to teach.  That’s right; after a year it ends today.

Ajarn Yai has called me several times this week to finalize details for today – I’m still not sure what she has planned – and each time expresses how sad she is, how sad the teachers are, how sad the nakrian are.  What remains to be seen is how sad I’ll be.  I spent two hours yesterday sorting through the 500+ prints I had made of photos I’ve taken of the children.  Each child has an envelope with his or her name and picture printed on the front.  Inside each envelope are copies of the various pictures I’ve taken of them, some sort of a souvenir of this past year.

My feelings at the moment are a bit ambivalent: all things change, all things that come will go.  But maybe that’s just stoicism.  We’ll know in a few hours.