Friday, August 3, 2007

Thought of the day: "May you always recognize your “uniqueness” as a gift that makes the world a better place."

Wow – what a day! As usual it started off with a more than ample breakfast that we all have come to love and enjoy. The smile on the staff’s faces, the smell of kava, and a warmth that comes from being amongst friends. Truly our little spot of heaven.

It has been an incredible experience here at Reymontowka. Thinking back to that first day when we were nervous about meeting our kids, and comparing it to the thought that today our kids would be moving on and we will be going home to our families soon. Who would have guessed that in two weeks time that those kids could teach us so much about ourselves. Through them we were able to view life from a different angle.

Immediately after our first session started, one of my students came up to me to say good-bye. I was not ready for this, especially not before the agreed time this evening. As I said good-bye, I thought of seeing my own family and was able to send one of my students off with best wishes. Thankfully, it was only one for the time being.

We practiced our presentations for this evening. My group is ready and get better with each practice session. They seem eager to make their presentations and really have come up with some fun things. We also had a scavenger hunt. The kids showed the same excitement for everything that was presented to them.

As the evening progressed, the numbers at the manor increased as the parents began to arrive. The children were proud and it showed. I have to believe, from the smiles on their faces, that they truly enjoyed themselves.

The presentations went great and the social hour was lively with conversations with the parents. Slowly the parents and children left to go back to their normal lives. We were emotionally tied to these children as they were our family during these two weeks. So good-bye was harder for some than others.

The evening ended spending time with newly found friends. We shared the same sentiment – I’m not ready to go back to reality. But like most things, it must come to an end. Good night Reymontowka!

Forever in my heart – POL0707A3.