On my way

Yesterday Jake, Paul, Adam and Jake’s friend Jamie did our goodbye dinner at a great steakhouse I’d never been to. It was great. But since I’m trying to cut back on meat, I went for the Camembert and pear salad. Delicious it was a fun conversation because, as always, it centered on school and all the crazy things that go on there. Paul and I left together and I was home a little after 10. I put my last wash in and waited for it to get done. Then I had to spread it out on all the free spaces in my bathroom because I sold my drying rack. No problem.
This morning I got up and headed for my last day in the classroom. It wasn’t anything too different. We talked about it being my last day, but I didn’t want to make too big a deal about it with the kids. I just wanted them to understand. We had an assembly today and the lady told them the story of Mogli with a laser light show. It wasn’t bad. Then , because it was raining hard, we spent the next hour running around in the gym. That they loved!
After lunch, we put the kids down for their naps and who came in but the liaison with my passport and new visa. So my return to Kazan for two months in October and November as a consultant is a sure thing.
And to my surprise, they threw a little goodbye reception for me. There were only two small speeches, thank god. I would have shot myself in the head if they had drawn that out. But they gave me the neatest book of pictures that people had taken of me over the last two years. Russians LOVE taking pictures with their phones. The book is very, very nice and it’s so interesting to see how much the kids have grown in those two years.
At 4 o’clock I just gave everyone a hug and that was it. No tears, no protests. The kids just accepted it because we’d been talking about it for so long now.
I went home, cleaned the apartment a little, finished packing my suitcases and waited for Ravil to come by and pick me up. He’s been a super friend for the time I’ve been here and he’s really the last person I wanted to see before I left. I gave him the keys to my apartment and he will take the few things that are left that he would like to have.
We got a taxi and headed for the airport and when we got there, would you believe it, I run into the parents of one of my students! They were on their way to Portugal. We were way early, so we sat and talked until check in opened up. I was a little worried because both bags were several ounces overweight, even though I was so careful about packing and getting rid of things. When I come back in October, it’s going to be with a half empty suitcase. Damn, I hate dragging so much weight around.
So now I’m through customs and immigration and just waiting for my flight to start boarding.  I’ll be dead tired when I get there, but I’ll be glad to get there.