Time to say goodbye

All good things come to an end. When I left my home to come to India, 2.5 months away seemed a long time. They actually felt like 3 weeks! I feel very sad at leaving but someone once told me that it’s good if you’re sad when leaving, because it means that you had a good experience. I couldn’t agree more!

At the school, a leaving-do was organized on my last day: the founder of the school said some nice words about my stay at SISP, which brought tears to my eyes, then some of the students sang a really nice song (lyrics below) and the youngest student handed me a present: several bijoux made with paper and coconut at S.E.P. (read my previous post A good heart and strong will), lovely! Then I gave the children some sweets.

In the afternoon, the tuition students really touched my heart: first they organized a party for me. They popped colourful corianders in the room and served orange juice and chips to everyone. They paid for all this, which really touched me, considering how little money they have. Finally, two students had presents for me: one gifted me a pen similar to his (read below) and my name made with sticks, the other gifted me a carved chalk where he carved my favourite symbol, the Yin and Yang. Both also wrote me lovely letters.

I was really surprised by their spirit of observation, also considering that they are no older than 15. Several weeks ago, when seeing the long pen of the first student, I commented that it was very nice. I didn’t mention it anymore but still, he remembered and bought one for me! Also, I had once spoken no more than 5 minutes about the Yin and Yang, and why it is my favourite symbol, and again, the second student remembered about it and carved it into a chalk. I am amazed by how carefully they listened to me and how they remembered what I like. Rarely people get to know me so well in such a short time.

And now time to move to my next post “Back home”…