and at the end of the school year...

i have a personal rule - i don't even try to form relationships with people who are here short term. short-term is relative, i guess, but it's usually that if you're here for less than three months, i probably won't go out of my way.

(i have been know to break this rule when supremely awesome people come around, but it's hard to be that awesome. Hi Steph!)

this school year has been exciting. there have been "foreigners" around all of the time. all.of.the.time. i mean, jewel lived in our house. and there were some nice "short-termers" around and people who were helping us at school. the kids were immersed in english, which was just what samil needed to lose his timidity with language and now is jabbering away in hilarious english. (amely not so much - she's stubborn and only speaks english when she wants something).

but, one of the reasons that i even made the rule for short-termers was because i hate being at the end of a term and having to say goodbye.

i said a virtual goodbye to a new friend who was dedicated to bringing his students to our school every month - we are at least 30 minutes away from their school, but every month, zaxxson loaded those students on a bus and they spent time with our little guys - playing, singing, planting trees and doing crafts. and while it started as a professional relationship, i'm glad that i broke my personal short term rule to get to know him outside of "school stuff." what an amazing guy.

and then, we said goodbye to jewel. i don't even know where to begin on this one. jewel and i met through this blog - and without even knowing us, she got on an airplane prepared to spend a year living and working in as a teacher. she's made my life easier, our family life fuller. at samil's graduation we stumbled into a photo booth where they were doing family photos - amalio said "wait! where's jewel?"

and in a few weeks - we'll say good-bye to anne and pierre. my friend maddy (who also left this year) sung their praises for months before we actually met - and now i can't even imagine life without them. these two came for a year to teach french and ended up teaching art and gym and computers with us three days a week.

the hardest part, and i've said it here before, of living here is that so many people come and leave. and while we have our permanent community, it is definitely enhanced by the diversity of visitors and guests that come through. i'm sure that now that people are coming to volunteer with us, the number of people coming and going will increase. i just don't know that it'll get any easier to say farewell.!