The Latest From Thailand

The last few days of work flew by, it was amazing to see all our hard work completed and an amazing community center standing before us. The students put the final coats of paint on and were even able to finish and amazing mural (a beautiful painting of two elephants and a globe). The building came out beautiful and the students are so proud of all their hard work. We celebrated with the community during dedication cermonies that included multiple dance performances from the community, Thai folk music performed by local community members and many speeches. Again the elder community members tied strings around our wrists to symbolize our connection to them and the community and the monks at the temple blessed us and wished us luck in our travels. The students gave thanks to their families before we all sat down to an amazing final meal (we all contributed spaghetti) with the community and enjoyed some dancing and games before the night was up.
It was with many tears and heartfelt goodbyes that we loaded into the vans this morning. the students from the school and all of our host families were there to send us off. We received cards from all the students thanking us for the time we spent at the school and for all our work. The families too had a hard time saying goodbye and didn't want to let us go. We loaded up the last of our things and headed to the city where we have enjoyed a great lunch and errands before we board the train tonight and head to Bangkok then Cambodia. We are amazed at how fast the time has gone and are excited to do some more travel even though we already miss our Thai families and community. We hope this finds you all well.