Thai people sure know how to give great farewells!

The Christmas party at the NS youth house last night pretty much felt like one big farewell. The students were really sweet, giving us little gifts and lots of hugs – but only girl-to-girl and boy-to-boy of course, as is appropriate in Thai culture. Red roses were given to each of the 50-odd party-goers to give to a team member who’d been special to them in some way, and I felt really honoured at the number I was blessed to receive. I was privileged to be the one to make a short thank-you speech on behalf of our team, but really I couldn’t thank them enough. The students have been so friendly and so loving, and so patient when we’re trying to learn Thai!

Now I’m back at Big John’s, the backpackers I originally stayed at in Bangkok, having waved off Esther yesterday, Phil this morning and the rest of the team at the airport this afternoon. It’ll be nice to have some time to recharge and prepare for the next adventure. I’m exhausted.

Tomorrow night I catch my flight out to Kenya where I’ll spend Christmas with mum and her husband.