Yesterday was graduation day for our Class A and B kids. The ceremony was short and simple but effective. Richard Guo, founder and president of EIE, was our guest speaker. He commended the students for their hard work this year and challenged them to continue learning and growing as they go abroad to study. Sissi gave an excellent speech on behalf of the students thanking the teachers and her fellow students for a great year. Diplomas were handed out and the students received their yearbooks. Filled with pictures of class times and fun times, these will be treasured mementoes of a very special year.

Following a relaxed time of signing yearbooks and taking lots of pictures, we moved to a nearby hotel for a lovely graduation dinner. It was still early evening when the festivities ended but the students weren’t ready to call it a day so most of us piled into student cars and taxis and headed off to enjoy a couple of hours of karaoke! It was loud and the room was sweltering but it was fun! We knew that several of our girls were excellent singers but some of the others surprised us with hidden talent!

Yesterday was fun but today will be more difficult. Today we say good bye. Yesterday we wondered why the graduation exercises had been scheduled for our second last day instead of the last. Today I’m glad they were. Yesterday there was celebration and laughter. Today there will be tears.

It seems we leave a little bit of our hearts wherever we go, especially when kids are involved. This time though, we may see some of them again as several are going to Canada to study. In fact, we’re almost certain to see one of them.
We’ve laughingly threatened to put someone in our suitcase and take them home with us before but this time we might almost do that! Sheila will be heading off to begin her studies in Windsor, Ontario in January but her college, unlike many others, doesn’t offer its international students a home stay option when they first arrive in Canada so we’ve invited her to come spend some time with us and it looks like she probably will! That’s Sheila in the pink t-shirt under my right arm below.

Okay, I’m off to school now for the very last day and I’m well armed with kleenex for those teary good byes!