The First of Many Good-byes

Dear Readers,

As I am sure you know by now, I leave to go back home next Friday, and today we had our first of several good-bye parties. After our workshop, Kimberley and I went to the Emaus Centre at the Ukrainian Catholic University to say good-bye. It was a very nice little get together. All of the Emaus Centre staff were there, as was our language teacher Oresta and some other people. It was a usual Emaus Centre party, like I had experienced several times previous. First, when we arrived. Second to celebrate Roxolana's birthday. Third, to celebrate Anya's (one of the staff) graduation from the Ukrainian equivalent of a masters degree at another one of the universities in Lviv. Fourth, to celebrate Zenia's birthday. And finally today, our good-bye party. Like usual, there was cake, ice-cream, sweets. Ya...they love sweets here in Ukraine. The staff also gave us flowers, a card signed by everyone, and some other little things.

It was really nice getting together with everyone, but also really sad. The fact is that I might not see any one of them again. The staff at the Emaus Centre are all so wonderful, so welcoming, and so friendly, and the centre itself had become a second Ukrainian home for both Kimberley and myself. It was really hard for us to say good-bye.

Tomorrow, we will have to do it all over again, but this time at our workshop. I think this will be even harder. I have spent just about every week day of the last three months at the workshop, and tomorrow I have to say good-bye. I am still not sure what I will say, but I will have to say most of it in Ukrainian because no one at my workshop knows English terribly well.

This weekend though will be very exciting because I will go to Kyiv with Kimberley! My train leaves Thursday evening at 9:22pm and arrives in Kyiv at 7:20am the next morning. Fun, I know. We will stay in Kyiv all Friday and all Saturday and then our train back leaves Saturday night at 11:54pm. It arrives in Lviv at 10:00am the next morning. We will be exhausted, so it shouldn't be too difficult to get some sleep on the train.

Speaking of sleep, I haven't slept well in nearly two weeks. I was sick most of last week, and I even had to take Thursday off. Then I never really had a good night's sleep on the weekend because I was always up and about doing something, like on Sunday I woke up at 6:30am to go to Ternopil after going to bed past night. But, this Sunday into Monday morning I'll be able to sleep for as long as I want in my bed, which will be very, very, nice.

Well, that's all for now. I have only a week and two days left. Cheers.

Until next time,
Michael