Saying goodbye started maybe a week ago. The first time I had to do it was a shock because it was the first time I knew it was really time to go. It was my last day at one of the schools. I was completely fine until the afternoon when one of my students gave me a little wrapped present--a really nice book about Reunion Island. Which means that he talks about me to his family, and that they were happy enough with his English progress (actually he was by far the BEST kid out of all 200 kids I had...) to go to the store and spend 20 euros on someone they have never met. Which was really touching. So I started crying, probably scaring the kid, and so then I tried really hard to stop crying which just made things worse so I gave up. After each class, the kids said goodbye and the girls all ran to hug me while the boys hung out in the corner with their hands in their pockets looking at the ground. Then, it was time to go to the last class, Sylvie's class, and she decided to make things really difficult by having a pancake party, where every child personally gave me a hug and a goodbye card one by one. Some of them were really cute.
 |
| He says that for his next year (6th grade, they get to choose a language to study) he decided to continue with English!!! Yeah! |
 |
| I just love the poetic quality of the line "Day after day, you are pretty" hah! |
 |
| The most beautiful and the nicest English Teacher. Awe <3 |
"When I go home I'm going to cry in my bed. I will never forget you."
Super cute in English. And the one in the back compliments my french. Haha.
After that, back at our house, Sylvie and I had a girl's night with cheese and wine. And that was the beginning of saying goodbye in France via food. I shouldn't be surprised. The culture is built around the dinner table. (which actually is one of the things I love about the French way of life.) But yeah, I hope I will be walking enough for the next ten days in Paris and London to cancel out my last week of non stop fantastic dinner parties.
I had sushi with Nadgene, the lady I met the first day I went to the petit marché . She heard me and my roommate at the time speaking with American accents and asked us if we did English lessons. I did one lesson with her and we became instant friends. She was my best shopping buddy here :-)
Richard's family served us a very amazing Créole dish, chicken with peanut sauce. His mom gave me a liter of homemade passion fruit rum punch, which is my favorite!
Richard's friends then threw a giant pool party at someone's house, where we barbecued Camembert cheese topped with honey, among a million other things, and drank too much wine.
Then we moved on to my family...Laurence, (the sister of P.A.) and her husband Jerome had us over for dinner, where we had bouchons (one of my favorite things ever) and then grilled the most delicious honey shish kabobs and stayed up all night talking about life. It was wonderful. <3
The next day we went to P.A. and Natalie's house, where Natalie's family was all there to say goodbye. We grilled sweet pork and chicken, laughed a lot, found a chameleon in the garden(!) and played card games with Jeremy.
Last night, Sylvie and Manu, and Manu's cousin's family met us at our favorite Créole restaurant in St. Denis, Lé Gadiamb. I promise it's the best Reunionaise cooking on this island, except of course for the home-made stuff. Then at the end, the wise-cracking owner gives you some rhum arrange and tells you to shoot it...and that's when you realize it's chili rum and you feel like you could breathe fire. On the wise-cracking owner.
Last night was also when I had to say goodbye to my California girls. THAT was when it got serious again. I spent the afternoon over there, and they baked me a chocolate cake and wrote me sweet letters, ending them with all of our inside jokes. We laughed the whole time, as usual, until Richard phoned with the "I'll be there in ten minutes" warning. I got my bag and things got kind of quiet. We all were in the kitchen next to the front door. The oldest, Clemence, and I made eye contact for one second and then lost it, and the rest of the family did too, after that. Oh my gosh it was hard. Especially when the littlest one looked at me with big red eyes like I had physically wounded her. I left kind of quickly after that, and while I was walking away, I heard them scream off the balcony "Don't forget the shimmery blue!" In a southern accent, (an inside joke we have about nail polish of all things) and so I arrived to Richard's car with a fresh set of tears. He held me and said all of the right things, like when things get hard this summer (bc i'm going back to work at the bar again...not my favorite place in the world but you gotta do what you gotta do) all I have to do is think of my Cali girls and know I'll be back soon to see them and things will be okay. Because look how cute and beautiful they are. <3
I don't know exactly what the future holds. I know that plans change, people change, and decisions can change in a heartbeat. But I also know that I have never felt more connected to people, more connected to my life, more connected to nature and the world and all things that are important right here on this little island. For the first time, I feel like I have roots somewhere. Maybe this is what I've been searching for all my life. I guess this summer will be a good test, to sort out what's real and what was just an emotional high.
I think it's possible that on some level, however, I already know what my final decision will be. Because I made promises to people both little and big, that we were saying "I'll see you soon" and not "goodbye." And usually, I try really hard not to make promises I can't keep.
