T-One Week

So I am officially one week away from departure...yikes!!! The nerves are starting to set in as the timeline gets shorter. I am super excited to go, this experience is going to be unbelievable! I know that it is going to be difficult for a while, but I know that perseverance will pay off in the end as it always does :)

So today I had to say goodbye to my favorite student, I have been teaching him basically since he moved here. He came to the United States in June and started lessons in July. When he first moved here he did not know a bit of English, not even hello or goodbye...nothing. Needless to say the first few months were very difficult, but he continued to come to lessons and every week he learned more and more. By our last lesson he was able to have conversations in English, granted they were not extremely advanced as he has been studying for less than a year, but he has learned so much, it feels so good to know that I was able to teach him so much and have such an influence on his life. He will have a new teacher while I am away as well, so he will continue to learn and get better at English to make his new life in the United States easier so he is able to support his children who are still in Mexico.

While saying goodbye is never fun, there will be a lot of it in this final week, but I am determined to make it a good week. The tears have not yet come and as long as I don't see anyone else cry I should be okay, so that means keep the tears away! But my week has started off well, my sister-in-law Laura got me hooked on American Idol because of Danny Gokey, I mean you have to support your state and he is the only one from Wisconsin who has been on Idol thus far and he did Milwaukee proud. While he did not win he did come in 3rd which is amazing and he will have a fantastic career. Tonight however was the finale and my second favorite Kris was one of the top 2 and he won!!! Don't get me wrong Adam is also amazing, but I think he is more of a performer and while he did great the whole season, Kris grew into such an amazing artist and did such great songs every week with so much variability he truly became the American Idol and I was ecstatic that he won! I was also happy that I was able to watch the remainder of Idol before I left, and I am not hooked on anything else so I should be okay while I am away :)

Oh I did invest in a digital camera and I usually forget to use cameras, but while I am away I am going to try to take pictures of everything so I can get the most out of my experience and remember everything that I can throughout my journey!!!!

Until Later
~Sarah B.