The End is Only the Beginning

The last week of my life has been insane. I quickly scrambled to get my eportfolio finished on Wednesday night (and truth be told, a little on Friday too). I finished student teaching, said good-bye to BASP, moved everything to DM and cleaned my apartment, packed and attempted to prepare for the next step in my life. I truly haven't got more than 6 hours of sleep any night in the last week (partially due to sleeping on an air mattress in the middle of a living room-which caused the current neck pains I'm having).
I said good-bye to my students and the staff at Prairie View on Thursday. That was a sad day. The kids all made cards for me, one of the parents made cupcakes, and I fought back the tears. Mr. G got a sweet cake for me that had the continent of Australia on it, and the words Congratulations and Good Luck Bill written on it.
That was a great day. I had a ton of fun working at Prairie View with the staff and the students. The kids were awesome and my cooperating teacher was great. He really let me try out what I wanted to do with few questions, even if he thought it might fail (which occasionally it did--but that's apart of the learning process).

On Friday, I said good-bye to Lemme BASP and Lemme Elementary. I had worked at BASP for nearly 3 years and had the opportunity to watch some kids grow from little Kindergarteners to big 2nd graders. The kids made me a huge card and everyone signed it. We grilled hot dogs and played outside most of the day. To be honest, I had to fight back tears almost the entire 2 hours that I was there. I truly felt loved by the kids. The staff even got together and got me a book and a few cards, which were awesome.
I had to leave early because I couldn't do it anymore, the tears were really starting to come. As I tried to sneak away quietly, the kids saw me trying to go and swarmed me in a great big group hug. 25 kids and me in the middle. I'm getting misty eyed just remembering that moment. I truly loved them and will miss them being apart of my life. Their hug, card, gifts and the day caused me to cry for 45 minutes on the way home.

In other news, I've booked a hotel in Brisbane. I fly out tomorrow (Monday) at 7 pm from Chicago. I'll try to post more from there.

Until then.....

Bill