Bye Meagan

The first week after our vacation was a pretty rough one for me. For the first time we had 100% attendance. The kids were all excited to be back together and because of the good whether and all the other stuff that makes kids excited. It was pretty hectic in class, most of the time. Since then things have calmed down a lot.
Other than the crazy kids, the week was memorable because it was our head teacher's last. We had a lot of activities that made it fun, but I was a little sad the whole time because this is the beginning of the end. Everything has been so different from how I thought it would be, but I'll be sad to go home.
The weekend was great. We had a party Friday night with a fireworks show. You can buy huge rocket racks here that would be way illegal in the US for cheap. On Saturday we had a picnic at Pirehova, a place just out of town where old Ukrainian architecture has been brought and reassembled. It was a lot of fun. On Thursday Meagan gave us all awards and notes. She is one of the most thoughtful people I know. I got the "Father Duck" award. The title comes from a time in Prague when I was feeding the ducks and got ten of them to gather around me. I pointed out to Whitney that I had as many ducks as girls, and she said I should start calling the girls my ducks. It stuck for me.
Meagan left from the airport early Monday morning. I walked her home Sunday night because I'm always afraid terrible things will happen at the most ironic times. Nothing happened, though. The little hug goodbye reminded me how deprived I am, and then I walked home in the dark thinking how much I'll miss Meagan. She's always so excited and happy, even when she doesn't really want to be. She does it for other people. She's someone I can really look up to.
Now another week is almost over. It has definitely been different without Meagan around, but things have gone as normal. I'm starting to get excited for the semester to end myself, even though it looks like I'll be spending my extra two weeks touring Ukraine instead of Russia. I still don't have an invitation to visit, so I still have no visa, and I don't think there's time to get one. I'll be able to visit some other time, though, I'm sure.
Well, tomorrow is another day of teaching. There aren't many left.