Small Things Continued...

So, there was an awards ceremony at the end of the school year for all of the students. The top 3 students of each class got an award, as well as the class monitors. Any teachers retiring got an award as well as outgoing volunteers.

We got to sit up front at the ceremony along with the rest of the teachers. We also got to hand out a few of the gifts (which I think was an honor, but not quite sure?) But it made us feel a little bit important nonetheless.

Anyhow, as we were patiently waiting for the ceremony to conclude, we noticed the gift that one of the retiring teachers received. She opened up her package, and I believe it was a few sarongs, two notebooks, a few pens and two bags of straight up MSG.

Never in my life would have I ever imagined receiving MSG as a parting gift. Ahh well.

. . .

It was a nice ceremony and didn’t last painfully long. We were also proud to see that two of the three kids that come to study at our house, and also spend time with us nearly each evening received the top student award in their class. Srey Nich (a 7th grade girl) and Sounapet, a 7th grade boy.

I’ve written about little Sounapet before. He’s a bit small for is age (he’s 11 or 12, but has the body of a full sized average 6 or 7 yr. old boy in the states. Not sure if it is malnutrition or what) –but he’s a bright kid, quite cute, can sing, dance, is pretty athletic and has a smile that could win over anyone.I’d take him home if I could. Anyway,… when they called his name, several students cheered and lots of hootin’ and hollerin’ took over the crowd. We didn’t realize how popular the little guy is; but apparently so. I guess I could’ve guessed it by his charm; but it was nice to see that he was so well loved by the rest of his class despite being the smallest (even out of the girls) in his class.

So that’s it. The school year is officially over. We now know what to expect in the coming year. We’ve learned many lessons and will have a better grasp as to where our services can be best put. I admit, it’s gone by fast…and it was not at all what we were expecting…but what is in life, right? Now….onto summer. (Or the ‘long vacation’ as they call it. It’s pretty much summer year round.)