Wednesday 30 June 2010

The First Goodbye

It's done. After watching some students receive prizes for sporting and building achievements, and listening to the Principal drone on for ten minutes about the usual gumph, I was called to the stage. There was a sense of deja vu about the whole thing, since Mrs Templemarsh was standing beside me, as she had been when I gave my introductory speech three years ago. The school was different, and we were on the opposite side of the room, but there had been an awards ceremony then too, and the room was hot and the students were trying not to fall asleep.

In spite of myself, I could feel myself welling up when she announced me, informing the students that I was leaving after three years. I walked over to the stage, climbed the steps, bowed to the flag professional-style, then went to the podium. It went okay. I messed up a couple of times, partly from lack of practice, but mostly because my voice had gone all warbly. I didn't expect to be sad, and I didn't feel sad on the surface, but deep down some emotions must have been stirring. Like when Amy meets Rory again and starts crying though she doesn't know why.

I'm glad it's over. Still, I'm going to miss some of these students.

3 comments:

Chie said...

お疲れちゃーん!!!

Jimijam said...

智枝ちゃまとのお別れのほうが辛いかもなぁー

Chie said...

いやいや笑!私とじゃなくて、
エミリーと離ればなれになる方がさみしいでしょ!
また、オーストラリアで皆で会いたいね。