So long, farewell, adios and goodnight

We all must find our own ways to say goodbye to the friends we have made.  Some of the hardest goodbyes are to people we do not know if we will see again.  Casual acquaintances from school, the butcher at the market, the old man who sells aloe vera gel up the street, who waves whenever we pass; each one has played an important role during our time here but it is not realistic that we will keep in touch.  Also difficult, but in a different way, are the goodbyes to the close friends we have made.  We will write, maybe they will visit us, and certainly we will visit them whenever we are in Oaxaca, but that is no substitute for living in the same city.


We have done a couple things to make it easier to stay in touch.  On one of his last days of class, Max's teacher set aside 10 minutes for kids to fill out a form we had prepared with space for their contact information and a short note to Max.  Max plans to paste the notes into the second half of a scrapbook that his class at home made for him before we came to Mexico.  Here's one of the blank forms.

Helen's classmates are a little young to write notes, but her teachers made a wonderful poster with the kids' handprints, pictures of Helen at school, and notes from the teachers.  Now it is hanging in Helen's bedroom here, but in a week it will be hanging in her room at home. 


We also made cards to hand out -- one for our family, one for Max only, and one for Helen only.  The cards, which look like business cards, have our names, address and e-mail address, plus a small picture.  We have been handing out the cards and asking people to keep in touch.  With enough of the cards floating around, we hope to hear from at least some of the people we have met.  Just as likely, we will get a call from the boyfriend of the sister of the father of one of Max's or Helen's classmates, who is in Houston and wants to know if we live in the area.  That could be fun too.


Max came up with his own way to be remembered by some of the friends he plays soccer with on Saturday mornings at the park near our house.

Who knows, maybe those autographs will be worth something one day!  Ok, back to packing.  --Harrison