Farewell Warm Heart!

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It has been an amazing summer so far, and it's going to be incredibly hard to leave my friends and coworkers behind. In a happy coincidence, our August staff appreciation party falls on the day before we depart. I have officially wrapped up my project work, and am in the final stages of handing everything off to others. I leave at 9 am tomorrow for Chiang Mai with Jessica, Laith and Rose, spend one last day in one of my favorite cities, and then catch the night bus to Bangkok to meet Wes, Liv and David. Of course, a whole new adventure starts then, so I can't complain too much.

This morning I said my goodbyes to Auntie Aomdoi. It was hard, and I must confess that if you looked closely you'd find a hint of tears in both of our eyes. Aomdoi has been an inviting and cozy home. Even though we always bolted for the city on the weekends, I think most of us preferred the quiet country life on weekdays. At lunch today Jessica and I stood at the back of the office at the rice paddies and the mountains and just celebrated the picturesque setting that has framed our summer adventure. Even the workers seemed to sense that we were leaving, posing for pictures in the rice paddies.

I am proud to have spent most of my summer helping out the Rutgers Engineers Without Borders team. As a parting gift, they gave me an EWB Thailand project shirt, and we all took a group photo for the website. I hope to keep up with their project and am counting on updates from the team to let me know how they have solved the problems in Nong Bua (affectionately known around here as Village 6).

I even had my final visit with the Mae Wen ice cream man. Oh cornettos, we may miss you most of all! But probably not the ice cream man himself, as he has started to visit several times a day and track us down at our favorite lunch haunts when we're not to be found at the office.

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Photos

Engineers Without Borders
But with t-shirts.

Last Noodle Shop Lunch
sigh.

Aomdoi Water Tower
and moon!

Ice Cream Man!
With cornetto goodness!

Rice Paddies
I'll miss you most of all, rice paddies.