Goodbye/ Farewell Party

Hello from Germany! Now, finally I am sitting here in my OWN room - I am back home in Untermeitingen, GER with my family. My travel went fine (with the usual delays and problems) although I had 32kg+12kg+6kg luggage :) The reunion with my dad at the train station was very emotional for me. It felt like the world's burden was lifted of my shoulders. The surprise for Lydia was big and breathtaking. And then my mom, dad, and Lydia and I spent two and a half great days in Austria. On Thursday already, we went hiking (800 meters up), Friday horse riding and swimming. And then we drove back to Germany.

Everything feels so strange and far away, like it isn't really my life. I cannot say I "am not feeling anything", it is more "I am feeling everything at the same time". Overly happy and deeply sad, overwhelmed, content, motivated, depressed... I guess the time to come will be equally difficult for me as the first few weeks in Nepal. But enough of this, I want to tell you about my last days in Nepal. It was so emotional:

On Monday morning I was bid farewell by the Plan Office staff. The meeting was arranged for 9.30 SHARP, started as usual around 10.10 AM : ) It was nice although I knew hardly anybody.

Here you can see most of the Plan Nepal people.
In the front of course me and to my right you see Jiri the Czech Intern

Then I tried to get back to the Kinderhouse as fast as possible. I had counted on having the day to myself for packing and stuff, at least until 4.30PM when the kids come from school. But on that Monday there was an educational bandh, which means they had off. SO I hurried back to show them one last movie (Beauty and the beast), and in the meantime, I prepared the meeting room for our little party. 

All the little packages for the kiddies

A chair for everyone (34 people)

We started at 5 PM so that it would not get too late. I opened the "ceremony" with a little speech. I tried to convince the children that they should not be sad that I am leaving, but happy that we had such a fun time together. Meeting new people is often like seeing a butterfly. You are happy for a while but you have to accept that the butterfly will fly on eventually. And so I told them that I do not belong to Nepal, I belong to my family in Germany because they are waiting for me. It wasn't exactly easy to say all these things because a few of the older ones were crying.

However, later in the evening everyone cheered up and we had a fun time. The kids had prepared some program and in this video you can see the smaller ones singing: "Telephone to Jesus"

We had a lot more program, dances, songs, speeches, poems, etc. but uploading all of it would take too long. Afterwards, everyones was allowed to dig in. We had watermelon, self-made banana cake, and ice cream.

The children loved the cake and we finished every last crumb. Then it was time for the presents. As I have described before, I called their name and then the girls came to pick out a number and the corresponding package. It took a while but everyone enjoyed to watch. The smallest one Sneha, she took her number and her present, posed for a picture with me, and then put it back down on the floor and went back to her seat : ) Lol, maybe she didn't want a present.

Monisha

Rojesh

The sisters

Everyone received a card, three pictures of our time together, and a few useful things such as hair-clips, hair-bands, lip gloss, nail polish, etc. and of course some candy. It was fun to watch them unwrap their gift. Everyone loved it. They also received five DVDs (because we had always watched movies together).

Then the sisters gave me a small present. The children watched me closely while I unwrapped it. I got a "guitar wall clock" and all the little girls said : "WWWWOOOOOOWWW" :)

I also played some songs on my flute for them. Afterwards Sangita really wanted to try playing the flute. That evening when all the others had gone to bed I taught her some stuff on the flute. She was learning really quickly and an hour later she was able to play: "How many roads". I wish I could have given her a flute to practice but I only had my good wooden flute with me. Maybe I'll bring one next time.

 

We finished the evening with a common dinner. Everyone ate together, the sisters, I, the children, and the employees. It was fun, but I had to switch tables every two minutes to avoid being too long with some children and too short with others : )

 As you can see, the day and evening were filled with joy and laughter. I was happy that I made the children happy. The next day before they left for school, I gave each one of them a friendship bracelet. I had made over 60 pieces, in different styles and lengths so that everyone would find one she liked.

The actual goodbye was very emotional. I received a lot of goodbye letters and cards and I still cannot read them without tearing up. The children sound heartbroken. The older ones cried and cried and they did not want to go to school. I promised them I would call them and I will try today. I hope it'll work!

Well that's it. I had a rough but valuable, interesting, and rewarding time in Nepal. I am glad I went there. However, I know that I still have a lot of processing to do and the next few weeks won't be easy. I look at the luxury we have in Germany, the clean fields, air and rivers, the many supermarkets, the abundance of goods, the smooth driving, and the plentiful food and what I see are the children of Nepal. Those living among cows, chickens, and pigs in mud huts with leaking water roofs. I see the hectic and self absorbed Germans and think of the cute Nepali children smiles.

The curse of the one who travels the world is that one will always miss the good things of the other countries and one will be more clearly reminded about the bad things in one's home country - so one is naturally less happy? 

I try not to be, and I know my family and friends will help me! I missed you all so much and I am glad to be back. I hope you had fun reading my blog! I definitely had fun writing it. I hope I was able to show you Nepal, to bring the Nepalese life a little closer to you. Maybe I was even able to convince you that doing good is necessary and rewarding at the same time. And maybe you might even start to support Plan Germany, the Schönebeck Foundation or the Future for Nepal's Children Club! Thanks for reading and I hope to see you very soon to talk with you in person about my experiences and your questions : )

Annika

P.S. maybe I'll blog again in the next two weeks about my "Readjusting process" :)