"your leaving month..."

when may turned to june, "lasts" started happening and life became more bittersweet. one of my closest student friends said, "i don't want it to be june. june is your leaving month." those were hard words to hear. but, gosh, did we have fun! here are some of the things we did:

kelsey and i went along with the summer auburn group to one of our favorite cities. i really enjoyed being with these college students and getting to know them more! this trip also gave me the opportunity to say good-bye to several friends and places i have come to love there over the last two years.

     

    

photo credit to kelsey

in order to bring back to america a part of my beloved asian city, i went to a local artist and bought two paintings he had done of the cityscape. he painted me one in watercolor right on the spot and i chose an oil painting (behind me on the left in the picture below) from his gallery. so thankful to have these treasures for my future home.

         

kelsey, hughes and me in the "old town" of our city. 

how wonderful it was to witness the wedding of two good friends here in asia! the ceremony was incredible and so worshipful. i am excited to see what is in store for them in the years to come.

haviland, me, and owen at the wedding! 

about a week before i left, i made sure to go visit my friends in the other part of our city. we ate at our favorite "corner" restaurant, and i also stopped in to say one last goodbye to my "hair dresser." it was such a fun afternoon with sarah and sam!

i also got to spend a whole lot of sweet time with my student friends -- including seeing the hunger games at the movie theater, studying, hanging out on campus, eating at our favorite restaurants, and lounging around at my apartment together! it was a bittersweet "leaving month," but definitely more sweet than bitter.