"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. 

our days in may.

celebration. it's the one word that comes to mind when i think of our days in may. they were filled with so much celebrating and so much joy.

over the may national holiday, kelsey and i got to travel to another city with a student friend to celebrate the wedding of two of her closest friends! it was such an honor to be a part of this special day.

we celebrated cinco de mayo with our american friends in the city... 

mexican food, mustaches, and all!

 our crew "celebrated" the opening of a new restaurant within walking distance from our apartment complex. of course, it was coined the name, "steak 'n shake," due to their incredible (yet confusing) aprons! but do not be fooled -- strictly noodles sold here...no steakburgers or fries!

i absolutely celebrated the reunion with my dear friend haviland, who was with me throughout my first year in asia. i was immensely blessed by her presence, as she led the auburn summer group for the last six weeks of my year.

together with all of our other friends around the region, we got to celebrate what we have experienced throughout the year and prepare for what was ahead over a weekend away in a beautiful lake town. (we actually went there last year, too.) we had a great time exploring a new place, and i'm thankful i got to start the transition process here with lots of friends around me.

we also celebrated two new additions to our "family!" we threw a joint baby shower for cat and chelsey...both due in the summer. 

lastly, our crew celebrated the year together with our annual DXCies awards night. it was such a fun night of reminiscing over all that happened throughout the year.

photo credit to anne marie :)

a is for april...and these other things!

auburn friends!

our friend, will, works in another city over here -- and he came to visit us for easter! so happy to have him!

affirmation and alleys!

our crew got to "get away" to another part of the city for a weekend of bonding over yummy food (i.e. papa john's), affirmation time, and bowling!

aya!

playing tennis with these friends was a fun afternoon, especially with all their hilarious exclamatory phrases -- aya! wah! ioh!

 adopting!

yoki 

fendi

somehow, my roommates and i ended up adopting (more like fostering for a short time) these cute canines! though they were a handful, we loved their company!