The End... but not quite!

So I've said many goodbyes today.  Rode my moto for the last time, had my last lunch with the staff, walked through the market for the last time and actually tried to take in the horrid smell just so that I might remember it.  It's my last day here and I find myself mentally logging all of my "lasts" just as I had logged all of my "firsts" when I had just arrived. 

It's been a much more difficult day than I had expected.  I woke up and went to run some errands near the water front and found myself actually getting teary eyed as I rode through the insane traffic and weaved and dodged tuk tuks and Lexus SUVs for the last time.  My life has been changed by this place!  It's left a mark on me that will never really go away, and I like it that way.  This place and these people have taught me things that I never would have learned from home.  As hard as it was to be away from home at times, the experience has branded me for a lifetime.

However my trip is not over.  Because there are things waiting for me to do when I come home, I feel as if maybe the second part of my job is just beginning.  God has opened countless opportunities for me back home with the work I have done here.

As I am excited to see my family & my friends, I will miss this place dearly.  In spite of it sounding extremely cliche, I leave a piece of me here and have made a special place for Cambodia in my heart.  Thank you for how you have changed me and will continue to change me!  Goodbye for now & I will see you soon!