Time in Kentucky

Hello all! By this point, I have officially said a face-to-face farewell with everyone but the group that will travel with me to Thailand. I'm feeling somewhat relieved to have that done, but also sad to know that all the wonderful folks in my life will be out of it for at least 5 months. (Until Christmas). The goodbyes were really hard yesterday and left me a sobbing mess... But it is all a part of the process of leaving. I'm feeling better today and also excited to dive into the specifics of my job next year.

We're still at Morehead State University in KY. This is where the ENGAGE Convergence was held. It went by sooo fast!! I was really busy with several sessions and just the incredible opportunity to be around so many old and new friends. I ended it with a corn cob metaphor that, while perhaps one of the weirdest things I have ever done, felt right and satisfying. Now we're onto training for the next year with the previous intern group (Shayne, Miles, Josh, and Sarah). We will go to Lexington and stay in the house of a former CIEE student (who will actually be at the Social Forum, ha) on Thursday. Then we'll fly out on Saturday!! Ah!

Today we went over the program facilitator guide and will continue to do this over the next few days. My role is to plan and run the semester for the 17 students that will be coming to Khon Kaen in the fall. With this comes the challenges of planning something so big and also making it personal and tailored to the students.

I have great hopes for our p'fac (easier to write than program facilitator) group. I am really looking forward to working more with Allison, Alvin, Sam, and Lukas. And Josh, the intern coordinator. He'll be our go-between with CIEE-Thailand staff, among other things.

Sooo, to end this first post of the real journey, I miss you all and look forward to seeing you again! :) Pictures to follow, once I re-find the cord.....

(Especially a shout out to Allyn, Phil, and Cash--keep the blue house rockin!!) And sit on the porch for me!