Thursday, July 23, 2009

Let the sappy songs play...it's almost time for graduation!

Hey all! I can't believe I'm coming to the end of this 6 month journey! We've spent the last week doing de-briefing here at the base, and most of us have spent the week taking antibiotics to kill a crazy cold we got in the outback--one of the girls even got pneumonia! I'm up and walking around, which is more than I can say for when I first got sick, but I'm still waiting for the last bit of cough and runny nose to go away.

Last night, we had a big dinner at a buffet place nearby with the school and some of the staff from the base. It was a nice time to hang out and say goodbyes, since the base double booked a huge conference at the same time as our graduation, so we don't really get a proper graduation because the conference is going on.... Oh, the joys of YWAM. I made a "most likely to..." slideshow with all the students in it that got some pretty big laughs. I must say it was above the bar of my usual comedic genius and I was quite proud of myself. ;-} Today and tomorrow each of the outreach teams is giving a 15 minute speech at the conference, and then on Friday night (during the conference) we will get our fancy pieces of paper saying we passed our DTS. Sort of an anti-climactic ending after 6 of the craziest months of my life, but I think we've all accepted that we're not going to have a proper graduation. We're trying to make plans to go out afterward and say our last goodbyes before everyone leaves, but the conference is throwing a snag in those works too because it's running so late.

After "graduation" on Friday, I wake up early Saturday morning to fly up to Townsville to go snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef and catch a little R&R on the beach before leaving for home. I started packing today--still not sure how my giant didgeridoo and my djembes are going to fit in my bags/not break/make it through customs, but I'm going to worry about that later.... I'm looking forward to coming back to the states, enjoying all of the things from home that I've been missing since February 6th, and seeing all of you! Can't wait to catch up and give you all big hugs when I get home!!!!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Yay-Maggie is coming home! The kitties are ready for their hugs-as are Mom and Dad!

Jami Janelle said...

woohoo! can't wait to get a hug from you! my dts graduation was crazy too... we got stuck in Paris (at the hotel) because of 9/11. So our de-briefing was partly in Paris (we couldn't leave the hotel) and barely in Hawaii... just enough to have a graduation ceremony and say our goodbyes. Enjoy your last DTS memories! You will stay in touch with most of your DTS mates! Love you heaps!