Day 99 of OBO (8 December 2007)... Good-byes

The last day of the mission proper... Today was filled with good-byes... We went to the orphanage in the morning to say farewell to the children... Well, Nut somehow sensed that we were leaving... He didn't take to me as much as before... I carried him for a while before he fell asleep... Then feeding time came... After he had his milk, he refused to go back to sleep... He was just jumping around... It seemed like he wanted to be awake when I left... Nino, too, was also quite attached to Nut and Nut to him... When I told Nut that Nino would come later that day, he quieten down a bit... But not too long later, he started getting all jumpy again... As I bade farewell to him and walked out of the baby room, he just stared at me... Something in his eyes says that he's gonna miss me, but at the same time, there was the feeling that the detachment process was taking place...

After the orphanage, we went back to the centre for lunch... After lunch, we went to the street kids home... The kids there were primary school kids up to university students... However, the kids we played with were mainly primary to secondary school kids... There was soccer, tug of war, water balloon volley ball, eating race... The Thai kids were good... They were especially strong in soccer and tug of war... Well, that goes to show that we Singaporeans are too sheltered... Anyway, I had water, syrup and flour poured over me by time the day ended... We spent the entire afternoon there... We headed back to the centre at around 1700hrs... I went to bathe and then went to get dinner...

During dinner, the 2 altar boys asked me if I wanted to serve mass... Well, that's 'cause I asked Fr Simon the day before if the girls could serve mass (that's 'cause we girls are not allowed to be altar servers in Singapore... But that's not the case overseas... So since we were out of Singapore soil, that rule doesn't apply) and he said yes... So anyway, I served mass for the first time in my life that evening... It was a life-changing experience... It's something that I've always wanted to do since I was a child, and I finally get to serve... So it's also a dream come true... So, that evening, Trini, a girl on the trip, and I served mass... It was fun! After mass, we had our evaluation and debriefing before heading to bed...

Since it was the last night, everyone just stayed up till very late... I stayed up till about 0300hrs (Thai time)... I was packing my bag and after that, it was more ghost stories... It was also catching up time for Nino and myself 'cause we didn't meet up after we finished college... So there was a lot to talk about... And it's quite cool... Talking about 4years of rubbish... LOL... Well, that's pretty much it... It's the end... And when I get home, I'll still reminisce about the times I spent here in Pattaya... Oh well...