Our leaving speech...

OK.

OK. We wrote this speech because we refuse to have to dance, so the time will be filled with us talking instead of making fools of ourselves, although knowing us, we’ll probably do that anyway!

So here goes…

We have to admit that during the first couple of weeks, we had mixed feelings about being here; we suddenly found ourselves in a strange country without our families, surrounded by 90 kids we didn’t know, which is a bit daunting to say the least. And when the boys of class 4 – led by Suresh – decided to switch name tags on us in our first lesson, the prospect of getting to know you all seemed so much more difficult.

But over the next couple of weeks, we began to feel more at home and started to learn not only your names but also your personalities. Except for Tsering, who refused to tell us his name in class and so for the first month was known to us only as ‘Bob’.

Neither of us has ever been made to feel so much a part of a large group of strangers so quickly. Chhutzin in particular played a big part in making us feel accepted in the beginning; every day after devotion he would be at the bottom of the steps in his man-u hat, ready to talk to us about everything and anything. We’ve never been able to leave our room without at least 3 people cheerfully greeting us, and Annay always made us porridge which helped us to feel at home.

It didn’t take us long to realize we weren’t part of a group of strangers anymore but part of a family. This hit us when Auntie announced during the preparations for Wayne and Buangpuii’s wedding that we were not to consider ourselves guests, but were part of the family with equal responsibility for representing the home.

We have memories of each one of you that we’ll treasure forever; it’s a guarantee that time spent with you will always end up in laughter. Some of our favourite moments include:

Panma shouting across the ground in an English accent

Martin getting a pencil stuck in his cast

Pawan popping up anywhere at anytime,

Playing silly games with Skarma and Yungchen

Dancing to Steps in the rec room with the small girls

And Chhorten’s constant YMCA-ing!

Steps and the YMCA aren’t the only dancing that’s gone on since we’ve been here. You all showed an incredible amount of devotion during practice for the wedding, and the results were spectacular. And somehow our parent’s day group persuaded us to dance and teach lindy hop, which wasn’t in the plan at all. But dance practice was so much fun; our favourite moment has to be Pema and Khasdup wearing the girl’s leggings pulled up to their armpits!

You’re all blessed with so many talents; not only dancing, but singing, sports and academic abilities as well. WE always enjoyed sitting and watching you play baseball, basketball, football or marbles, and Jograj made us laugh by combining two talents into what we call his ‘out dance’.

Somewhere between all the studying and playing, you still found time to help us out; Dechen-Angmo constantly offered to empty our bin, and Rinchen and Urgyan among others have both helped us tidy up. We’ve never been allowed to carry our bags anywhere as the boys are so polite, and we’ve lost count of the number of times we’ve heard ‘ladies first’.

You’ve all been brought up to be so friendly and respectful, and credit for that must go partly to your wardens and staff, to whom we also have a lot to say. From the start, they welcomed us onto the teaching team and were there to help us when we needed guidance or advice. Auntie has been a constant source of comfort and friendliness, and we will miss being in her sitting room and chatting. When we got ill, Joy and Mami in particular were great, and Annay fired up the porridge stove for us once again!

We’ve got so many good memories with them as well as with you all that it would be impossible to list them. And we’re sure you must have heard all this many times before from other GAPpers or visitors – as it’s your personalities that create these memories.

Each one of you will be in our thoughts, hearts and prayers forever; the time has flown so quickly and we’ve made so many friends for life. We came here as volunteers expecting to give something to you all, but instead we’ll be taking a lot more away with us than we could ever have imagined. It’s a true blessing that we were sent here to become part of such an incredible family, and we can’t express enough our gratitude at your welcoming and inclusive reaction to our arrival, and your continuing and strengthening friendships with us over the last 4 months.

Here are some photos of some of our favourite memories.

Thank you, we truly love you all.