Abby's Birfday!

Monday was my good friend Abby's birthday! We ended up going to the Italian restaurant, The Ital. We like this place for groups because on Mondays and Wednesdays they have pizzas and pastas for half price. About 20 people ended up going out that night, which was really cool because our director of Radical Journey, Lyz, was here this week and so she got to meet a lot of the teachers from school. I love the teachers at my school. They have been really great to make us feel included and I really feel like a part of their gang even though I am just a volunteer. I feel like they care about my well being and because of this it is easy for me to help them and give 100%. They have taught me a lot of things so far this year about dealing with children. They've also been able to give me advice in non-school issues, which has been amazing!

Abby is loved by so many! It was a fun get together with everyone!

One of the amazing people that I get to spend a lot of time with is the Abby, the birthday girl. She works in Year 4 and so she gets to spend a lot of her time in my classroom. It has been so great meeting Abby because we have a lot of similarities and get along great. She's my age, and a Christian too, which has been a little more of a struggle for us to find here. Not that that limits friendships for me in any way, but it is an important part of my life and is fun to find someone with similar beliefs. Abby is so generous (almost obnoxiously so...) and is so thoughtful in all situations. I feel so blessed to have found a friend like her and I've said it before, but I'll continue to call her my British lifer, because I expect to be friends with her for all my life! When I think about the fact that I am only about 3 months from leaving this place, I start to get emotional already because the people that I have met and become close to mean a butt load to me. I thank God for these relationships and experiences that I'm having here in England. It will be hard to leave...Luckily, I will be getting a visit from Abby this summer in Kansas. She will get to see the Kansas way of life in August and I'm excited for that, but not excited to leave this place...

Abby, Helen, Ruth, June, Me, Bethany and Leigh