The Beginning of the End

Today is pretty much my last day of work.

There wasn't much I could do in the office today because I had wrapped up most of my work. This morning I was able to complete the tax forms I had been working on and handed them over to the marketing team. I felt pretty proud of myself for seeing the project through while I've been here and that I was able to organize everything before I left. Hopefully my little contribution helped their department.

With that off my plate, I spent the rest of the morning getting things in order for my flight. I was able to switch my flight from the original 5:30 time to the earlier 2:20 flight. I was able to print my boarding pass and buy my ticket for the airport shuttle bus. I'll need to leave the office tomorrow around 11:00 in order to get to the airport in time for my flight - Lord knows security will probably take longer than necessary.

In honor of my last day, two of my coworkers took me to the open market five blocks or so from the office. Although I didn't buy anything for lunch while I was there, I appreciated walking around with them. The open market here is a bit different than ours - it's like if you took a grocery store, cleared it out and let local venders come in to use it basically. Everything is enclosed in this gigantic building, but still everything is in individual little booths. I thought it was really neat.

Once we got back to the office, work passed really slow. Without any real work to do, I tried clearing out my desk area. I had a lot of Earl Grey Tea left and decided to give it to my Frenchie friend. I left the box with a sticky-note on his desk for him to discover once he got back to work on Monday.

The note I left him sparked the idea of writing a letter to the entire office. I wasn't really sure why I hadn't thought of doing it before, but I thought it would be appropriate to tell the office how much this experience meant to me and how much I appreciated all of them. For the rest of the afternoon, I worked on this letter - somewhat covertly. Anytime someone walked close enough, I'd switch the page I was looking at so they couldn't see the letter. I'm sure I made a few people suspicious, but I didn't want anyone to read it until I gave it to Father Rosica.

After work, I had dinner with the Sisters at the convent. It was such a fun meal. We talked about the most random things. Even after we were done eating, we must have sat there for at least another hour and a half just chatting. It was kind of like a girls night. I also told them how much I appreciated everything they did - I couldn't have asked for better hosts. Since most of them are gone by the time I wake up in the morning, I told them each goodbye before they headed off to bed. They all insisted I keep in touch and to send them pictures of my wedding - I'm sure I'll stay in touch with them.

After dinner wrapped up, I headed over to my coworkers apartment for my last get together with everyone. It was a pretty mellow night, and I was already pretty exhausted from the previous late nights we had. I decided that the group should keep the $20 jackpot and spend it on snacks and food for their get togethers - there was no way we were going to make it through more poker. But just to set the record straight, I'm totally the winner :) Any way, we did however manage to play more Dutch Blitz. I don't know what it is about this game, but it is truly addicting. Before I knew it, it was already almost 1:00 again, and I hadn't even finished packing. It was sad to say goodbye to my friends. To those of you who are reading this now, you have truly touched me and I could not say thank you enough for your kindness. I know we didn't get to know each other very well or for very long, but sometimes it's the strangers that change our lives for ever. I greatly appreciate everything you did for me while I called Toronto home.

I made it back to the convent late and got to packing. To say that things are fitting tightly is an understatement. I'm sure if I even look at my suitcase the wrong way, clothings and shoes will expload from between its bloated zippers.

Tomorrow is my last day. I am in disbelief.

Michelle