My contract is up and I’m officially done with teaching in Thailand!

When I started this new adventure five months ago, I remember tears falling down my face as I looked out the window, nervous as hell, on my way to my new home and school.

Flash forward to my last day of teaching and again, tears are blurring my vision.

Instead of scared tears for the future, these are tears of gratefulness.

And of course some tears for the very hard goodbyes I had with my little nursery and Kindergarten nuggets.

Goodbyes have never been a pleasant thing for me. I get teary eyed as I try and mutter out words.

I cried saying goodbye to my hometown as I left for college. I cried each time saying “see you soon” to my parents throughout those four years. And I was absolutely sobbing for weeks straight leaving Arizona.

I never thought leaving teaching would be comparable to the difficult goodbyes I’ve had in the past.

But Sunflower Kindergarten School just wanted to prove me wrong!!

I got attached. I fell in love with these kids.

And here I am, tearing up as I’m riding back from school to my apartment for the very last time.

Unfortunately, this really isn’t a “see you later” situation. I don’t know if I’ll ever see my students again. I will try and keep up with them through their parents and fellow teachers that I’m friends with on Facebook.

My only hope is that they continue to show an excitement for learning. And that they keep practicing English because my god they are brilliant.

To make this goodbye even worse on my very last day, a grandparent came up to me in the morning saying how her grandson loves me and always has the best time in my class.

My heart melted as I forced myself not to cry right then.

My students showed me unconditional love. They made me smile every single day. And as tough as teaching presented itself at times, they were always excited for you to be there with them.

Each day I was blown away at how much they knew and how even some of these Kindergarten students could READ English at four years old!!

They taught me how to enjoy life again. They sure as hell taught me patience. They brought back the old Lizzy without even realizing it.

These kids showed me to laugh at yourself. It is absolutely fine to make mistakes. Look at that mistake. Learn from it. And never ever beat yourself up about it. Do everything with a smile on your face.

I have never been prouder than seeing my little nursery students move up to start Kindergarten during summer school.

Ande started teaching them during summer school since she’ll have them next semester. She told me how they knew so much already.

Here I was thinking nothing was getting through to them or it wasn’t going to stick. But what do you know, my little kiddos were listening to me!!

These tears now are just proof of how much I have grown in these past months.

Sunflower Kindergarten School, thank you for everything. The good and the bad. The easy days and the days I wanted to rip my hair out. The culture. The food. The love. All of it. I will cherish this experience forever.

Techa Lizzy loves you and misses you already! ❤