Saying goodbyes

Well my service has been brought to an end, saying goodbye was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. That is another reason for the long time between posts. It's been hard even to talk about it let alone write it down. Luckily it was a motivator for my family to finally get a picture with everyone. I'd been trying for at least three months for this picture.I left on a Monday so on the final Sunday my village chiefs had a To'onai (Sunday feast) for me and gave me all kinds of gifts that I really didn't expect. I gave a farewell speech and tried to hold back my tears, I was unsuccessful. Afegogo just put his head back and closed his eyes for a few minutes so he wouldn't cry. He did tell me that he broke down in the plantation. It's amazing how close you get to people here both because so much time is spent in close quarters and lots of time to just chat. Here is another picture I tried to get of the whole village but only about a quarter of them stayed. I'm that big tall white thing in the back in case you were wondering.
When the Peace Corps vehicle came to pick me up in the morning it was almost a euphoric feeling, like a dream. It didn't feel real that I was leaving this place that had come to feel like my home. The whole village came over to my house and they stopped school so all the kids came over to see me off. It was the most emotional experience of my life to see all the love that these people are capable of giving. My young host sisters didn't really understand that I was leaving for good and the boys couldn't even look at me they were so sad. But by far my host parents were the most emotional. I was absolutely bawling when I hugged them goodbye. They kept telling me to come back. Driving away the kids ran after the car and I looked over a village of Samoans that had come to be like my second family.