Final Day in Hualien City

I cannot even fathom how much of an impact our little group of 14 has made on the lives of the children and adults we have met in our stay in Hualien. Today was our final day in Hualien and we used our time well. We went to a daycare center where we taught 70 five and six years old kids English. It was quite a challenge, but we all agreed that today was one of the best days that we have taught English because the kids were so enthusiastic. I really got a lot out of the 45 minutes we were with them and I wish we had spent more time with them. We received more gifts from the Mayor today- a framed copy of a picture of ourselves with the mayor and a marble stone with our names and Chinese words of wisdom engraved on it. It didn't really hit me today how special our presence has been in Hualien until Mrs. Barnes leaned over to me and said "Can you believe this?". This trip has been a dream come true and I can't believe we are about to embark on our second week here. After lunch with our host families and the Mayor and his wife, we got on a train to bring us to Taipei. Tomorrow, we begin our service at Children Are Us, a bakery in Taipei that employs special-needs adults. I can't wait to get our hands dirty tomorrow!

I'll write again soon!
-Abby Vincent