love the wang

taken from the team journal entry of Thur 11/13 & Fri 11/14 as contributed by me:

” The goodbyes were emotional as the neighbor whom we’ve used the house of to eat lunch started to cry as we took farewell pictures. Our family was sad to see us leave but I think they are overjoyed with the prospect of their new house being nearly completed. While I cried my goodbyes and walked down the dirt road, I came upon the nighbor’s house again. The woman was sitting in her kitchen crying alone. She had left the big goodbye scene for fear she would break out in sobs. Indeed, when I went to hug her goodbye, the waterworks came. Naturally, mine followed. For two weeks, everytime I got homesick I would go sit on this woman’s porch for a little while and watch her black puppy play with her kids. This chubby little dog named “beep beep” brought me a lot of comfort when the sun and humidity and mosquitoes challenged my physical strength. And this woman’s amazing bright smile and spirit brought me comfort when the magnitude of this experience challenged my mental strength. Halfway around the world, I found a dog-lover like me, whose hospitality and kindness is matched only by the width of her smile. And without ever exchanging a word, we’ve formed an odd bond.

As we stood and cried, she told Annie that life is quiet in a small town and how happy and eventful we’ve made the neighborhood. And now to leave after two weeks would make her really miss us. We told her that we would always try to keep in touch with her. She wanted us to come back again and told us that whenever we do, it is most likely she would still be living there.

And so it is, that the memories of this build, of these families, of my teammates become another stitch in the fabric of my life and my being, never to separate from who I am. And that is more than anything I can ask for.”