Feliz Natal!!!

On Friday the women organized a end of the semester Christmas party. This gathering had even more hugs than the opening ceremony. Although it has been only about 2 months since the program was launched, we have gotten to know each other throughout this time. All week the women have been telling me that they will miss me and that I should simply stay. I feel like I was just getting started with my internship, we are just starting to get into the material. Although I would love to stay and work until this group of women finished the program, I simply can't.

During this party, we were given presents and the women would tell us how much we mean to them. It's hard to explain, but although I was just teaching English classes, I feel like it was more than just an English class. We used the class to get to know about each other, our family, our likes and dislikes and various other things. When I was asked to speak, I had written a quick speech beforehand in Portuguese. Now I know how the women felt when we told them they had to do presentations in English.

Para minhas mulheres fortes, 

muito obrigada a voces por esta experiencia maravilhosa. Se eu pudesse, eu ficaria ensinando ingles para voces durante o proximo semestre. Mas minha mae vai me matar se eu nao volto pra casa dela. Voces sao minha familia no Brasil. Eu nao poderia pedir um melhor grupo de mulheres. Por favor, me adicionem no Orkut, eu quero mantar contato com voces. Quero saber das suas conguistas durante e depois do Mulheres Mil. 

Muito obrigada profesora Sarah por esta oportunidade legal. Trabalhar com voce, Vanderlania, Erilan, Rian, Denise, Elisabeth e Amber foi otimo. Eu nao vou esquecerei meu tempo aqui em Fortaleza. Amo cada uma de voces. Foi uma prazer. Obrigada minhas mulheres fortes.

(thank you Denise for correcting my speech, I still don't know how to add accents on my keyboard). Although emotions were high in the room, I try to be funny in when people are crying, even if they are happy tears. Despite people crying during my quickly written speech, there were parts of laughter. Here are some pictures from the Christmas party: