Friday, January 27, 2006

The morning of goodbyes...

Photos posted post-PNG, from a little room in Epping, far from the heat and humidity of home.

That last morning was so surreal, it's a mixture of images and emotions. How could it be true that I was really leaving? How do you say goodbye to people who have been your mother, your sister, your true friends, your daughters - your life - for 2 years?

Standing outside my / our house in the morning with Doris and Veronica and Pia, it was like any other morning as we tried to forget the clock counting down and the minutes ticking by - til Mr Andrew went into the house to put on a CD - and the music drew even the Sisters from their convent as my bags were packed and we were ready to go, Lady A soaking my T-shirt with tears as she held me like she'd never let me go. How can you play leaving on a jetplane when we're all trying to forget that very fact?

We needed the big orange bus to load everyone to the airport to say goodbye - there must have been 50 people there to wave me off, and even with the tears rolling at every hug it was hard to belive that this was really it.

I still can't believe it.

Goodbye Papua New Guinea, and thank you from the bottom of my heart for what will always be remembered as the time of my life. I'll be back, have no doubt about that.

Goodbye Moresby. It's been real.

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Roomies' last day - friends forever. Love you Pia

10 Comments:

At 9:01 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said...

omigod!!!!! Miss Conolly!!! i can't believe it... i'm so glad i found this site! by the way this is Lani Latham i was in 9 yellow & you were my english teacher. omg the pics are beautiful... since i left i missed out on a lot of events at M'ville. i caught up on a few things from reading your blog. it was really funny -the banana & getting hit by Henryetta. hahaha... i even cried. i miss the girls a lot & all the crazy things we used to do at school or hang out together or go "spinning" well, it's really great to remember all the fun memories of the past.
thanks a lot...
cheers
xox

 
At 5:41 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Lani, excellent to hear from you! Glad you liked the site, and that it brought back some happy memories for you. Your comment reminded me to look at it again too - it's been a few months since I returned to Sydney and I'm missing Mville so much too. Hope your new school is working out for you, and would love to hear more about it. Catch mulai!

 
At 10:03 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi LC:
I'm glad I stumbled across your blog - it brought back many memories of my own time as a volunteer, across the way at what was DeLaSalle Bomana (long time ago now: '79 & '80, I think!). I got to know the two volunteer Aussie girls that were teaching at M'ville at the time, quite possibly staying in the same house you were in.

I haven't forgotten my times there - and I can understand you missing Bomana and its lifestyle, as I did, once I too got back to Sydney. It's a little known secret that although volunteers aim to give something, it actually feels like we gained more that we gave.

 
At 6:42 am, Anonymous Anonymous said...

u knw ue blog thingy is really cool -u should write a book! seriously...
;)
Lani

 
At 10:50 am, Blogger Ms Bomana said...

Aw thanks, Lani!!! Maybe one day I will.

 
At 6:31 am, Anonymous Anonymous said...

g'day mate!
great web site.
hope you come back to png someday!

 
At 12:26 am, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ms. Connolly,

Thanks for having such a positive view from the 'real people" - the average citizen of PNG, amidst all the not so cozy news that destroys PNG's image, both here and abroad. Your life-long experience and interactions with the PNG kids (at skul), parents, staff, friends, and ordinary people is reminiscent of a country were "all the bad news" that happens in cities (e.g. POM) does not represent 90% of PNG and it's peoples. Our hope is that you will spread this 'good news" of PNG in your spheres of influence and, that it [experience] makes you an excellent ambassador, for a better world - you're already a better person from it! I admire your honesty!

 
At 8:17 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi,
I stubbled across the page and gosh its awsme. Reminds me of hme. PNG!! I also saw my part of PNg through the entry abot you going 2 mary's village in gabadi..Hehehehe i laughed wen i saw the photos coz i know all the people in them including mary..

Thanx 4 displaying PNG 4 what it truely stands for 2 the rest of the world.
Cheers,
Tiffany Pease

 
At 9:03 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Gosh!!! I can't believe it's YOU... Well I'm an ex-student now and am sooooooo glad that this site was passed to me. Brought back a lot of memories FOR SURE..... and I can say that Miss Conolly ya the BOMB!!!! Love ya heaps and thanks for the school mag. It was a BLAST having you. You will ALWAYS be my faveourite IT teacher.....

BEST OF LUCK TO YOU.....

 
At 10:30 am, Anonymous Anonymous said...

hey miss conolly its me charlene !!
how ya been???
well um studying here in cairns nd i was wondering if you could send me da miss mvill quest fotos of me??>>>>:(:(
i miss da girlz sooooo much nd you too!!
you were seriously da bomb!!

hope ta com nd visit ya soon ay!!
laikim!!
~charlene~

 

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