Back Together Again

As the 13 students who left Cambodia on April 10 were finishing the last leg of their two-day journey to Goshen College, the idea of having coffee together as soon as possible arose in conversation.

A date was planned and nearly every Thursday at two o’clock since that first meeting, at least a few of the former team have gathered together to catch up with each other.

Today was just such a day.

Isaac, Greg, Luke N., Melanie, and I chatted for an hour, joined half of the time by Nathan. We

discussed our lives now (Luke’s poor fish sculpture, Greg’s excellent Praxis essay, and Isaac’s ability to pick locks), our lives in Cambodia (“Remember how a shirt cost three dollars?”), and where the two intertwine (Greg’s family in PA’s phone messages left in Khmer, Melanie’s Phnom Penh family’s new home in California, and the unbearable coldness days like today seem to have after three months of constant temperatures in the nineties).

Each of us was wearing something we’d brought back from Cambodia, as you can see in the pictures. Although, the purple socks Isaac has on only came as far as Singapore—they were free from Singapore Airlines.

This was probably the last time we’ll be able to get together like this, before we all go in separate directions for the summer.