Another year, another CELA gone by!
Unfortunately, I departed before I could get any photos of graduation off of Bill's camera. I guess you will have to scour the network for someone with those photos!
Adam is already looking forward to CELA-8. It's true that being a visionary is easier when you have a couple great pairs of glasses.But really, graduation is less about the sights than it is about the words. Adam made a speech divulging his "secret"--that CELA is actually a prison camp--until we were nearly convinced that we should rejoice about leaving. But then Bill started handing out diplomas while accompanied by the usual clapping, shouting of descriptive words, and roaring laughter (and the perhaps more unusual phenomena of an Afghan participant inviting several of the female participants to his country). Anyway, we soon remembered that we were actually sad to see CELA end. I would like to paraphrase one part of a speech which one of the participants gave at graduation (I think Eka said this, but please correct me if I am wrong):
Before I came to CELA, I thought that I was great. During CELA, I realized that we are great. Now, I know that life is great.Please note that Obaid's photos are online at my web album:
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/cassondrapuls
Another note to CELA-7 people: If you add me as a friend on Facebook, I promise to tag you in some photos! My name on Facebook is Cassondra Puls.
Many thanks to Elvira for letting me use this blog, and I look forward to meeting everyone again someday!