Next week, PC Thailand Group 134 Volunteers will travel to Bangkok for a Close of Service Conference to prepare them to complete their service. It will mark the start of the many goodbyes to come.In the spirit of closure, Sticky Rice would like to offer some "odes" or, rather, "epodes" from our Group 134 writers as they look back on their past two years in Thailand.

The smell of alcohol pierces my nostrils. My co-workers frantically disperse hand sanitizer in pocket-sized tubes to prevent the spread of you. I live in the Land of Smiles, which your suffocating masks have smothered. You not only incited hysteria, you robbed us all of the intimacy of touch.