41 Days and Counting

6-17-11

It is really hard for me to truly understand, much less believe, that I only have 41 more days left here in Ecuador. Time never ceases to amaze me with the mind tricks that is can play.

This past month I have been busy doing a lot of paperwork for the PC and working on tying up loose ends here and there. My work has fallen into a nice schedule where I teach English twice a week in a neighboring town, have my after school review sessions in my town three times a week, and a community bank meeting every other Monday. Those are my main projects at the moment.

I have tried to keep these projects pretty simple and laid-back as I will be leaving in a month. However, I am still working with the teachers that I have made relationships with trying to help them out with whatever I can. This past month especially I worked with the school psychologist to help plan and implement some workshops that she can do with the youth. As it is towards the end of my service, it is nice to have these relationships where I can still do some work and not have to start a new project of my own.

So all in all, I have managed to keep myself busy between my couple of classes and workshops along with working with the teachers. Then in my spare time of course there is the PC paperwork that I have to do before I can leave…and let me tell you, the government LOVES their paperwork.

Amongst surveys on pretty much every aspect of your service we have to write a one page summary of our PC service for the Country Director to sign verifying that we were in the PC, a four to five page report on your community where you live and aspects that could be useful to future volunteers at that site, and a six to ten page report summarizing you two years of service in your community and recommendations of what they need to continuing doing to keep developing…in Spanish. And those are just the main reports that we have to do before we can leave!

We have a Close of Service (COS) check list that we have to complete before we can leave the PC and I think the packet in total is about 10 pages. Three pages are the actual checklist of things you need to do or complete before you leave, such as the reports, closing your bank account, extra. The other seven or so are forms that you have to sign before you leave giving PC the right to do x, y, or z and saying that you won’t hold them responsible for x, y, or z. As you can see…I have read these forms very carefully…

Other than the work aspect I have also been busy saying my social goodbyes. I went up to Bucay one weekend for my friend’s belated birthday surprise party. More recently the El Oro cluster went to Jambeli Island one more time for a night together on the beach. All but two of the PCVs of El Oro made it out to Jambeli as well as three World Teach Volunteers from Machala. It was a really relaxing weekend on the beach one last time together which was nice.

We also went on one more day hike to Chilla El Oro where the highest point was 3,900 meters or 12,795 feet. It started to rain for the last 20 minutes of our hike give or take as well. And although the views were beautiful and amazing once again, I have to say that I am over the altitude and rain with hikes. I think the INCA trail was my high point and from there I feel pretty set on my need to hike the Andes…at least for now.

Random points to mention would be that one night when I stayed over at Sarah’s place we found a scorpion in her bed…yes that is right folks, a full grown black scorpion that must have been about 3 to 4 inches when you included the tail thing. Sarah killed it with her shoe as she screamed out die die die over and over again. Needless to say, we didn’t sleep that much that night.

I am also now included in the having amoebas club. They were asymptomatic and living happily inside of me for who knows how long really. The medicine I have to take to get ride of them was not pleasant to say the less. I had to take two horse pills a day for three days and couldn’t drink for two days after completion of the pills. Side affects of this medicine include and are not limited to upset stomach, bloating, constipation, fever, diarrhea, a lack of energy, feeling lethargic, and a metallic taste in your month. All in all, the medicine just resulted in upsetting my amoebas and now I am no longer asymptomatic but definitely still have amoebas. I plan on taking care of them when I go home as it is too much of a hassle to try and get ride of them now knowing that I will probably just get them once again before I am back in the States.
Now it is finally hitting me that I have a little more than a month left here in Ecuador….and I have to be the first to admit that I have mixed feelings. Ecuador has become my home for better or worse, and it will be weird at first to leave it to return back to the States. And yet I know that I am ready to head back to what I know and start to make a life for myself in Nashville. It is a weird mixture of feelings that I don’t even think I can put into words.

Over this next month, besides finishing my paperwork and selling or giving away most of my stuff, I am going to go to Cuenca one more time and we have a half marathon planned for July 3rd in Guayaquil with a trip to the beach attached to that weekend for the 4th of July. It will be one nice last hurrah with some of my PCV friends before we all say our final goodbyes for now.

Starting July 11th we have exams here followed by a week of vacation. Therefore, my last three weeks in country more or less I don’t really have any work as my classes stop. It will be good to have that time to wrap up all of the loose ends as well as start to apply to some jobs back home, and yet I am a little nervous to have that much time sitting around with just all of my thoughts! I am sure it will be a good thing though once it is all said and done as I am sure that I will be busier than I think for sure.

They tell you that the PC experience is the toughest job that you will ever love, which couldn’t be truer in many ways. I have learned so much about myself which I will carry with me for the rest of my life and I know that my youth will carry some of my lessons and memories with them for the rest of their lives.

However, they don’t explain to you how difficult it will be to adjust to your new life when you first arrive and how difficult it will be to leave it when the time comes. The reason they don’t explain this to you, is because they can’t explain it to you; you have to live it.

Over the past two years I have been able to truly see things for a different view point and I have made memories and experiences that will last a lifetime. As a former volunteer once said, my problem is that I am 25 years old and I have already had the experience of a lifetime.