Two weeks from today

In exactly one week from today I will no longer be an official PCV (Peace Corps Volunteer) but a RPCV (Returned Peace Corps Volunteer) and exactly two weeks from today I will be in Nashville TN along with my family and my cat from Ecuador, Tito. And to be honest, I don't even know how to let that really sink in!

My life has been here in El Retiro Ecuador for the past TWO years now. For a girl that tends to move around a lot, staying in one place for two years definitely counts for something! It has for sure been a time period that has helped me figure out what I want to do with my life and have a better understanding of others in general.

This past month my work has been coming to a close with me giving my last classes of English as well as my last English review sessions. I also ran another half marathon in Guayaquil which I ran quicker than my last time, but it wasn't near as pleasant.

I have some type of parasite that is for sure. And because of that parasite I can only run for about an hour before I literally get the runs. With this in mind, I managed to run the half marathon in 1:54:12...but it wasn't easy. For the last hour I was in a lot of pain as my parasites were not in the mood to be running. So although I managed to beat my time from the last time I ran...it wasn't nearly as pleasant. The next half marathon I am going to run is in Nashville on September 24th and I am will hopefully not have parasites then and it won't be nearly as unpleasant.

After the race we carried on for a day at the beach in Ecuador to drink rum and coke along with beers and seafood. We decided to go to a more unknown beach area called Ayangue, which was pleasant for the day. Then we went back to Guayaquil to celebrate the 4th with some other PCVs there. All in all, it was pretty nice.

That is really about all that I have been up to. The last month of service is a very unique one where you feel like there is so much to do and at the same time there is so much time just waiting around to head back to the States.

Next week I will head up to Quito to finish with the Peace Corps and then come back to El Retiro for one last week to say my goodbyes. All in all, it is a very emotional time with a lot of things to finish up and get ready to go back to the States.