The countdown is on!

Hello Everyone! The past two months have been so hectic I didn’t realize how long it’d been since I last posted. Here’s what’s been going on:

I’ve been traveling around a bit. I headed to my friend Kasey’s village with a few other volunteers for a few days. His village is a bit closer to the city, so the trip was much better than my usual ride. And we returned to the city in a car- a first for me! During the visit we swam in the river near his site and also headed to the beach at Brokopondo Lake, where we also had our ‘water safety’ training during training nearly 2 years ago. It was good to revisit-it seemed like just yesterday when we were jumping out of the boat in our life vest getting lessons on how to float safely.

I also made a trip further into the lake with a group of other PCV’s. Johanna and I had been planning on going before we left, so we decided to get a group together to go. So, over St. Patty’s Day we headed into the lake, which was about a 2 hour boat ride. (The lake is manmade- the area was flooded so it is full of trees-called the ‘river bones’.) The sun is terribly strong here, especially when it is reflecting off the water. A few of us got awful sunburns, but aside from that it was an enjoyable trip. We spent the days in the water floating around, visiting ‘beaches’ or basically mud pits, and fishing for piranha (I stayed away from that-a friend from my village showed me a bite he received from one and it did not look pretty!). We stayed in a 2 level house-my friend Saba was our boatman and arranged our lodging-but everyone was a bit nervous about sleeping on the bottom level of the house; there were some justified concerns that it might collapse.

After these trips, it was time to head into the city with the rest of the volunteers from my group, SUR14. We had our official ‘Close of Service’ conference, or COS. It was three days filled with talk of resumes, job and career searching, and readjusting. It was a bit overwhelming to take it all in and be forced to think about what is going to happen when we return. Previous volunteers visited to warn us about how hard it was going to be to become reacclimated to the states and living ‘normally’. I think for a few of us it was an emotional time. I was asked to put together the COS closing service, the last session we all had together. With the help of a few others I put together a 25 minute slideshow of our past 2 years. To see everything we have been through and how much we have all changed during the time here, both mentally and physically, is astounding. I know I was having a bit of a reality check every time I previewed it, realizing that some of these people I had spent two years with I might not really see again, even those that were a huge part of my time here. When it came time for the closing service, I think it was definitely a success. We spent a lot of time coming up with the soundtrack, which made it even better. Sitting in the same room with everyone and watching the past 2 years playing in front of us made a few of us emotional. After, I got up to say a few words, and I don’t think it comes as a surprise to anyone that I started to tear up. I feel very lucky to have spent my time here with these amazing people, even though at times it has been difficult and felt nearly impossible, I have always felt their support. I have never felt I was doing this alone.

After the COS conference, I stayed in the city to wait for my mom’s arrival. She visit for 10 days and we spent the time at my site, in the city, and at a tourist lodge. We had originally planned an actual Easter dinner at my site, complete w/ ham, green bean casserole, stuffing and potato salad. Unfortunately, the bag which held all these treats from America got left on the boat, so for Easter dinner we managed potato salad, pasta and egg plant parmesan. Peace Corps teaches you to improvise! The bag was returned a few days later so we will instead be having Easter the next time a big group of us gets together! The village was excited to meet her-although it was hard for them to grasp the idea of exactly how far she had come and why her ‘man’ wasn’t with her. She also got the change to meet my neighbor. She is quite the character. I’m sure I’ve written about her to some of you-or have been on the phone with you when she decides to stop by! All in all it was a very good visit and I think my mom will tell you it was ‘an experience’. A lot of other PCV’s have had family and friends visiting recently. I hope you all also had a good and safe experience here!

Project-wise we are still waiting to hear about the money for our latrine project. We were told by an organization here that they would give us SRD 5000, but that was over 2 months ago. We had to put a deadline on receiving the funds in order to ensure we have enough time to complete the project while I am still here. So, it is out of the village’s hands and all we can do it wait for the funding to be deposited.

The most exciting news it that I have received my date for when I will be returning home: July 7th. It seems crazy that I will be home in less than 3 months. I’m already making plans to visit everyone when I get back. There is a lot of catching up to do! I hope you are all well and I look forward to seeing you soon!

p.s.- There are new pictures up under Suriname 2010. Instructions for the link are at the top left of the page.