100 days to go!

August 14th marked the 100-day countdown! The group I swore in with, November 20th, 2007 as Peace Corps Volunteers is on the last leg of service. We started out as 53 and to date we are down to 43. We lost 12 and gained 2 (one volunteer from Honduras and another from Bolivia). Some have decided to go home for personal reasons, others for professional reasons and others on account of health issues. Regardless, I will always have a special bond with those 53 that I swore in with and an even closer bond with those whom I have done my entire service with side by side. It is hard to reflect or think about the future when I am knee deep in a stove project, a volleyball tournament to enter, an Escojo conference to attend and about 5 grants to close out, but nonetheless, my C.O.S. (close of service) conference came and went. C.O.S. certainly shed some light on what has happened over the last two years and it is hard to believe things are coming to a close.
We all took some time to think about the drowning economy in the U.S., the job market, Grad school and the comforts and discomforts we will come face to face with in the U.S. for those of us returning. Nonetheless, I am happy I did the Peace Corps and would not trade this experience in for all the money in the world. It has been a wild, wild ride and I look forward to sharing stories with other returned peace corps volunteers, because like they told us at the conference, no one else will really want to hear it! Once a peace corps volunteer, always a peace corps volunteer.