Hey all,

I hope things are going well in the states. In my remaining 2 months of Peace Corps, we volunteers are bombarded by the one thing government agencies are known for…..paper work. I have to fill out a DOS, VRF, IF, etc…all acronyms for the same thing, which is reporting the things I have done in my site, to show that peace corps is really worth investing in. I was filling out one of these reports, when it finally hit me. I will be leaving in two and a half months. I always knew the date would come, and knew I would be leaving eventually. But when you are in a foreign country, doing something completely different from what you are going back to, it's hard to envision anything but the present. It wasn't until I was writing my projects, successes, failures, and people I have lived with for two years that I realized I would be leaving. Leaving my family, my friends, my support group, and the people who love me, and whom I now love. I will probably never see most of these people again, or have minimal contact with them. And even with my friends, who have helped me through to much adjustment, frustration and grief; how many times will I see them again in my life time? It will never be the same. There will be no movie nights in Ica, no smashing 4 people into a bed, no birthday parties with awful cakes, no phone calls when you feel sad or lonely. Sometimes I wonder if Peace Corps is just another way of saying a lot of heartbreak. We leave our friends and family, heartbroken, to a foreign country, we form new friends and family in training, then leave them heartbroken, then develop more friends and family for 2 years, and inevitably leave them, more heartbroken than before.

Let me just say, that there is no value to the experience I have had here. I have impacted people I know in a way that is immeasurable, and they have impacted me most of all. I have come here to educate and impact people into a better life, when in reality, they are the ones who have impacted my life. I will always carry this experience to where ever I go, and a peace of my heart will always stay here in Ica.