The End ... or The Beginning?

The time has come … I am no longer a Peace Corps volunteer. I am now what they call a Returned Peace Corps volunteer. It is called RPCV instead of using words like ex or former because they say you are a Peace Corps volunteer for life.

About half of my group (G-38) had left Paraguay already, but, 15 of us were left for our swearing-out ceremony which included words from our bosses, receiving our completion certificates and ringing the bell that signifies the end of service … oh and who can forget, the cake!

It is a bittersweet moment ending my service. I was feeling a mixture of emotions, excited for the future, sad to be leaving so many new people in my life and just a feeling of uncertainty. End of service is one of those things that always seemed off in the distance and now that it’s here, I can’t help but thinking …. What  is next?

Well I do have a plan for the next few months at least and that is …. To stay in Paraguay! I have moved to a town called San Ignacio in the department of Missiones. I will be living with my boyfriend Jose and exploring some possible working/volunteering opportunities.

I have also decided to continue blogging! Keeping you up-to-date on my daily adventures.

More than Halfway There.

So I am now officially in my 2nd year as a Peace Corps volunteer (as of April). At this point I have about 10 months left, and there are two ways that volunteers in my group (G-38) are looking at the rest of our service.  For some its "Oh my god I STILL have 10 months left," and for others its "Oh my god I ONLY have 10 months left." And in all honestly that can change daily. There are some days where you want to start planning for the future past Peace Corps, like Grad school applications, job applications and travel plans. There are other days where the thought of leaving my friends and family that I have made here make me want to cry.

Its also the point in a lot of people's service, mine included, that you want to try and figure out how you can make the last year the most productive it can be, to make that mark before you leave. Its a lot of pressure and can stress even the most guapo (hard-working) volunteers out.

I've recently been approached by some of my community members about working with them on a fogon project. (To refresh your memory a fogon is a brick, wood-burning oven/stove) Many of the families in my community still cook on an open flame on the ground, which can cause so many health problems, including lung disease. This is still in the very beginning stage of being a project but I really hope that I can make this happen because I've actually been trying to start a fogon project for a few months and have been having trouble getting people mobilized. But now that I have a seriously interested group of people hopefully that will change.

Building a fogon during Training.