It's 4:30 am and I can't sleep so I'm going to write about my day instead =)
I think I can't sleep because I'm SO freaking EXCITED that my favorite cousin ( with no offense to the rest of my cousins) Kerry is going to be here on FRIDAY! One last chance to show off my Spanish and travel-savvy in Guatemala before I leave.
Oh, yeah-that's probably the other reason I can't sleep. This is the real, honest-to-god, can't-pretend-its-not-happening-anymore, COUNTDOWN to my much anticipated return to the US of A. (sorry for the extreme use of capital letters, like i said I haven't been sleeping much. at all.) In 15 days. I'll be home.
OMG.
In other news, my program director Flavio was here to 'close out' my service officialy with my counterparts and groups that I have worked with over the past two years. The Park Admin group had a lunch banquet in my honor. People went around and gave really, really nice speeches thanking me for my work efforts and friendship before begging Flavio to send another Volunteer to replace me. That made me feel... good. Sometimes we PCV's don't realize how much we're appreciated and recognized until, well, it's time to go! But now that I got my ego massaged a bit, I leave with the verbal assurance that I've made a small impact here in the lives of the people I've worked with. Then it was my turn to try to give a nice flowery speech expressing my profound gratitude to have lived here, made friends, gotten work done, and become a part of the community. Words really fell short, but i felt a lot of good vibes flying around the room as we fell quiet to demolish the huge plates of carne asada, longaniza, chorizo, grilled green onions, refried beans, and lots of tamalitos, tortillas, and salsa.
In the afternoon, I showed Planet Earth on the projector while we (somewhat) patiently waited for the new mayor to meet with us. The whole room fell silent as panoramic views of the arctic tundra, a mother polar bear and her cubs, the drama of a wolf hunting a caribou calf played out on the screen. This was accompanied by gasps, sighs and a scattered commentary as I tried to translate some of David Attenborough's narrative. It was cool to see that the impact of a documentary like Planet Earth is universal.
Finally, the mayor came (about 2 minutes into us deciding to go ahead with my presentation, naturally) and I had some pictures of the different projects and activities I've organized and participated in during my service. I followed this up with challenges-mainly the county not having enough employees for the Park to reach its full potential-and ended with a list of recommendation to continue working in the future. God Only Knows what they will accomplish in the future but I wish them the best of luck and remain hopeful.
So that was my day...in a couple of hours I'm heading down the mountain to run some errands in Xela, drop Bella off with a friend, and head towards the city so I can meet Kerry Bright and Early on Friday. Then it's off to Lake Atitlan for some relaxing, hiking, kayaking, botanical gardens........whatever we feel like doing, really!
TTFN
Amber
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