Thursday, October 13, 2011

Two Weeks!

Ahhhh two weeks til go time! Even with all of my excitement, I’ll admit that I’m a little bit nervous. Not really about moving to Albuquerque and being away from family and friends, just nervous that I won’t be good at being a volunteer. Currently I know about 15 words in Spanish. This is not an exaggeration! Sadly, it’s the truth, and 10 of those words are numbers. But, I got my Spanish-English dictionary in the mail yesterday. It’s not that I don’t want to learn, it’s just hard to start by myself. I was on the fence on if I should do a program like Rosetta Stone, and after two weeks of doing nothing without it, I think it’s probably a good idea. Intensive self taught course begins now!

I found out that I’ll for sure be working in Encarnación, Paraguay. Like usual, I’m a little confused by what Sr. Angela has told me, but it seems like they are kind of an offshoot of a larger group of nuns in Posadas, Argentina, which is right across the river and border from Encarnación.

It’s now down to possibly one companion volunteer. She’s still deciding if she wants to do it or not, so I hope to hear from her soon. Not that I don’t want it to just be me and the nuns, but please pray she comes!! I should be getting my schedule of what I’ll be doing during training soon, and Sr. Angela said she’s already working on my flight and insurance for Paraguay.

The past month or so has been filled with a lot of goodbyes, but I’ve gotten so much support, that none of them have really been that sad. I got to spend time with friends from St. Louis, friends from home, friends from Church, family, and I even made it to Chicago to see some of my friends from studying in Ireland, who probably understand my travel addiction better than anyone. I still have two weeks to spend time with family, and I’ve kind of started to go into more of a hermit mode than I was already in. Sorry friends!

I know that all of these people will be thinking about me the whole way through, and will be a part of my life regardless of if I take a one year break from seeing them, so goodbyes have been better than expected! I’ve been blessed with great friends and family! Plus, there’s always Skype.

I’ll officially be leaving home on Wednesday, October 26. I’m going to take the scenic route, flying first to Denver for five days with my oldest sister, Nicki, and her husband, Jason, and my nephew, Oliver. I’m pumped for this bonding time since we’ll be coming off of my cousin’s wedding weekend and Oliver might actually remember who I am. I’ll be spending the next five days in Flagstaff for one last visit with the BF, Matt. Then I’m off to the train station for my journey to Albuquerque at 5:41 a.m. on Sunday, November 6. So early, but I guess it’s kind of symbolic of and literally the end of my leisurely life the past few months of getting up at 8 a.m.

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