One day

I couldn't sleep because of swear-in excitement (or anxiety), and at about 12:30 a.m. I got an email from my dad saying that my mom's going into surgery in the morning for a hernia. It turns out she's had it for a while but kept it a secret from me so I wouldn't worry. I'm not a fan of this approach.

The surgery went fine and she's resting now, but it was a tense morning for me. I dealt with an angry stomach all day because of this and the impending swear-in event. Peace Corps Ecuador took us on a cultural trip to the historical center of Quito, which felt just like Europe for obvious reasons. I think one of my favorite parts of the trip was discovering a tiny cafe where they actually pull real espresso shots.

Our final stop was the Basilica del Voto Nacional, an enormous structure (the largest basilica in the New World) that permits you to climb to the top of the towers after paying a fee of $2. It was wildly fun - especially climbing up thin metal rungs with vast vacancies below.

Indigenous women were outside selling scarves, 2 for $5. I wanted to try out my Quichua so I tried and they actually understood me and responded. I spoke Quichua!

Training ended early today, for good. I mailed a letter to the U.S. ($2) and went home to pack. It's taken me hours, too, including cleaning. I can't stay up any longer.

Tomorrow's the day. We'll be sworn in as Peace Corps Volunteers and depart for our sites. I'm on the 10:30 a.m. bus, so there's no rest or mingling for me. It's all rush, rush rush. Quite nervous now.

If not now, when?

At dinner today with my training host family, I realized when tomorrow comes I can say "Tomorrow I'm moving to my permanent site. For two years. THIS IS IT." I can't believe the time has come and after a year of applications, interviews, travel and training, Omnibus 105 Ecuador will be sworn in as United States Peace Corps Volunteers.

In honor and memory of our training time together, I put together a little video:

It's tough to describe how I really feel. I'm excited, but daunted. The job is indeed tougher than I thought it would be, and whatever is before me is a lot more difficult than I imagined. And I face something else I didn't expect - leaving what has become my family. My training host family is home. I love where I live, I love the comfort and privacy, I love that I can be a vegetarian with no problems, I love how patient my host mom is and how entertaining and...well... brotherly my host brothers are. I never had siblings so for three months it was really fun to have teenage brothers even though we didn't get to hang out much.

So it's hard to leave. After we've established the only home we know in Ecuador, we have to move on. And it's not even a smooth transition - because it's Semana Santa (Easter week), travel is an unbelievable mess so Peace Corps is making us leave the same day as swear-in. For some of us (me), that means right after the ceremony, at 10:30 a.m., we board a bus for Quito to catch rides to our permanent sites. No after party, no celebration.

And as usual, I'm not packed yet.