December Holidays

Well, COS (Close of Service) conference is over, and we’re back at site.  You could definitely say COS was bittersweet.  On the one hand, it’s amazing that we’ve all come this far.  Our group has been in South Africa for almost two years, and people have done wonderful work in their villages.  COS definitely brought forth feelings of accomplishment and, of course, people are starting to look forward to going back to America.  On the other hand, it’s always sad to say goodbye.  Some members of our cohort will be leaving in the next few weeks, and who knows when we’ll see each other again.  We’ve shared an experience that few people will ever understand, and it’s difficult knowing that this adventure is coming to an end.  Regardless of the mixed feelings, it was a great week including a trivia night and a TIA (this is Africa) party that featured some amazing costumes.

Now we’re back at site until December 28.  We’ll spend Christmas here and then travel to the Wild Coast (beach) for a few days before doing a six day hike with a couple of volunteer friends.  There is a small soccer tournament here this weekend, but it’s otherwise fairly quiet in the village now.  The boarding students are of course gone for the holidays, but a good number of other people are off visiting family as well.  I’m sure we’ll still get plenty of visitors next week though!

Lady Gaga and Other Updates

Last Friday we went to see Lady Gaga in Johannesburg.  Not exactly a concert we would jump at back in the States, but big acts rarely make their way down here and when a group of our friends wanted to go, we were game.  Unfortunately, she was on the opposite side of the (huge) stadium.  But all in all, we had a lot of fun and it was a great experience just going to the stadium that hosted the final match of the World Cup. 

Now we are back at site and find ourselves with a lot of time on our hands.  School is not officially finished until the end of this week when report cards are handed out, but none of the students show up.  Actually, two students came today because they were so bored at home.  They ended up getting to watch Mamma Mia on our laptop, so not a terrible day for them. 

This Saturday we are leaving once again to make the long trip back to Pretoria.  (Pretoria is only about 30 miles away from Johannesburg and we stayed in Pretoria after the concert.)  This time we are going for a Peace Corps event – our final official conference.  It’s exciting and surreal that we’ve already made it this far.  When we first began, the idea of our Close of Service conference seemed too far in the future to even think about.  But here we are, about to come together with what remains of our training class (35 out of 46 still here) for the last time.  The reason the conference is now is because some people will begin leaving at the end of December.  We, however, will be sticking it out until the beginning of April for the full two years of service after swearing in as volunteers (plus a couple of weeks because we want to finish the school term).  For those marking their calendars at home, April 4^th will be our last official day as Peace Corps volunteers, and April 5^th we will join the distinguished ranks of the unemployed.  So we still have a good amount of time left, but considering how quickly our final conference snuck up on us, April will be here before we know it.  Yikes!