Wow. May is done and over with. That is kind of hard to believe. It is hard to believe that another chapter in our lives has come to a close and that a new one has started full force. There have been a lot of changes during the past 31 days, and while we have been sad to say goodbye to one part of our lives, we have embraced the start of our newest adventure full force. We have said goodbye to jungle living and hello to desert living. We have left one country and arrived in another. We have left one family only to return to our family in the states. If you want to more, stay tuned. Here she comes, May...
May 1
Orlando called us at 8 to see if we had anything planned for the day. An hour later we were meeting up to head out to the San Juan River for a day of adventure!
May 2
We did parachute games and jump rope during the first recreo and played elbow tag during the second one.
May 3
Chris woke me up this morning and sent me packing to get some medicine. The medical office called in three prescriptions, hopefully I'll stop being sick soon.
May 4
We had fun in story hour, but the kids were a little distracted since a mama bird kept flying in to feed her baby birds - their nest is in the classroom wall.
May 5
We spent the morning walking around with Chamisa and showing her the banana fields and talking about the area. This afternoon we went to Orlando and Alejandra's for a pizza dinner and to upcycle!
May 6
We started packing bags. Scary.
May 7
Busy, busy. Bingo prep, hand washing charla prep, aerobics and more packing.
May 8
We had a lot of fun working with the kinder kids from Malinche today. We ran around, played a little and taught them how to properly wash their hands. Good stuff.
May 9
Chris met up with some cole guys to play basketball. I stopped by Ariela's to chat for a little bit. I'm not sure how this whole goodbye process will go.
May 10
Emptied our bank accounts this morning . Walked out the CTP to see Carlos and say goodbye. Prepped for our final story hour.
May 11
Yoga this morning followed by a million little kid hugs. Not a bad way to start the day. It was a mostly happy hasta luego, perhaps because we'll still be around for a couple of days.
Maria came to the door holding a dead fish in her hand. She asked if we ate fish and a couple of hours later she showed up with delicious pescado entero for our lunch.
May 12
We were blessed with more food treats today. Maria brought us pinto for breakfast. She brought us spaghetti for lunch and jello for dessert. On top of that Axel stopped by and we got some delicious bread!
May 13
Por Fin! The bingo event that Chris dreamed up during out Close of Service conference has happened. In a matter of 12 hours we organized, transported prizes, set up and hosted our final extravaganza in La Colonia.
May 14
We walked around and said some goodbyes today. It was hard to avoid tears with little kids giving us hugs and telling us that they loved us and would miss us. We handed out some thank you cards and gave a couple of gifts to some of the kids that were at every event that we hosted.
May 15
May 16
We said our goodbyes to the PANI (equivalent of DSS) office this morning and then went back to the house to do a final cleanup. We rode out of town on our bikes, a great way to really see the banana fields one last time.
May 17
Final day at the office. Full of business and goodbyes. We got back to Orlando and Alejandra's around 5:30 in time for a delicious dinner.
May 18
We ate an early lunch with Rebecca and then went out the hotel. We spent the afternoon watching the wildlife and then met up with fellow runners at Selva Verde for the pre-race meeting and some dinner.
May 19
Hot day for a run, but it was a nice one. We all enjoyed dips in the river when we finished (Chris a 50 miler, myself and some others a 15k).
May 20
Last day in Costa Rica. We ate pinto for breakfast and then swam for a bit. We had lunch in Puerto and then went back to Orlando and Alejandra's. We got in right before the storm and so I sat with Suzy for the afternoon since she was afraid and kept wanting to come inside. We had a delicious dinner and wonderful last night with Orlando and Alejandra.
May 21
Mission accomplished. We have officially completed our 27 months of service. It's nice to be with family again, feeling the love!
May 22
Project readjustment. Biggest complaint so far, American accents. I miss Spanish!
May 23
Called some landlords, emailed some principals. We're trying to get this next step in our lives figured out.
May 24
We had a wonderful afternoon in Lewellen. We ate delicious food at An Unexpected Place and then did some wine tasting at 17 Ranch. We spent the evening playing ladder golf, eating good food and playing Scrabble.
May 25
Another fun day with family.
May 26
Sarah left this morning and the rest of us went out garage sale-ing. Chris and I ended up with 19 new books, picked out about 16 from a box Linda bought, and a new bookshelf (we may need it!).
May 27
Last day in Ogallala. JD and Heather left after lunch. We had a nice evening with Bruce and Linda chatting and eating delicious pie.
May 28
New Mexico! New state, new home.
May 29
We looked at a lot of houses and some apartments today. Chris finally convinced me that it would be best to go small and inexpensive for now and save up for a down payment. So we put a security deposit on a two bed, one bath apartment and are waiting to hear back on a background check (their system was down today, so we'll hopefully know tomorrow).
May 30
We went to Red Rock Park this morning and hiked for a couple of hours. It is so beautiful here!
This afternoon we walked around downtown. Everyone is so nice. We watched some Indian dancing in the town square and grabbed some fry bread for dinner. Delicious! We walked back to Emily's and then went to watch a softball game that a bunch of other RPCVs/Fellows were playing in.
May 31
Another day, another hike. We also spent more time downtown and met more wonderful people. We heard back on the apartment, it's ours! Unfortunately we need to wait until Tuesday to move in. We were so hopeful that we could have it tomorrow, oh well. Another softball game this evening and then out with the team for a bit.
*****
As you can see it's been quite the month. We haven't quite processed the whole moving back to the states thing yet, it's sure to happen once we actually get all of our stuff moved to New Mexico and we take a moment to sit back and breathe (before heading off on more adventures!). So much to do, so little time. We're excited about what is to come and can't wait to settle down in New Mexico!
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