I am so lucky. I was able to go back to the U.S. for the holidays and spend 3 whole weeks surrounded by the people I love. It felt amazing to be back in my country. I felt like I fit, I knew how things worked and what to expect. It was wonderful to be able to express myself fully. The amount of love and support I felt was incredible.
On Sunday I left Detroit. All the sleep deprived travel time between Miami, Lima, and now (I still have 7 hours of van rides to go as I am writing from the regional capital Cajamarca) back to my community Tacabamba. I am surprised at how emotional it has been. The sadness of leaving has surprised me. Rationally I know that I have my Peruvian family and friends (I actually have 2 families since I had that site change in July), not to mention my wonderful Peace Corps family in the volunteers.
It is much harder than I expected it to be. However, I have so many great things to look forward to and I need to keep those in mind. Plus, I have been here for 15 months already and as one volunteer friend pointed out we are 3/5th of the way finished with our service.
So I'm on my way today to reunite with my Peruvian family in Tacabamba and survive the combes from here to there. I have more to reflect on, but I think I'll post it this weekend. I'm started to get worried about no getting back to site until really late. Thank you everyone who welcomed me home. I love you all so so much.
hasta este fin de semana,
kb
It was great to see you after so long (duh!) and I am so proud of you and what you're doing. Katie is bada$$! <3
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