Last of the goodbyes

On Wednesday (May 1) I had dinner with some of the teachers from my school.  We went out for Chinese and they presented me with a very nice silver jewelry set.

On Thursday (May 2) I went with my sitemates Andi and Koty to a traditional Mongolian ensemble performance (http://mongolian-ensemble.com/).  It was amazing!  There was traditional dance, singing (including long song and throat singing), and instrumental performances (including the morin khuur and an awesome version of Brahms on traditional instruments).  I definitely cried more than once.  After the performance, we went back to Andi's to say goodbye and for me to get one last snuggle in with Holly (Andi's puppy).

On Friday (May 3) I packed up the last of my things and got ready to go.  My flight was at 2:30 so I had arranged for my ride to pick me up at 1.  At 12:30 there were still students at my apartment saying goodbye and giving me gifts!  Going to miss them so much!  As the plane took off, I cried (my tears will be a running theme in this post), overwhelmed with the emotion of leaving my home for the last two years.  I hope to get back to visit this winter, but who knows.  Thanks for the memories C-town. 

Arriving in UB, my interim home, was also a mix of emotions.  Monday (May 6) to Wednesday (May 8)  was our COS conference.  It was the one last gathering for my cohort to reflect on our service and say our goodbyes.  I cried during sessions, I cried during a video slideshow of all our photos, I even cried at a birthday party because it will likely be a long time before I see some of those faces again.  But mixed in with that sadness was a lot of excitement.  We're all moving on to new adventures and we will always carry these two years with us, experiences sure to impact our lives in yet unknown ways.

 Four  of six members of my team for the cooking competition!

M22 PCVs and (four) M21 PCVLs

Then on Monday (May 13) I officially started my DTM duties in the PC office.  Doing everything from coordinating schedules to updating manuals to drafting sessions, I am the right-hand of the training manager and we'll be working our butts off to ensure the M24s have a successful PST.  On Monday I went in to the office at 9, the requisite starting time and soon realized that it wasn't early enough.  Each day since I've been in from about 7:30 or so until 5 or 6, trying to get everything I can done to the nearest-to-final point I can before we start TOT on Monday.  Tomorrow (Friday, May 17) we move the office and ourselves to our summer base, Darkhan.  Will certainly be strange to be back there, but exciting because this time I'm on the other side.  :)