Three for Three

My 7^th grade orientation ended yesterday… and was a huge hit!  In case you’ve forgotten, I started this my first summer here; my friend and I coordinated it together and facilitated the 1.5 day life skills camp for incoming freshmen at my school.  Last year I trained a group of upperclassmen to facilitate the event, and had three of my Peace Corps friends monitor them during the camp, and help when necessary.  This year I did extra trainings, and let the upperclassmen run the show!  All I did was keep track of time, and answer a couple of the facilitators’ questions!  This proved them that they are totally capable of doing this themselves from now on- I’ll be leaving in a few months and won’t be there in the future, so it’s nice to know that they’ll be able to carry it on for years to come J

As I sit here now, in my favorite café in Solano, the air conditioning circulating around the room, I’m feeling pretty good.  Exhausted, but good.  School starts next week, but I’m headed to Baguio soon, and then on to Pagudpud on Saturday.  My friends and I are going to end the summer with a final beach trip.  My summer was actually super busy; I didn’t really vacation at all, besides a few days hiking Mt. Pulag and then to Batad another time.  The rest of the summer was filled with two Girls Leading Our World (GLOW) camps- one at my friend’s site, and one at my site.  84 girls between the ages of 14 and 18 participated in three day camps geared towards girls’ empowerment and leadership.  It’s one of my favorite parts of service now, and I’m going to do more GLOW activities at my site in the next couple months I have left.  Lots of amazing memories, for sure we made a big impact on the campers.  Definitely helped me realize some things about where I want my life to go after Peace Corps… so much to think about.

Anyways, I’m not feeling too loquatious today—I’m exhausted and a little brain dead from everything.  Also I’m pretty sure I’m 90% burned out from service here.  Don’t get me wrong; I love Peace Corps and my service and everything, but as the three year mark approaches (1 month from now), I’m just tiiiiired.  I have a couple other things on my plate for the next 4 months, so at least I’ll be busy with work, per usual.  However once September comes, I’ll be relieved to close my service.  I’m ready to move on to the next chapter of my life.  But for now, I’ll hang on to that last 10% I have, and make the best of it.  I’ll soak up every bit of the Philippines, because I bet I’ll miss it once I’m gone.  Nevertheless it will be great to be home, back with family, back to normalcy.  I miss it.  I need it.  My soul power J