It seems like the countdown to leave Albania started in March at the COS conference, but now it has really begun in earnest with the first real live, official COSs of G11 this week. We have had a couple of people leave since the March conference; one to get her knees fixed (hope you are feeling better!), one to go home for family reasons (our thoughts are with you!) and one to accept a job here in Albania that pays real money (congrats!). But this week is the first week that our group can start to leave without it being an early termination and I feel a bit like every time I say goodbye to people I might be saying goodbye for good.

I think I had an idea when I joined PC that I would become close with my fellow volunteers. I'd been to enough camps and intense study experiences to know that things like this bond you together in a way that is not possible under most normal circumstances. But PC has been a new level of bonding for me. From PST to IST to Midservice to COS and counterparts to hostfamilies and successful projects to failed projects to project ideas that never got off the ground, I feel like my fellow volunteers understand me better than any other people in the world right now. I miss my family and I miss my friends (Hi guys, I'll be home in August, can't wait to see you!), but I know that it will be hard to go home again because I will have to explain things and recount my stories for the folks back home . . .

Will I ever see them again? There are volunteers in my group from every corner of the US. East Coast, check; West Coast ,check; Midwest, check; Mountain West, check (duh, that's where I am! and Paul, hey Paul!) Alaska, check. I think all we are missing is Hawaii. The good news is that I feel like I have places to stay all over the place now and in this age of facebook, email, blogs etc. it is easy to say that you will stay in touch with people. The biggest problem is that it is easier said than done. Just like I feel like I have only sort of stayed in touch with people back home (you read about me here, I stalk you on facebook . . . ) I'm afraid that once we leave Albania I will grow apart not only physically but emotionally from my fellow PCVs (now RPCVs).
So the goodbye process has started . . . and don't get me started on how hard it is to say goodbye to some of the people in my town