The Very, Very Last Conference

Our Close of Service conference took place last week. It's one of those events that you always picture as far away in the future, until it's actually over. Now begins the stream of volunteers leaving the country, friends who I may never see again. Whee.


Thus faced with the premise of impending separation, not to mention unemployment for most of us, we did as many cheesy bonding activities as possible. Scrapbook pages for yearbooks? Why not! Compendium slideshow with soundtrack? Great! A series of short films starring volunteers and staff? Hell, yeah!

That last one is a lot more hilarious than it sounds, by the way. Or maybe you just had to be there.


And what is an end-of-service party without superlatives? I was the proud recipient of Most Changed and Best Georgian Speaker. Not the most hilarious categories, but still greatly appreciated. Others' certificates included Most Hair Loss and Should Have Quit But Didn't.

They even returned to us the letters that we wrote to ourselves way back when we were PCVs. Here's a picture of mine, followed by the Director's Cut of the text with commentary. In the interest of reader interest, there's no omissions here, even when I wrote things that were too personal for a work-related letter... for some reason. Note: while I draw this girl on every notebook and paper I have, this is a rare find to see her with black hair. It's also a collector's item because I don't draw the dog anymore, as she kicked the bucket last year.


Dear me,

So it's two years later. FYI, your goals two years ago were to start a taekwondo class for girls, to have essay writing classes for 11th and 12th formers trying to get to university, to emphasize creative writing in class, to participate in the Writing Olympics and Teacher Training, probably to do something with that computer lab, and generally to make it through two years in Georgia.

Strangely, check for all those goals. The girls' taekwondo classes were only during camp, but that totally counts, and the essay writing lessons I did for 6 weeks with the 10th form counts as classes (why did I think there would be a 12th form?). Oh, and I guess being the Writing Olympics director counts as participation. *haughty laugh*

Here's what I'm wondering: As I write this, the Nationals are having a crappy "rebuilding" season and they just traded away Livan Hernandez, though they kept Soriano. Did that work out?

No, that did not work out. The Nationals are in a rebuilding decade.

Did I visit America in July 2007? Am I still de facto with Victor or did I get over him? Did Mom come to visit, and how did she like grad school? Am I still trying to apply for the Rhodes? What grad schools other than Georgetown and Johns Hopkins am I looking at?

1) No, August, but close enough. 2) Depends on if you ask me or him. 3) No, but she liked grad school. 4) No, NYU hates me. 5) Yale, but not until 2010 at the earliest.

Remember your youthful optimism, you jaded 24-year-old. And improve your handwriting.

Love,
Jennifer