Small Recap

I never look back at my old posts so I may not have outlined my experience from going from nominee to invitee (that reminds me I should update my timeline...)

While I'm not going to go through the whole story, I will say that I was continuously being told that no matter where I went I would Have to know 6 weeks before, because that's how long it takes to get a new passport. Well I was given the minimum amount of time. 6.Weeks. One of those weeks I was out of town. I officially accepted on May 11th  (which mind you was the day I had marked in my calendar to completely start stalking the lovely people in D.C. about my assigment) crazy right? 

   So that gave me about 5 weeks to completely rap up my life. I had trips planned, people to see, jobs to apply for even all out of the window. Plus I hadn't wrapped my mind around all that needs to be in order for one to just up and leave for two years and not come home to a complete mess upon ones return! 

  I have been so swamped with so much to do. I think though this experience is likened to the old proverbial band-aid rippage... It's all going soooo super fast, but at any slower of a speed and the pain/saddness of leaving would have way more time to sink and stunt my progress. I have episodes of being really sad when I let the feeling of me actually leaving really sink in... but then I realize there is no time for that because I have to write and aspiration statement, contact the DMV, make sure my finances are in order etc... 

   This whole having to learn Spanish is more than just a notion. The Peace Corps ask would I be dedicated to learning the language, and I said yes. They asked if they sent me Rosetta Stone would I dedicate my time before leaving (what time?) to leaning as much of the language as possible. I agreed. So on May 15th (four weeks before I leave) I was sent the Rosetta Stone program along with a charge to dedicate a minimum of 40 hours to the program! Yikes. So that's 10 hours a week. While last month dedicating 10 hours to anything would have been a piece of cake, that is no longer that case! Plus I knew I was still in weddings, still had social obligations, still had sleep to get, shopping to do yikes! Did I mention that they track how long you are on the program? Now I fully intended on using Rosetta Stone. I was/am SO excited, that the Peace Corps has enough faith in me to learn the language I just get nervous with the thought of a meter running. 

    I am going to email the nice folks at the Country Desk and see how many hours I have done. I hope I am half way to my goal. I have also been reading my Spanish books, having conversations with native speakers and watching Univision (which I have since given up until I get my skills up!).  Some days I feel confident. Other days I just hope I don't get played at the end of training lol. 

   I hope I am able to be as diligent in LA as I have been in the Lou. I also found out I leave yet another day earlier. I am leaving on the 15th to  go to Miami, stay over night, have training on the 16th and then we leave on the 17th! I can't believe I'll be in Ecuador for good in a few weeks!