COS = Completely Orange Shirt

Everyone is back from site visit and I’m very glad to have my house-mates back. On the whole, my trainees were really pleased with their sites and are excited to get out and get started. I’m thriled for them. They’ve got so much in front of them - two crazy years of learning, laughing, crying, bad health, good health, frustration, elation, etc etc. Ahhh, how did it go so fast?

I will COS in a month and 3 days. It doesn’t yet seem like that big of a deal. I feel very done with Magtalahjar - I feel no desire to go back there. I’m very excited about going home and am looking forward to it immensely. But then, with two months of traveling planned, my arrival home doesn’t seem all that real yet. So I’m in a weird limbo of coming and going, but really, haven’t I been in a limbo for almost three years? I guess I’m just used to it, and the settling down to a stable life in America may be the more shocking of the two.

Maybe I feel so at ease about this all ending because I have at least a semi-plan for when I get back. I’ll travel until November, then head home and spend Thanksgiving with the family. I figure I’ll get a job substitute teaching, or maybe at a non-profit. I think I am probably being pretty naive about the job search. Some friends who COSed after the evacuation have written to me, telling me how they went through 6 months of rejection before finding something good. Hmm. Hopefully I’ll get into the school I’m applying to (University of Arizona) and will start in Fall of 08. And then I’ve got it made in the shade - college? Yeah, I totally know how to do college!