It's finally here!

It really hit me today. We are really doing this. We are moving across the ocean to live on a tiny island and do a job we have never done before, and it's all starting tomorrow! After a moment of nervousness, I'm excited again. I can't stop imagining all of the possibilities and adventures the next year holds.

It's not all excitement though. Saying goodbye to our families was tough. Really tough. It was sad saying goodbye knowing how long it would be before seeing them again. It was sad saying bye to our baby dogs too :( At least we will be able to talk to our families. Chelsia asked little Bauer and Charlie not to hate us for leaving them for a year. That really hurt my heart thinking that was even possible. I sure hope they don't.

We are staying in an airport hotel tonight, the not so beautiful Hacienda Hotel. Who would have thought this hotel had so much going on... they have a restaurant, bar, and even a night club that is open almost every night of the week.

We met up with our fellow volunteers for the first time tonight. Well we met up with most of them. A few weren't able to make it out yet for various reasons. We hung out in one of our new cohorts rooms for a while, then walked to dinner at Rubio's. Fitting that our last meal in the US was Mexican food! Everyone we met was even nicer than we had expected. We are so happy we will get to spend the next year with such nice people. It feels like we are all on the same page about what we are doing and why we are doing it so that makes it that much better. We are meeting the group again tomorrow morning and heading to the airport together.... at 4:45am! Therefore, I'm going to sleep now so I can have some energy for our long travel day tomorrow (over 18 hours including layovers!!!).

-S