September was a whirlwind! I'm currently sitting at Pension Natividad, having just completed our Close of Service Conference. Ryan and I have left our site for good. It's unreal. I want to apologize in advance if this blog is all over the place, but that's how I feel right now.
I can't believe this time has come. It was SUPER hard to leave site. Intensely harder than I could ever had imagined. First, the entire month of September was crazy. We were so busy. Trying to pack, hang out with everyone for the last time, going to despsdidas (going-away parties), giving our things away, working on grad school applications, and on top of all of it we were asked to help with so many things so that people could get in their last American presentation. But despite all the craziness I absolutely loved it. I loved spending quality time with people from my community. I loved helping out one last time in any way I could. I loved seeing all the happy faces when we gave them "rememberances." I loved that several of the neighborhood kids wouldn't leave our house because they knew we were leaving. I loved that people came by our house to say their final goodbyes. I loved all the love that we received. It really is the hardest job you'll ever love.
So now I'm at pension in Manila trying to keep it together. We're leaving tomorrow to head up north to Sagada again for one week. We will then come back down to Manila to finalize all our paperwork and finish being volunteers. INSANE!!!! Then it's traveling time :) I'm super excited to travel and to finally get home to see family and friends, but right now I can't get past leaving my Filipino home and all my family and friends here. I'm going to forever cherish all the happiness and struggles from the Philippines and hopefully return one day :)