Today marks a new beginning. Or the beginning of the end. Or the end of that first beginning and now we’re onto this new beginning, or one of many new beginnings. See, I confuse myself. Today does mark the final day of the original crew. I don’t believe we ever referred to ourselves as a crew but close enough. The majority of them left last week and tonight marked the departure of the lone survivor. Or now I’m the lone survivor? It doesn’t matter. I’m alone now. Tomorrow, 5 or 6 more arrive. Ten people should be arriving this weekend and half of them being a family, we’ll see how that goes. It’s been a good time with the original folks though. I’ll admit, in this past week I probably spoke twice as much in the first two weeks combined. One kind of has to when they might be the only source of conversation the other person has. It’s just a little bittersweet to say goodbye to the first people. I’ll never have the connection of leaving home and being completely alone in a new country like I felt with them. It was special. Let’s hope these next people are special in their own way too.

I don’t think I can completely encourage the “Say Si to Everything” philosophy yet to any new volunteers. Is there a possibility that some of the children I work think I am a father? Yes. That is a definite possibility. I at least understand when kids are now repeatedly asking me if I’m a dad, and I say no, but then they just laugh and say “Tu padre, tu padre!” Also, when a girl just appeared in our classroom today, I was told that a boy was now referring to her as my girlfriend. Dear Patti/y and I may have never met one another before, but at the very least we are an item. I was more impressed that the students seem to actually know my name. Just gonna see how next week goes. The main teacher is on vacation, a week with the one that doesn’t seem to speak much English, and we’ll see how all the new volunteers integrate into the system. Change is a coming on the home front and on the volunteer front and on the front front. Don’t ask me what the front front is. When I wake up tomorow, there should be new people. That’s a strange feeling. I hope I remember to shave. So it goes.