The Road Less Traveled : COS

Two weeks ago Peace Corps Tonga Group 77, my group, came together for the last time on the main island of Tongatapu. We were 13 strong, but with us in spirit were two other volunteers who unfortunately had to finish their service a little early. While I will see many of the volunteers again in Tonga and in the years ahead, it was the final time we would all be together as volunteers in Tonga. It was understandably a bittersweet moment for us all. We were happy and proud of our shared completion of an experience that has meant so much to us, but sad that now the end has finally arrived.

The purpose of our conference was for Close of Service, a three-day training period where we discussed the forms we had to complete and medical exams we had to undergo before we could return to the United States. There were also sessions discussing our readjustment back to America, the myth or reality of reverse culture shock, and how to approach the job market. I won’t bore you all with the details, but it is suffice to say that many of our questions were answered over these days.

I won’t go into full nostalgic mode over the last two years now as I will save that for my final post, but receiving our completion of Peace Corps certificates, making the first of what will be many goodbyes, and receiving my return date to America had made the end feel very real (FYI I am leaving Vava’u on October 7 and returning to the US October 11^th).

It was a great final hurrah as a group. We ate many meals together, and stayed up late into the night once the sessions were over reminiscing over the profound, the silly, and the simply funny anecdotes that have occurred throughout our two years together. This post will be relatively short, as this blog entry is in many ways more about the photos below, then the words above. As hard as it is to believe, COS marks for me the beginning of the end of my time in Tonga, as in two short months I will no longer be a volunteer.

Thank you for reading and please enjoy the photos.