Wednesday July 16

Okay, so just exactly how are we going to cram all of those Talavera pots and platters into our suitcases for the trip home? Today seemed to be the beginning of the transition from Global Volunteer back to plain old tourist, and when Carl handed out the evaluation sheets at breakfast, we were jolted into the realization that this project is coming to an end and we are thinking of home.

But today isn’t the time for nostalgia or reminiscing—it is more a time of tying up loose ends. We took one final group picture for the poster that Jeanne and Ofra are putting together for the Posada las Campanas gallery of Global Volunteers. We settled small debts that were left from last week’s taxi rides and we huddled over the computer changing flight times and comparing departures. Some of use are still trying to make those phone cards work and others are finalizing bus schedules to Guadalahara and San Miguel de Allende.

We walked the mile to UTNG, familiar with those uneven sidewalk humps that were threats to our safety just a week ago. And now we can easily maneuver those congested intersections like the locals, and we can easily find building D and the English offices when we reach campus.

For eight days the English faculty has welcomed us into their space, where we’ve hung out between classes getting to know Vero, Gaby, Lucio, Chuy, Bill and Rosalia…two weeks ago we didn’t even know they existed and today we feel the bond of sharing a common goal—teaching those kids to say “bizzy”, not “bussy” and “pr-ah-ahblem”, not “pro-o-blem. Today we worked on possessive pronouns, dialogues to use in a store if you have a “prah-ahblem”, weather vocabulary, and parts of speech. We volunteers went to our last Spanish class with Chuy but today no curious students hung around the door to get a glimpse of us struggling with a second language.

This afternoon many of us were running last-minute errands, buying the small stuff—bracelets for the grandkids, tiny iguanas for the neighbor, and a t-shirt for the friend who doesn’t quite rate a Talavera pot. Brenda gave her presentation dealing with accounting to a packed auditorium and Ellen and Jeanne shared their thoughts on the importance of learning a second language and how it has enriched their lives. Jeanne statement that "You can curse the dark or you can light a candle” seemed to resonate with everyone as the real purpose of our stay here.

We have learned many things during the last 12 days. We know to cross the street to avoid bird poop falling from the sky. We know that a motorcycle just might roll down the hotel hallway at midnight, and that the water might be hot or it might be cold, and that we might be able to make a cell phone connection—or not. But one thing we all know for sure is that the beautiful lady at the hotel desk—Gigi—will never understand a word that we say.