Despedidas

Today marks 14 weeks since I first arrived in El Paso.  The summer has absolutely flown by and now I'll be headed to Massachusetts to visit my family and friends on Monday before heading back to Emory on the 23rd.

The past week has pretty much just been a series of despedidas.  Jill, my supervisor, had a party at her house on Saturday night.  She has an incredible house and a magnificent view, and it was cool to spend time with a very diverse group of people (about half of whom I hadn't met before but who were invited because Jill thought I should meet them).  The special treat of the night was fresh watermelon mojitos- yum!

The next morning, a Lutheran church around the corner from my house had a beautiful service and lunch to say goodbye to the Border Servant Corps volunteers.  On Tuesday, the Labor Justice Committee had a despedida to honor their two most recent full-time volunteers.  Then on Wednesday, I had a special comida with the two women that I've worked most closely with in Juárez.  They took me to a really nice restaurant in a part of the city I hadn't been to yet and we had a delicious meal.  I even tried lengua (tongue), which wasn't as gross as I expected.

Goreti, me, and Beatriz at Maria Chuchena's

On Thursday, my office completely surprised me with a cake, flowers, and a U.S.-Mexico Border Health Commission 10th anniversary medal.  It was actually really amusing because they turned the lights off in the kitchen and awkwardly guided me in, so I expected everyone to yell "Surprise" and start singing "Happy Birthday"...but it wasn't my birthday, so they just turned the lights on and then Adriana, who I have spent a great deal of time with this summer, presented me with my goodbye gifts.  It was super sweet of them to plan it for Thursday because although yesterday was my last day of work, they realized that Fridays are super hectic days in the office and it's hard to get everyone together.

Tina, Denise, Adriana, me, Nicole, Jill, and Hector at the Commission

Yesterday I cleaned out my desk, sent out lots of thank you emails, interviewed an obstetrician, and worked on editing a paper with Jill.  I also managed to have lunch with some folks from Pax Christi at the Tejas Café, which is a very strange Mexican-American diner around the corner from my office.  After work, I spent some time with my next-door neighbors before eating family dinner with my roommates.

I still have one more interview to do by phone, but other than that, I'm just about ready to leave.  This practicum experience has been an excellent one, and I anticipate being back on the U.S.-Mexico border in the near future.