Today was a long day. SA 25 had its host family farewell party, which involved at least six hours of cooking as well as other preparations, speechwriting, dance learning, costume making/dressing... Our group worked hard. The event went off with the usual hitches that I've come to associate with south africa (Too many people! Transportation is late! Not enough food! Everything takes longer than it should and starts late! Why is there six different groups doing the same dance to the same song?). But eventually everyone got fed, we went through the entire program and no fights escalated beyond some yelling. Like most south african events, it ended in a huge dance party, so I'm calling it a success.

Today was one of the last times our whole group will be together for awhile. 33 of us will swear in on thursday and then spread out across the limpopo, mpumalanga and kwazulunatal provinces. For three months, I will probably not see another member of my training group.

I love my training group. The 32 other members are incredibly fantastic individuals. Unfortunately, even after the 3 month lockdown period, many of my closest friends are going to be 6 to 15 hours away.

But although I'd love to live much closer to some of these fantastic people, that's not what peace corps is about. Its about changing communities, changing lives and integrating fully into my community, which is much harder to do when surrounded by other americans.

So when the vans come to take everyone away, I will be sad. I might even cry. But for my community and for myself, this is necessary for growth. And when it gets bad, I can chat with people using my blackberry, as well as planning trips with friends. Thank god for blacberries.