Time to say good bye
The day has come... I woke up Friday morning at 6 a.m. and the first thought was that this was the last time I was sleeping in that hotel bed, the last time I would get up here, the last time I would go down to breakfast and the last day that I would spend with the CSC Mexico 6 family. Sadness..... fighting back my tears....
No time to further think about that though... I still needed to do the 30 minutes participant review and then prepare for the closing ceremony as I was selected to do the 8 minutes executive summary speech. When I went down to breakfast, I again started thinking that this will be the last day I see the people that I got used to so much over the last 4 weeks. Sadness again.... and again fighting back my tears. I was glad to see in others eyes the same feelings.
No time again to further think about it; I concentrated on my rehearsal of my speech and at 9.30 a.m. we left to drive to the city hall where the closing ceremony was conducted. I was very proud of all of our work all of the 3 teams did and presented that day and also my presentation went well.
The event was very formal again, similar to the opening ceremony with lots of media and representatives of each of the host organizations, the Peace Corps team and this time even the major of Guadalajara was chairing this ceremony. A special pleasure was also that Gina Tesla, Global Director of Corporate Services Corps program flew in to see the presentations and participate in the closing ceremony.
After the closing ceremony we went for a last lunch together. And guess what.... yes, again sadness between many laughter.
We came back to the hotel at around 4:45 p.m. and started packing. Not easy to get back everything into the suitcases especially since we also have a few souvenirs to bring back home.
At 6 p.m. we then met for a final debrief session about the 4 weeks, talking about what was good and what we would do differently. And then again this bad word of the day “last”. This time I lost my fight with my tears, as did others..... Sadness, sadness, sadness.... I will miss you all but really hope we’ll meet again one day.
We then had another to hours to pack before we went on the bus altogether a last time (there was it again, that bad word) and went to a salsa club to celebrate our achievements and have lot of fun and let all the tensions of the last weeks and days go.
We went back to the hotel at 1 a.m., took a last shower, and then came back down to the lobby to say good bye to people as we were leaving in tranches starting 2 a.m. I then left at 2.30 a.m. and a last group at 3 a.m. Some others had there flights only later during the day or extended their stays.
It was really difficult to say good bye. I would wish I could be sure I am meeting the family again one day in person.
At the airport we had a little reunion given most of the 3 tranches departed from the same gate area. So a last quick get together. And then we got all on our flights and when the plane started it was an ultimate and final good bye.
It has been incredible 4 weeks where strangers become good friends and a big family. Many, many, many joint experiences and feelings will last forever and connect us.... very glad I was part of this great team!












