6 Months Left

Yesterday was the "COS Lottery" (COS = Close of Service) for my PC Moldova cohort, the M32s (32nd group of PCVs in Moldova). We met at the Peace Corps office in Chisinau to choose the dates we will officially become "Returned Peace Corps Volunteers" (RPCVs). Each of us submitted a favorite song before the event, and then during the lottery the playlist was put on shuffle. When each person's song came on, that person would sign their name on the giant calendar next to the date they chose. Because of all the paperwork required to process us out of our service and out of the country, PC Moldova is only able to process out 6 Volunteers per day. So this is why we have to COS on different days. And the lottery makes the process more fair because the order we get to choose our COS dates is random. Initially when I arrived in Moldova, I thought I'd like to stay here longer than the typical 2-year service (plus training), so I have been planning to choose a late COS date. But, as I have discovered while living in Moldova, anything you plan probably won't turn out how you expect. Thus, I ended up deciding to COS the first week possible if I could. In the past week, I settled on the date July 19. It sounded like a good COS date to me, because it is a Friday and it is exactly 6 months from the COS lottery date. I like the nice round number and the closure at the end of a week. They feel satisfying. Fortunately, when my song came on there were still spots available on July 19! And my friend Courtney, who was my roomie for Staging back in Philadelphia, my seat mate on the flight to Moldova, and is my neighbor in southern Moldova, was able to get the same COS date. We started together and we'll finish together. That feels satisfying, too. As I counted back the days to see how long I have left in PC Moldova, I also realized that my birthday is 100 days from my COS date. It just seems like this date fits very well.

So what does this all mean? People keep asking me when I'm "coming home." Well, that's not as simple of a question as it seems. Beyond the whole metaphorical "where is home?" question, my COS date is not necessarily the date I will leave Moldova or the date I will come back to the U.S. It's the date my Peace Corps service in Moldova will end, which means I can leave Moldova at any point after July 19. However, the date I actually leave Moldova and the date I actually go back to the U.S. will depend on what I will be doing after my Peace Corps Moldova service, and that is still in limbo. I have applied for another Peace Corps post, but I hadn't received an interview offer before the U.S. government shutdown. Peace Corps is not processing any applications, interviewing any candidates, or selecting any cohorts for any countries during the shutdown. So a month into the shutdown I still don't know whether that possibility will pan out. In any case, I decided to pick an early COS date just in case I'm offered a post with a Staging date in the Fall, because I want to have time to travel a bit in Eastern Europe before I go back to the U.S., and I want to have some time in the U.S. before leaving again.

One skill you really have the opportunity to develop in Peace Corps is FLEXIBILITY. You will be told this over and over and over, to the point that it becomes kind of a joke among Volunteers. But it's true. In the year and a half that I have lived in Moldova, plans have changed at the last minute more often than not, and I have learned that I can never count on anything I think will or want to happen. It's ok. Things usually turn out just fine. And it means that I'm much better at waiting and not knowing what to expect. So for everyone who is asking when I will "come home," all I can tell you is that you'll know when I know. :)

And for the record, my song was Switchfoot's "If the House Burns Down Tonight." What we need will find us.