First and foremost I feel the need to declare: VICTORY! Even though it has been a month since it all went down, I got Jackie home to the States successfully over Thanksgiving. I probably lost more hair from stressing over it than is considered “normal” which is unfortunate, but she is living the Salvadoran dog’s dream of becoming an American pet so I tell myself it was worth it. I breathe a little easier knowing she no longer lives in close proximity to so many clumsy, drunk, and/or ungraceful men with machetes, but instead has quite literally become my dad’s lap dog because as he says she is “so easy to pick up!”.

Just excited to see someone!!!

Although I must admit, the last month has been pretty lonely. I no longer have my sidekick, my best friend who was always excited and content by my mere existence. I did not need to organize a scholarship fund or bread baking workshop for her to be happy or pleased. I just needed to be.  In the Peace Corps that is the best thing I could ever ask for, because sometimes that is harder than you think when you are a twenty four years old and single and living atop a mountain in El Salvador.