Less Stress
A couple weeks ago it totally hit me that I am the less stressed I have been in probably 4 years. It's kind of weird to think that moving to another country, starting a new job, and daily bouts of explosive diarrhea would be less stressful but it truly is. I don't have the media constantly telling me to be scared of the world and I since I have less money I have less desire for things I never truly needed or wanted anyways. And... the way success is measured here is completely different and I totally love it. Don't get me wrong, I'm pretty sure I'm still a workaholic, but success isn't going to be about the bottom line but more about the relationships and capacity building along the way. When I get back to the US and start the job hunting I think that the way success is measured in an organization will determine if I want to work there. The fact that I'm already thinking about my next job in two years makes me think I haven't fully lost my workaholic ways. I think I should probably work on my workaholicness- ha! And worse case scenario... if I don't find a job when I get back I can always go for that Doctorate. Now, that would be ridiculous. I have determined though that when I get back, instead of doing the responsible thing and saving the readjustment allowance, I'm definitely spending it all on traveling.
I have a sitemate but still no site!
About two weeks ago I found out who will be my new BFF (that's best friend forever) for the next two years. I'm really excited about my site mate- she's a spunky little firecracker! So when I get all cracked out on work I think she'll definitely keep me in check. Anddd she's also pretty awesome because our approach and values/ideas for the Healthy Schools program are in sync since we both have the same goals and aspiration for success. I think that was a run on sentence that lacked clarity. Oh well, you get the gist.
As for our home for two years we don't know where that will be! We were supposed to find out last week but since there are so many awesome healthy schools volunteers they needed more time to find us the perfect sites. I think I'm really ready to move on to my new home. Twenty four months of service sounds a lot less than twenty seven and these past three months have flown by. I'm a little apprehensive to start all over with a new family and a new city and with 6 less gringos in the same town but I'm also ready to starting nesting and cooking for myself. This weekend I think it hit me a little more that we'll soon be on our own because Caitlin and I went to the market by ourselves and bought items for a whole meal. Her host mom was teaching us how to cook this friend egg/green bean dish. I'm pretty positive I paid too much for a watermelon and by too much I mean I paid $1 when I should have paid .75. Either way, we went shopping without our spanish teachers or without others who speak better than us both.
But back to sites... I should find out where I'm living and where y'all are visiting on March 24th. And then on March 25th we swear in as legitimate volunteers. And then on the 27th we're shipped off on our own! Time to sink or swim and fortunately since this isn't a literal swimming situation I shouldn't drown.
Malaria Dreams
Total change of topic but wanted to ramble about this nonetheless. I think I finally had my first malaria dream. They say the malaria dreams aren't really scary but just more vivid. And to clarify, I don't have malaria, I just take two pills weekly (Aralen) that taste horrible so that I don't get malaria. I try to take them in the morning and not at night however about a week ago I took them before bed. So, my first malaria dream consisted of me fighting in a battle. I was fighting the giant, bright, and furry letters/numbers of Sesame Street. They were chasing me and I was running from the giant furries of fury. So I would classify that as a vivid malaria pill induced dream. After the Sesame Street battle was over I had a malaria nightmare. Apparently in this nightmare I had forgotten I got married when I was in high school and was trying to get a divorce. I was mad that someone authorized the marriage and allowed me to get married. Ha! So that was definitely a nightmare and thankfully I woke up and I'm definitely not married.
And in Summary...Pictures!
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| Cemetery- this section was for the babies :o( |
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| Just a view of the cemetery. It's a real colorful place. The large square structure is a mausoleum and caskets will be in each compartment. |
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| Drunk guy in the cemetery. I jumped when the construction workers cat called me (in the cemetery-gross) and thought it was the dead dude (which was actually just a drunk- there are tons here passed out in the streets). |
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| Chucho with what we believed was a hip bone. Lucky find for this pup! |
