Something I’ve been considering lately is how incredibly lucky I’ve been. Oddly, this struck me in the middle of the night while vomiting into a plastic bucket. It was then that it came to me—I haven’t been sick (well, until that moment). I haven’t been miserable. I haven’t been homesick. I haven’t suffered in any horrific, direct and immediate way, as have some of my fellow PCVs. They truly deserve immense amounts credit for what they are doing—it takes a lot to be a Peace Corps Volunteer. My experience has turned out to be a bit different. Don’t get me wrong—there are discomforts, saddening moments, and of course it’s always difficult to be far away from the ones you love. However, seeing some other volunteers struggle with illness, difficult work situations, lack of privacy and freedom, and just plain depression (all completely normal parts of a Peace Corps experience), I feel extra fortunate to be living out a relatively productive, tranquil and (dare I say it) almost problem-free service. Every day I look around me and remember that I have to leave in less than a year. I attempt to prepare myself—I’m not good with permanent goodbyes. Whether or not I return to Guatemala (and I will), when I say goodbye to this home, this place, this time in my life, it will be for good. The changes to come will be amazing (Teaching English in Malta? Landscape Architecture at the University of Michigan? Working as a tour leader somewhere else in the world?), but when I think of leaving I get a little teary-eyed. At the moment I’m attempting to do what everyone says: remember I won’t be a PCV forever and to live it to the fullest. Which, let me tell you, is not always easy on the ground as a Peace Corps Volunteer. However, I’d just like to throw out some words of encouragement to my fellow volunteers—we’ve come SO far, those who are still here have gone through what most volunteers in the proud history of the Peace Corps never had to—and they stuck around, for the betterment of themselves and the great benefit of the people of Guatemala. BE here, grab those little moments but don’t feel pressure to be jumping up and down with joy during every second of it. Every volunteer that is here increases my faith in young people (and older!) to do great good in the world today, even if we feel like nobody’s listening to our charlas and nobody understands what we go through to be here. We were once asked if we thought we were worth the somewhat substantial amount of government money required to keep us here—having seen the impact my fellow volunteers have had in their communities and the beautiful changes that have occurred in themselves, I now know the answer: we are worth every penny.
Friday, August 24, 2012
Looking toward the future (and giving thanks)
Something I’ve been considering lately is how incredibly lucky I’ve been. Oddly, this struck me in the middle of the night while vomiting into a plastic bucket. It was then that it came to me—I haven’t been sick (well, until that moment). I haven’t been miserable. I haven’t been homesick. I haven’t suffered in any horrific, direct and immediate way, as have some of my fellow PCVs. They truly deserve immense amounts credit for what they are doing—it takes a lot to be a Peace Corps Volunteer. My experience has turned out to be a bit different. Don’t get me wrong—there are discomforts, saddening moments, and of course it’s always difficult to be far away from the ones you love. However, seeing some other volunteers struggle with illness, difficult work situations, lack of privacy and freedom, and just plain depression (all completely normal parts of a Peace Corps experience), I feel extra fortunate to be living out a relatively productive, tranquil and (dare I say it) almost problem-free service. Every day I look around me and remember that I have to leave in less than a year. I attempt to prepare myself—I’m not good with permanent goodbyes. Whether or not I return to Guatemala (and I will), when I say goodbye to this home, this place, this time in my life, it will be for good. The changes to come will be amazing (Teaching English in Malta? Landscape Architecture at the University of Michigan? Working as a tour leader somewhere else in the world?), but when I think of leaving I get a little teary-eyed. At the moment I’m attempting to do what everyone says: remember I won’t be a PCV forever and to live it to the fullest. Which, let me tell you, is not always easy on the ground as a Peace Corps Volunteer. However, I’d just like to throw out some words of encouragement to my fellow volunteers—we’ve come SO far, those who are still here have gone through what most volunteers in the proud history of the Peace Corps never had to—and they stuck around, for the betterment of themselves and the great benefit of the people of Guatemala. BE here, grab those little moments but don’t feel pressure to be jumping up and down with joy during every second of it. Every volunteer that is here increases my faith in young people (and older!) to do great good in the world today, even if we feel like nobody’s listening to our charlas and nobody understands what we go through to be here. We were once asked if we thought we were worth the somewhat substantial amount of government money required to keep us here—having seen the impact my fellow volunteers have had in their communities and the beautiful changes that have occurred in themselves, I now know the answer: we are worth every penny.
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