The sky is bright blue with fluffy white clouds and a relentless sun that is slowly cooking the air around me towards 100. My students just finished their final exams and went home until their next school year starts. I have to store my chocolate in the fridge to keep it from melting, and the thought of snuggling on the couch in a hoodie and nana blanket makes me sweat. And I'm not sitting between my parents with the christmas lights on, fire lit, watching christmas movie.
I have, however, been busy. Thanksgiving was just like any other day at work, but that night I was able to Skype home and talk with most of my extended family. That Saturday a few of us got together to watch The (OSU vs UM) Game and to celebrate Thanksgiving. We had an incredible feast and I was delighted to watch the buckeyes dominate once again! O-H! A year in Ann Arbor prepared me for watching the game with all Michigan fans.
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| A Buckeye in Wolverine Territory, My Memoir |
The week following I had a training in Ghanzi, 12 hours north-west of me. The training was for all of the volunteers who work in schools. We had trainings on Student Friendly Schools, Gender Based Violence in schools, clubs and activities, and teaching skills. It was great to be able to travel, to get together with my friends, and to have our first round of practical skills based training. And we were even able to see some lions and cheetahs! I was surprised to hear that cheetahs meow...
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| Evan and I, 8 hours into travel |
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| Waiting for Dinner |
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| The Lewis Ladies Reunited |
We had the bad luck of a shattered window on the long drive back, leading to an hour delay stranded on the side of the road. Pretty typical for a travel day here.
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| A Bird or a Giant Bug? Who Knows. |
I was anxious to get home because my Form 5's (12th grade) were in the middle of a two week "Boot Camp" which consisted of a lot of talks and presentations on lifeskills. This is the first year of them, so we conducted several surveys to collect data on how they went and how effective they are so we can better prepare for them next year. There is plenty of room for improvement, but by the end of the two weeks the youth wanted to stay another week, and I was glad to have time to connect with so many of them. The creativity, energy, and power of youth are what I want to harness while I'm here, and every time I work with them one on one or in small groups I am energized by their passions and potential. The best night was a talent show that encouraged team work and participation above all else. They were incredible to watch and I had a smile on my face all night from the judges table.
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| The Human Knot |
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| Selfies with my MC's |
I was sad to see them go, but in a few short weeks students will be back at school and I'll hopefully be able to hit the ground running with a few projects. The next week or so I'll be working out the details for projects as well as trying to visit more places in my community so I can work on my two year plan.
Some days are slow in that I don't have much planned, but even on the slowest days, my mind is working in overdrive trying to process and consolidate all of the new information its taking in each day. If I'm not concocting a gender and power analysis on societal expectations, or figuring out how upbringing and schooling impacts how I work with students here vs students back home, or reading about how the Paris Agreement will benefit this country which is devastated by the impact global warming far more than it's contribution to it, I'm thinking about how much growth and change I've experienced in the past 6 years, I'm contemplating what major life changes led me to being the person I am today, I'm scrolling through old pictures of family and friends and trying to cement happy memories into my brain, or I'm wrestling with the role love has in my life. Peace Corps is just as much about working on yourself at your very core as it is about working to improve a community in any way you can. Maybe even more so.
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