It's midterms, which marks the official half way point of my service. I've been notoriously bad at blogging due to a mixture of factors including lack of service to post, being too busy with programs, and just being too tired and worn out to write sometimes. There is also the fact that those things that once seemed novel have become so very commonplace. Carrying water on my head once felt like an accomplishment; now it's just part of the routine of life. Teaching was at first novel and challenging but my class and I have fallen into a groove and now it is just work.
Life isn't easy but it has ceased being hard. I've figured out some life hacks to make my existence here a bit easier, like boiling water the night before on leftover dinner coals and storing it in a thermos to keep from having to start a fire in the morning. Even the things that I recall being so miserable when I first came such as public transport don't feel that bad anymore.
I suppose you could say I've settled in. In fact you could potentially say I'm thriving. I love my village and feel so at home there. I hate the bomas where I am viewed as a white person with money but in my village I'm just another villager. And while that doesn't stop people from asking for things it certainly changes the dynamic. For instance I don't mind being the village shoe repair woman with my gorilla glue.
Yes, a year has changed a lot of things like the fact that I let some spiders live in my house with me and actually can squish the others. A year of village living has taught me patience and resourcefulness, it has highlighted my strengths AND my weaknesses. I have learned that there is always a silver lining, if you look in the right place. The past year has confirmed what I always knew as a universal truth; life isn't fair. It has made me realize how much I miss cheese, sour cream, and ice cream. I have learned that it is always hotter before it rains but that the rain will come, and it will bring with it blissful moisture. I've learned a whole new set of "bush skills" and a language I can't use anywhere else in the world. I have learned how to make friends anywhere and that a smile is universal. I have experienced true loneliness, missed family and friends, and then picked myself up and carried on. I've learned that positive change starts small and youth really are the future. I've learned that I can, in fact, bathe with only a kettle of water. I have realized how many conveniences that I formerly took for granted, and yet only slightly miss. I've gone from newbie to expert. Yes, a year will change a person.
Peace Corps is almost like some sort of bizarre social experiment. We remove ourselves from everything familiar and comfortable and trade it in for a mud hut and millions of developmental headaches, only the strong survive. We challenge ourselves to new levels of "who am I?" since all of our past societal factors have been removed from the question and it's just the village and you. You have good days and bad. Projects flourish and the fail. Counterparts come and go. People come and go. And there you are just trying to make some sort of difference no matter how small.
Existence out here is sometimes bizarre, often humorous (if you can laugh at yourself), and 100% unpredictable. And that's what gets me out of bed each day. It's been a year in Luapula and I dare say I'm enjoying my little village.
So here's to a year! And a very merry one to come!
