This time last year, I was enjoyed being fed a ridiculous amount of good food because of Lunar New Year, and navigating the unnecessarily confusing Houston high way systems --was still pretty fun.
Now I'm pretty sure I won't get that food anytime soon, and Houston is really, really far away. Instead I'm reminiscing about the last 11 months of my life remembering the good parts and forgetting the bad, while considering raw ramen as a great mid night snack.
A friend of mine mentioned that my blog posts have been quite depressing, and she was worried. I want to clarify that my babbling on this reflects the 35 or 40 percents of my experience. I keep good days in my heart, and I write about bad days to get them out of my system.
As me and the twenty something people in my group are reaching our one year mark, we are also reaching on mid way point. For some of us, this is the high/low emotional point -- happy that we made it this far and sad that expectations didn't reach. For some, it's the realization of our self and the work's limit, and the fear that we are running out of time.
I am one of them. Within the last month, I have experienced hope, frustration, disappointment, satisfaction, bitterness, and happiness. One followed the other, not seamlessly but somehow still fittingly. Things didn't go well, but somehow it worked out in the end. Something seemingly so easy to accomplish somehow turned out to be impossible. My ego is bruised and failed plans hurt me tremendously, but somehow, I also recover more quickly. I can't stay angry for long, and it's easier now to admit faults or make apologies. Don't dwell on no shit is going to be my new motto.
Anyhow, I could spend the rest of this post talking about why I experienced those feelings this recent month, or I could let you see the better outcomes for yourself and make your day. I'm even going to
dash (Ghanian's term for give a little extra somein' somein') you 3 more months (so that's from September, in case you couldn't do math) in pictures of my work since I've been a Peace Corps volunteer.
Hope you have good internet to load all this shits!
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| JHS students signing up for several different youth clubs |
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| the first of many Neem Cream demonstration |
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| steaming hot fufu and groundnut (peanut) soup for lunch -- periodically. |
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| a little spiel about proper nutrition and more neem cream demo for some mothers, and nosy children. |
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women and children.
this picture is bigger because you have to find the photobomb in it. |
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| goats on a bench! come on, there are some GOATS, on a BENCH! |
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| more neem cream demo at a baby weigh-in, so many crying babies that days, lawd... |
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net hanging demonstration at the school, and this boy showed us how he sleeps in it.
oh , youth. |
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| waiting for our soaps to cool down. |
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| one of the many community mapping that we did, "tell us where you shit!" |
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| little gremlins who are actually my minions. |
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| little girls with chairs on their heads. it's exactly what it looks like. |
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our first ever spelling bee,
and me. |
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| talking about "don't be a fool, wrap your tool" in the house of God. |
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the dance team that represented our entire region to go to Accra and show off their skillz.
something like Ghana's best JHS dance crew, but everyone wins. |
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| this old man practically dug this pit entirely by himself. it's 8 feet deep. |
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| hanging posters about latrines. |
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| hanging posters about latrines inspections. |
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| one day, Simba, all this will be yours. |
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| last minute strategy meeting before our football match. |
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| drawing AIDS ribbon on people who were tested (108 tested!) |
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| wearing it proudly! |
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| showing it proudly! |
So there you have it, my last 4 months-ish of work related things. I hope this makes up for all the downer posts I've been throwing at you this entire last year. Check my facebook if you want more!
