6 Months in Country
April 17th marked 6 months on the field! Life recently has held meals with new local friends, taking on new roles, making plans for the future, and discovering new skills. I have felt the growth in my Arabic and seen my ability to hold a conversation and meet my basic needs. The city is feeling more like home, and I’m more settled and comfortable. The arrival of spring’s flowers ushered in a change in perspective as well. After a cold, rainy winter that brought up lots of loneliness and uncertainty, the blooms of spring were a refreshing reminder of the impermanence of life. Just like the… Read more >>
New Year's Growth
The start of 2024 has been slow and reflective, with lots of cold, rainy days and even more thoughts and questions. This made writing an update a bit challenging. My first thought was, “What even happened last month?” but then I had an even scarier one: “What do I have to show for this month?” I’ve had the imagine of a cocoon on my mind with a little caterpillar essentially turning into goo in there, being broken down into it’s components to be regrown into something new. Maybe it’s the cold weather making me curl up in blankets, but I’ve felt a bit like a caterpillar in a cocoon. So here’s… Read more >>
Letting go of expectations
So much of my prefield training and the advice I received before arriving was, "Know your expectations," because they WILL NOT all be met. In fact, maybe none of them will be met. I don't know what I expected, but coming to a region 10 days after the start of a war was not something I expected. I didn't expect for the country to declare a period of mourning the day after I arrived. I didn't expect for my 2 language classmates to be pulled out of the country after 1 week, leaving me in alone in class.I didn't expect to live with a couple on my team for 2 months while trying to find me… Read more >>
Crying on Christmas
I had a very full Christmas Day. On Christmas Eve, I spent the night with a family that has 2 little girls, 6 and 8. They left stuffed animals on my bed (pictured above) because they didn’t want me to sleep alone and woke me up at 7am, insisting I opened the first gift. After opening all the presents, having breakfast, and building some Legos, I went to the next gathering. I had Christmas brunch with my fellow childless or “unaccompanied” teammates before heading to Christmas #3: a team Christmas party. There, we had dinner, played games, and I found out I have a decent tee off in marshmallow… Read more >>