One Wild and Precious Life

 As a practitioner of mindfulness, I work to be present in the present moment.  But this last week or so, I’ve had to more consciously bring myself back to that place.  I find that my mind is wanting to look ahead to the next stage of this journey.  Part of my practice is to examine why I seem to be straying from the present and I think I’ve figured out a few different reasons.  A big part of it is exhaustion.  The best way I can explain what this is like is to ask you to remember the hardest, most intense meeting/conference/workshop you’ve ever participated in.  Now imagine doing that for 9 weeks straight. Half of that time you’ll be with 27 other people nonstop and the other half you’ll be living with a family of total strangers.  The mental, emotional, and physical work of that is HARD.  I think another piece of the puzzle for me is that I really want to get into the work that I was brought here to do—the work that I feel called to do.  We finished up our teaching practicum last wee

Thank you again to everyone who submitted questions for me!!!  This week might get a little long, so you might want to grab and snack and a cool drink and settle in.   A brief note about the titles of last week's and this week's posts: the Peace Corps office here has all of these cool historical Peace Corps marketing posters.  Last week's title was probably the most famous slogan of the Peace Corps.  But I like this one too because I think it is perfect for me getting to do this now--I didn't want to miss my opportunity and be left to say "I should've done that when I had the chance." To your questions!!! From my niece Lexi and her friend Sophia:  What is the biggest challenge you've faced so far? This might seem like a weird answer given how different my life is here, but for me the thing that challenges me the most is the lack of solitude. I do LOVE people, I genuinely do, but I think a lot of you know that I deeply value my alone time. There h

 Thank you to everyone who submitted questions for my blog!!  There were enough questions to make two posts, so if you don’t see your question this week, it will be here next week!   From my niece Kenzie: How are you doing?  Have you seen any dolphins? Have you experienced any exotic animals or wildlife yet?  Lizards or birds or something in the road?  Overall I am doing very well.  Pre-service training is INTENSE and as I mentioned last week, I am feeling mentally and emotionally drained most days.  But I find the work incredibly exciting and invigorating at the same time.  I spent some time at the beach yesterday with friends from my training group and that really helped me recharge.   I haven’t seen any dolphins yet, but when I do you will be the first to know, Kenzie!! ❤️❤️ There are lizards here—what I’ve seen the most are little gekkos.  Not exotic, but there are also a lot of chickens and roosters (and chicks) that just wander the neighborhood.   From Rachel: What do you miss mo

When I started to look back in my week and think about what I wanted to write about, one word jumped to mind: overwhelmed.  Early in the week, I got to teach a 3rd grade class with my trainee partner, Artie.  The students were so enthusiastic and we had so much fun.  I was overwhelmed with gratitude and appreciation for being able to have this experience at this point in my life.   I am also overwhelmed by the generosity and kindness of my host family.  They have welcomed me into their home and made me feel most at ease.  I am thankful for this time to learn more about the food, culture, and language. Speaking of language—overwhelmed is an appropriate description.  Kweyol is definitely kicking my a** right now.  I have a few words and phrases down, but being able to have a back-and-forth exchange with my teacher is a struggle.  My pronunciations are improving though!  A few weeks ago, my partner and I were made to repeat an exercise 4 times while standing in the middle of our group of

 It was yet another week of big transition.  We finished up phase 1 of training.  That meant saying goodbye to most of my cohort and moving in with my host family.  I’ve made some life-long friends in my cohort and having to say goodbye was hard.  It was just a month ago that I was saying all my goodbyes at home!  The amount of big transitions so early in this journey was something that I underestimated—I knew there would be a lot of changes in these first three months, but didn’t realize they would all feel this BIG.   I am now living with a lovely family.  The picture was snapped when I had just met my host mom.  She welcomed me with a big hug.  I am with an experienced host mom—she’s hosted about 20 volunteers over the years!   She and the rest of the family have made me feel most welcome.  I am learning how to cook Caribbean food—yesterday I learned how to make tamarind juice.  I also learned how to eat a mango the right way—when you visit me, I’ll teach you how!  It’s a busy house