Skip to main content

“We can never know about the days to come but we think about them anyway” -Carly Simon

 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 week and it was one of the biggest professional challenges I’ve had in years.  But I loved it!!  I can’t wait to be in a school and working on the Peace Corps literacy project.  

I also got to go to my home community this week!  I got to see my house (home tour coming after I move in) and meet my principal and some of the teachers at the school.  We did a walk through the community and I got to meet a lot of folks who are going to be my community for the next two years.  And that was EXCITING.  
On my balcony!!
The week ahead holds a lot—the last days of training, assessments on competency for service and Kwèyol.  Swearing in where I take my oath as a Peace Corps Volunteer!!  And last, but not least, moving in to my home.  I don’t want to miss out on what any of those experiences has to teach me, so I have to just remember my mantra—BE HERE NOW.  

I leave you with a little collage of some of the teaching materials that I generated during mode school.  Just a little bit different than my usual set up! 😉


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"This wasn't a strange place; it was a new one" -Paulo Coehlo

 Thanks again to everyone who submitted questions.  A couple notes about this video: 1) my voice is a bit scratchy and crackly because there was burning happening when I recorded and the smoke messes with my voice 2) In some of the slides, it sounds like a teapot is whistling--my apologies that was the fan getting picked up by my headphones (its not too loud, I promise) 3) In the slide following my intro, I state that the "ministry of health" was involved when I meant to say "ministry of education" (the error is actually quite obvious, lol)
Post a Comment
Read more

"like butter scraped over too much bread" -JRR Tolkien

  Full quote:  Why, I feel all  thin , sort of stretched, if you know what I mean: like butter that has been scraped over  too  much bread. That can't  be  right. I need a change, or something. I can't believe its taken over a year for me to pull out a LOTR reference! 😉  But Bilbo's words ring so true for me these days.  A few weeks ago I posted that I had reached the one year mark--and it has been a hell of a year!  The highs were really high and the lows were low, low, low.  As the school year finally came to a close on Friday, I am feeling like I can really step back and take a breath.  A nice, deep, long breath.   I have hope and excitement around the projects at school next year; but right now I need a break and some quiet, reflective space.  As part of that break, I'm going to put  a pause in the blog until school starts again at the beginning of September.  So until then, I leave you with a pict...
1 comment
Read more

"allow it to end with grace and an open mind for a new day" -Brendon Burchard

 Full quote:  It's official--my close of service (COS) date is July 5, 2025, which means I have less than 6 months left!  I know that a lot of volunteers talk about how hard it is to think about leaving and returning home.  I am definitely not one of these volunteers.  Don't misunderstand me--I am deeply thankful for this experience and I remain glad that I did this.  I have learned so much about so many things, including myself.   But simultaneously, I am feeling very, very ready to be done.  There are a multitude of reasons, most of which are best left unsaid in this forum.   I remain deeply commited to being present and finishing my projects.  There are still roadblocks beyond my control holding up a big part of the library project.  While I really want to see these pieces come to fruition, I've also made peace with the fact that they might not get done before I leave.  It's the reality of the situation and I've do...
Post a Comment
Read more