Skip to main content

“I get by with a little help from my friends” Lennon & McCartney

I had originally planned to continue writing about the things I took for granted, but then yesterday happened and I decided that I wanted share the day with y’all.  A little context first—my PCV bestie Alexis is currently living with me as her house is infested with rats.  Luckily a teacher from her school works in my community so she has a ride to/from school every day.  But it was still quite a week—so we decided to try for a nice day out and about on Saturday.  
It turned out to be one of those rare days when everything aligned for us--honestly, it was the first time since I've been here that I've had a day like this!  As I was closing the gate to my house, I saw a bus coming up the road.  This never happens!  But what it meant was that we didn’t have to walk up the giant hill to go wait for the bus.  When we got to town and got on our next bus, we only had to sit on it for 5 minutes before we left!  That also never happens, LOL.  
We got to the beach and it was just us and two other people.  The water was lovely and you can’t beat the view! 
While at the beach, we spotted someone who we really did not want to engage with.  It’s a small beach, but shockingly they did not see us and so we dodged that one!  
We had a relaxing time on the beach and then enjoyed delicious (yet overpriced) chicken and fries. 


Emboldened by the day we were having, we decided to make a stop on the way back into town at the "good" grocery.  You may ask why this requires one to be bold--it's because it means another bus transfer and hoping that you'll be able to get back on a bus headed toward town when you're done.  But we had success there as well--got almost everything on our lists and got on a bus!  Once back in town, we had to wait a little while for the bus to fill, but we got amazing seats on the bus so we didn't care.  Our day of travel ended with the bus once again passing by my house so we didn't have to carry all our bags like usual!  
Back at home we (i.e. mostly Alexis) made an amazing dinner of butter chicken, naan, and mango lassi. 


Please don't judge the lassi in my tea-stained mug, cups are few and far between in this house, LOL.  We stayed with the Indian vibe and started watching The Darjeeling Limited, but were both too tired to finish it, LOL!  
As we were eating dinner, we were thinking about how the day actually felt like a "normal" day back home--one where it didn't just feel so hard.  Days like this are truly a rarity here and a powerful reminder to not take for granted any of the moments of success, joy, and ease that we get along the way.  My daily gratitude practice definitely helps keep me grounded and last night one of the things I was grateful for was to have shared the day with an amazing friend.  💓



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" - Mary Oliver

Welcome and thank you for checking out my blog.  I am excited to share my Peace Corps journey with you all!   When I tell people that I'm going to serve in the Peace Corps, there is usually an initial reaction of "that's really great" followed by something along the lines of "and at your age!"  It's true--I am in definitely in the minority in terms of age when it comes to volunteers--only about 7% of volunteers are over 50.  Serving was something that I wanted to do after college, but for several reasons, the time wasn't right.  Fast forward a couple decades and I find myself called to service and in a place personally and professionally where I am able to answer the call.   So in just a couple months, I'll pack everything into a storage unit and move to the Eastern Caribbean for twenty-seven months.  I'll be serving as an English literacy resource volunteer in a primary school.   Watch this space--my goal is to share my experiences...
5 comments
Read more

“The most valuable thing we can do for the psyche, occasionally, is to let it rest, wander, live in the changing light of room, not try to be or do anything whatever.” ― May Sarton

 I’m writing this on the last day of our spring break.  We had two weeks off, and for reasons that are a whole story in and of themselves, I couldn’t travel off island.  So here I’ve been—all too aware of the last time I had so much time off of work and how I ended up in a not-so-awesome mental space.  But this time was different—I made a very deliberate choice to engage in “conscious escapism”.  Usually, escapism is a mechanism to avoid dealing with reality and the feelings associated with reality.  Conscious escapism, in contrast, recognizes the feelings and emotions followed by temporary solace in your activities of choice.   For me, that has meant that every day I’m still practicing mindfulness and meditation, but then I just sort of “checked out” for the majority of the day by watching telly or reading.  I did spend some time working on projects for my return to PLU because I’ve missed that work and it nourishes me in a way that nothing here ...
2 comments
Read more

"Adopt the pace of nature; her secret is patience" Ralph Waldo Emerson

When I decided to apply to serve in the Peace Corps (PC), I knew that it was going to be a lengthy process.  It was late in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic surged ahead, and I was still doing my job from my living room.  There were a lot of uncertainties--not only in my life, but for everyone, everywhere.   One of the positive outcomes of the pandemic was that Peace Corps had a lot of online panels, workshops, and meeting opportunities.  I took full advantage of these!  In addition to attending panels with returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs), I also went to online office hours with my local PC recruiter from Seattle.  PC provided a fantastic resume and personal statement workshop; and the local recruiter read over both and gave me feedback.  I also got feedback from colleagues; for anyone thinking about applying, I  strongly encourage  you to solicit impact from multiple folks on your application materials.  I finally submitted my...
5 comments
Read more