"Sometimes you gotta take a break from all the noise to appreciate the beauty of silence" -Robert Tew

We have made it (almost) to the end of term 1 at school. Students finished exams last week and after exams instruction stops. So for the last week and a half of the term, its a bit more of a free-for-all than usual at school as teachers are trying to do their grading and the kids are left mostly to their own devices. I was hoping to use this time to make some big leaps forward on my library projects, but there's been another bump in the road--and that's a whole story that I'm not going to get into right now.

What I am going to get into is saying goodbye for a few weeks. I'll be back here sometime early in the new year. I'm going to be traveling to WI for most of break (as many leave days as I could spare). My plan is to relax, sleep with a blanket (!), run in the cold, cook, bake, eat, and drink. I need this trip to be a chill one, so I'm just hanging with family. To all my WI friends--I miss you and will visit you when I return to the states for good. 💓 This trip I really just need to have cozy, chill time at home. Which brings me to the opening quote--I love silence. I think we find so much in silence. I do find silent moments here, but I am looking forward to a break from the noise.

I couldn't resist jumping on the wrapped trend, especially after one of my IG favorites (@howapcvputsitgently) posted. My version is a slighty-tweaked version of theirs to more accurately reflect my experience, LOL. Warning--it mentions 💩--we volunteers talk about 💩 all the time. Having gotten my PhD studying diarrheal disease, I don't mind so much--but you've been warned. 😆😆😆

I hope that all of you have a fabulous holiday season. 💓💓💓

Comments

"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)

"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...

"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...

One Wild and Precious Life

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