"Remember this, that very little is needed to make a happy life" -Marcus Aurelius

This update will feature some brief vingnettes from the past few weeks.

Logos Hope is the "world's largest floating bookfair" and was docked in the southern part of the island for about two weeks in February. I got the chance to visit with the grade 5 students and I'm so glad for the chance to see it. The entire operation is run by volunteers from around the world. Our students were convinced that I was related to all of the white people that worked on the boat, LOL.

Galentine's Day Lunch with Alexis was a real treat. We traveled to the north of the island where all the posh things are, LOL. The photo is our view of the marina during lunch. As I was on the bus home, I was very thankful for the time with my friend, the conversation, the food. But in all honesty, I also started thinking about how nice it will be when I return home and meeting a friend for lunch won't involve a 6 hour round trip on the bus, LOL!

At the beginning of this week, I got to participate in the The Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens Celebration of Service at PLU. Thanks to Bridget for the photo--we were laughing because I am so HUGE and just hovering over all the other panelists! It was great to see folks from PLU and to share a bit of my Peace Corps experience.

And finally to a step forward at school! One of the things I'm working on is a resource collection for teachers--essentially a collection of literacy worksheet masters that they can easily pull and copy for classes. It's been hours and hours of printing, putting into sheet protectors, and getting in the binders. This is a little less than half of what I need to do, but it feels good to actually have something ready for use!

There's no picture for this--but I'm also over the moon that y'all in the US are springing ahead this weekend! It seems like a small thing, but cutting that time difference down from 4 hr to 3hr for my PNW folks. Staying up for the PLU event was well worth it, but boy was I feeling my age the next day! LOL.

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)

"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...

"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 t...

One Wild and Precious Life

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