Last night I organized my luggage that I had piled on top of my clothing closet when I moved to site and had not touched since. When I moved one of my suitcases, I realized it felt like there was something in the front pocket. I opened it to find my second pair of glasses (PC wanted us to bring 2 just in case one breaks), a few Ziploc bags, some stationary, and one brand new pair of clean, white socks. I laughed so hard that I cried because I realized that these were all things I had packed and thought I would absolutely need, and I just now found them 11 months later. I will definitely use these things now that I've found them, but clearly I was surviving just fine without them. It made me think about how freaked out I was packing to come here and how afraid I was that I would pack the "wrong" things or not pack enough of the "right" things. It really didn't matter. There were still things I wished I had brought and still things I brought and haven't really used, but I've been just fine. Being able to now say that, I feel like I have grown a lot in the past 11 months. There is a new group of volunteers, Bots12, that will be coming here in about a month, so now they are the ones who have been on Facebook asking questions about packing and what life is like as a volunteer here, and it is strange to think that a year has passed since I was one of the ones preparing to come here. A year ago I was so excited, anxious, nervous, happy, and sad all at once to be coming here. A year ago I was one of the ones asking questions about packing and clothing and what I should or shouldn't bring, preparing to say goodbyes to family and friends, laughing, crying, and jumping up and down excited all in one day. It is very strange looking back and understanding where this new group is coming from, but realizing at the same time that I feel so different than how I felt a year ago. I'm going to be helping out at their training as a member of PSDN, the Peer Support and Diversity Network, and I'm really looking forward to meeting all of them. I remember how glad I was to be able to meet Bots9 volunteers when I got here because they were the ones giving advice to us before we all got here, and they were the ones who understood what it is like to be a PCV, and now I get to be one of the ones who helps the new group feel more at ease here and who understands what it is like. It feels pretty good to be on this end of things now : ).
No comments:
Post a Comment