I know my
last blog post wasn’t the happiest one so I’m hoping this one will cheer people
up about how my life is going. On top of writing my blog posts I’ve started
journaling since arriving in Ethiopia. I’ve done this to make sure I don’t
forget anything because time does go by fast and we tend to forget a lot of the
small details. Also, I’ve found that writing helps me gather my thoughts and
figure out how I’m really feeling which is helpful under these stressful situations
Peace Corps is putting me through. Why am I telling you this? Well a lot of my
blog posts stem from my journal entries and here’s a bit of what I started to
write about tonight;
To say
that the last couple weeks have been hard is an understatement. I’ve probably
had some of the most difficult days of my life. I’ve been asking myself why I
decided to do this in the first place. Why did I ever want to travel halfway
across the world and live in a poor country for 2 years away from all the
people that I love? Through journaling I was able to answer this heavy
question.
This week
I started working… well sort of. The concept of time here is a lot different so
I basically just visited my school and met with the teachers and had a lot of
informal conversations. But for any of you who think this is nothing you must
understand the value of relationships here. To Ethiopians, relationships are
everything and you can’t just start a professional one without getting to know
these people on a personal level. So I’m trying to develop friendships with the
teachers at my school if I ever want to get any real work done in the future
and be respected. So to get to the point, here’s what I was journaling about. This
morning I found myself in the teacher’s lounge talking to 3 teachers about my
life and theirs’, just small talk. They asked me what kind of education I had
received. When I told them I had a bachelor’s degree in global politics and
economics they all smiled and laughed and said, “Oh good, then you will be an
ambassador or a diplomat one day,” and I smiled back and said, “maybe I’ll be
the ambassador to Ethiopia” and everyone laughed. (Honestly I haven’t really
thought that far, I’m just trying to get through the next 2 years). That then
led to us talking about war and peace. I won’t bore you with all the details,
but basically they explained that war is not the answer. Instead, people should
talk and discuss their problems. And that’s when I responded, “Exactly, just
like what we are doing here. Talking together amongst different cultures and
working together.” And they all smiled and agreed.
So as I
was writing down this little exchange in my journal tonight, I was reminded of
why I’m here and why I decided to join the Peace Corps in the first place. I do
want to try and make this world a better place (I know how cheesy that sounds
but it’s the truth). And the Peace Corps way of doing this, by building
relationships with people and working with them to find sustainable solutions
and helping to understand different cultures, is something that I believe in. I
wouldn’t have been reminded of my purpose here unless I’d written down my
thoughts and the emotions I felt today while talking to those teachers, so I’m
going to keep journaling and keep all of you updated back home. Yes, I’m still
having some pretty bad moments, my house doesn’t feel like home yet, and I
still haven’t established a routine, but it’s the conversations and the
exchanges that I have with people that change my mood and bring me those
positive memories that I can write about (unless people call me Money, then I
have a problem).
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