There are definitely a lot of fears making their way into my
overwhelmed brain nowadays. As I approach January 6th, the day of my
swear in at the embassy, it all begins to feel quite surreal that I'll
be moving to my permanent home in a week.
I'll be leaving my friends, my absolutely amazing family in Kobalakoro
and heading to the unknown that awaits me in Namposella, Mali.
Where if I thought I was living minimally before I was largely
mistaken. My village of 2,000 people has no running water, no
electricity and only if you walk about 1km down the "road" any cell
phone service. My house is a two room mud house with enough room for
me and my spider family. They take good care of me and while for a
little bit I was considering killing them (just the sheer size of them
is scary), I noticed there are no other bugs at all in my hut.
Meaning I need to pick a side; either live with large spiders and no
other bugs, or kill what may be my only allies and find out what kind
of other bugs Africa has to offer. So for the time being, I will
leave the spiders be and allow them to live rent free in my humble
abode.
My village is roughly 15k away from a major town, but since there are
no roads, my means of transportation are either my Peace Corps issued
bicycle, or a donkey cart. As I write this, I can see my prospective
visitor numbers dwindling..
My village as a whole is simple. It's very spread apart, with no
direct roads, just pathways from house to house. On multiple
occasions I have wandered throughout the village thinking I was
walking down a path, but accidentally walk right into someone's
compound, in which I casually play it off like I meant to, introduce
myself, and quickly leave to only turn the corner into someone else's
compound.
Last night was New Years, where we all walked about 5k down the road
to a Malians house to enjoy a couple warm beers and some sachets of
gin. We ended the night making up our own countdown, dancing until
our legs gave out and for a little bit of time, forgot we were all far
from our usual New Years company, and ran around giving hugs and being
grateful for the new additions we now have in our lives. This is our
last week altogether, so there was plenty of love to go around when we
all got the gut check of where we would be next sunday night.
I'm running low on inspiration to write, so if you have any questions
or topics you'd like me to write about, feel free to comment.
overwhelmed brain nowadays. As I approach January 6th, the day of my
swear in at the embassy, it all begins to feel quite surreal that I'll
be moving to my permanent home in a week.
I'll be leaving my friends, my absolutely amazing family in Kobalakoro
and heading to the unknown that awaits me in Namposella, Mali.
Where if I thought I was living minimally before I was largely
mistaken. My village of 2,000 people has no running water, no
electricity and only if you walk about 1km down the "road" any cell
phone service. My house is a two room mud house with enough room for
me and my spider family. They take good care of me and while for a
little bit I was considering killing them (just the sheer size of them
is scary), I noticed there are no other bugs at all in my hut.
Meaning I need to pick a side; either live with large spiders and no
other bugs, or kill what may be my only allies and find out what kind
of other bugs Africa has to offer. So for the time being, I will
leave the spiders be and allow them to live rent free in my humble
abode.
My village is roughly 15k away from a major town, but since there are
no roads, my means of transportation are either my Peace Corps issued
bicycle, or a donkey cart. As I write this, I can see my prospective
visitor numbers dwindling..
My village as a whole is simple. It's very spread apart, with no
direct roads, just pathways from house to house. On multiple
occasions I have wandered throughout the village thinking I was
walking down a path, but accidentally walk right into someone's
compound, in which I casually play it off like I meant to, introduce
myself, and quickly leave to only turn the corner into someone else's
compound.
Last night was New Years, where we all walked about 5k down the road
to a Malians house to enjoy a couple warm beers and some sachets of
gin. We ended the night making up our own countdown, dancing until
our legs gave out and for a little bit of time, forgot we were all far
from our usual New Years company, and ran around giving hugs and being
grateful for the new additions we now have in our lives. This is our
last week altogether, so there was plenty of love to go around when we
all got the gut check of where we would be next sunday night.
I'm running low on inspiration to write, so if you have any questions
or topics you'd like me to write about, feel free to comment.
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