So I have been off here for so long I figure no one will read it anymore. I think I am really writing this more for myself than anyone else.
It is so hard for me to even comprehend that I left Ethiopia seven months ago! I have a new place, a new car, a new wardrobe, a new job, new friends (and of course plenty of old ones), once again my life has just completely changed from a few months ago. Don't get me wrong, many of the changes are quite welcome, I honestly am not complaining that I have running water I promise, I would admit I think it's a bit excessive though. I mean who really needs running water 24/7.
For those of you know don't know I wasn't quite ready to give up the whole Peace Corps gig. I became the Peace Corps recruiter in the Tallahassee area. I get to talk to people every day and get paid for it, not a bad job really. I also am working on a project that is based on improving literacy in youth in Nigeria. It can be very tedious work but I am so grateful for it and glad I can help in my indirect way to keep working in the international aid field. It has also been incredible to see all the Returned Peace Corps volunteers in Tally, they are wonderful people and I count myself lucky to be friends with them.
But all that isn't why I am writing this post. I could go on and on about the current state of America and how disappointing some of the things I have been seeing are. How I am having to almost everyday answer questions from my foreign friends on WhatsApp asking about what they are seeing on the news. But I think a blog post is hardly the place for that, at least not this kind of blog. I wanted to write about my re-adjustment. Up until today if you asked me I would have said that I don't usually have adjustment problems. That I traveled so much as a kid thanks to my family who loved seeing new cultures, that I was used to it. I would have a few things here and there that took me a minute, but no-big-deal. That when I came home the only real issue I had was my parents decided to take me to Publix shortly after returning to pick up supplies for a welcome back party. They were walking around getting this and that and told me to go pick out the chips. I am sitting there looking down the chip aisle and look at them. I remember telling them "no, I'm not doing that" and walking away. I don't know if they even realized it but I was mind blown. I mean here is a row of chips with maybe a hundred different options. Coming from a place where the three options you could get were the same in every major city in the country it was more than I could take. I proceeded to wander around the store for the rest of the time not really seeing anything and just trying not to be overwhelmed.
Now don't worry, I wasn't about to have my head explode or anything, I wasn't about to break down in the store, not to trivialize other people's re-integration experience. But I didn't want to be there right then, and I didn't want to handle it.
I say this long rambling story for another reason. (Besides that I think you will never read this if it is too long!) I think that I might have been lying to myself. I was talking to my friend the other day. He had served with me in Ethiopia and I told him that story, that I was doing fine but I didn't think I was socializing enough. That I didn't see my friends enough, I was tired of sitting at home even though I am doing events practically every week. I meet up with people for dinner, I get drinks, I have even been on a pretty good amount of dates. But still, I felt like something was wrong. But today I was reading a blog of a currently serving volunteer and she mentioned having to slow down. Having to get used to the culture and understand that you don't have to be productive every second of every day. That you get used to sitting down and having coffee and tea and just socializing. That's what I think I have been missing. That's what I have been craving, that is why I feel like something is missing. Because we American's have it all wrong! We think that we have to be working every second, you go home and eat, go to bed and repeat. We have lost that sense of companionship. Of sitting down throughout the day to have coffee with people, of chatting about life and family and each others' experiences. Something so simple as taking a coffee break, something I didn't even know I was missing.
For those of you who read my past blogs, you will know that every day I had coffee at Aster's coffee shop, I spent the evenings with Shimelis for dinner and often went out to have a beer with friends before bed. Every day I was spending hours with others just talking or even just enjoying each other's company in silence. It was culture, it's what you do, it's what everyone in Ethiopia does, and it is really really great.
So what do you do? How do you adapt? How do you fill that gap? Well, I don't know. (I told you I just figured this out today right?) But I have an idea, just something small. My office works on international Ed. We have people from many backgrounds and so many well-traveled people. I'm thinking a coffee hour. Once a week asking everyone to come to the conference room, drink coffee, have snacks, and just socialize. Get to know each other, and find out what each other is doing. I don't know if it will catch on. I know people are "too busy" but hey, it is worth a try.
So here is to all you fellow RPCVs who found out how to slow down. I hope you never lose that and I hope I don't either.
It is so hard for me to even comprehend that I left Ethiopia seven months ago! I have a new place, a new car, a new wardrobe, a new job, new friends (and of course plenty of old ones), once again my life has just completely changed from a few months ago. Don't get me wrong, many of the changes are quite welcome, I honestly am not complaining that I have running water I promise, I would admit I think it's a bit excessive though. I mean who really needs running water 24/7.
For those of you know don't know I wasn't quite ready to give up the whole Peace Corps gig. I became the Peace Corps recruiter in the Tallahassee area. I get to talk to people every day and get paid for it, not a bad job really. I also am working on a project that is based on improving literacy in youth in Nigeria. It can be very tedious work but I am so grateful for it and glad I can help in my indirect way to keep working in the international aid field. It has also been incredible to see all the Returned Peace Corps volunteers in Tally, they are wonderful people and I count myself lucky to be friends with them.
But all that isn't why I am writing this post. I could go on and on about the current state of America and how disappointing some of the things I have been seeing are. How I am having to almost everyday answer questions from my foreign friends on WhatsApp asking about what they are seeing on the news. But I think a blog post is hardly the place for that, at least not this kind of blog. I wanted to write about my re-adjustment. Up until today if you asked me I would have said that I don't usually have adjustment problems. That I traveled so much as a kid thanks to my family who loved seeing new cultures, that I was used to it. I would have a few things here and there that took me a minute, but no-big-deal. That when I came home the only real issue I had was my parents decided to take me to Publix shortly after returning to pick up supplies for a welcome back party. They were walking around getting this and that and told me to go pick out the chips. I am sitting there looking down the chip aisle and look at them. I remember telling them "no, I'm not doing that" and walking away. I don't know if they even realized it but I was mind blown. I mean here is a row of chips with maybe a hundred different options. Coming from a place where the three options you could get were the same in every major city in the country it was more than I could take. I proceeded to wander around the store for the rest of the time not really seeing anything and just trying not to be overwhelmed.
Now don't worry, I wasn't about to have my head explode or anything, I wasn't about to break down in the store, not to trivialize other people's re-integration experience. But I didn't want to be there right then, and I didn't want to handle it.
I say this long rambling story for another reason. (Besides that I think you will never read this if it is too long!) I think that I might have been lying to myself. I was talking to my friend the other day. He had served with me in Ethiopia and I told him that story, that I was doing fine but I didn't think I was socializing enough. That I didn't see my friends enough, I was tired of sitting at home even though I am doing events practically every week. I meet up with people for dinner, I get drinks, I have even been on a pretty good amount of dates. But still, I felt like something was wrong. But today I was reading a blog of a currently serving volunteer and she mentioned having to slow down. Having to get used to the culture and understand that you don't have to be productive every second of every day. That you get used to sitting down and having coffee and tea and just socializing. That's what I think I have been missing. That's what I have been craving, that is why I feel like something is missing. Because we American's have it all wrong! We think that we have to be working every second, you go home and eat, go to bed and repeat. We have lost that sense of companionship. Of sitting down throughout the day to have coffee with people, of chatting about life and family and each others' experiences. Something so simple as taking a coffee break, something I didn't even know I was missing.
For those of you who read my past blogs, you will know that every day I had coffee at Aster's coffee shop, I spent the evenings with Shimelis for dinner and often went out to have a beer with friends before bed. Every day I was spending hours with others just talking or even just enjoying each other's company in silence. It was culture, it's what you do, it's what everyone in Ethiopia does, and it is really really great.
So what do you do? How do you adapt? How do you fill that gap? Well, I don't know. (I told you I just figured this out today right?) But I have an idea, just something small. My office works on international Ed. We have people from many backgrounds and so many well-traveled people. I'm thinking a coffee hour. Once a week asking everyone to come to the conference room, drink coffee, have snacks, and just socialize. Get to know each other, and find out what each other is doing. I don't know if it will catch on. I know people are "too busy" but hey, it is worth a try.
So here is to all you fellow RPCVs who found out how to slow down. I hope you never lose that and I hope I don't either.
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