What a crazy week! I’ve been trying to get as much of the electrical stuff finished as possible, but I’m running out of time, and there’s so much to do! Then yesterday, I gave a presentation to a few of the staff about electricity in general, the electrical system here, and lighting design basics. It was fun getting to share my knowledge and knowing that everyone was actually interested in learning about the things I presented. Debbie translated and did an amazing job. Knowing how to speak Spanish and knowing how to speak construction Spanish are two very different things!
At the beginning of this whole adventure, I thought that it would be nice to have a break from lighting and electrical work. I was adamant that I wanted to do something different. I’ll admit that I have enjoyed growing in other areas, but these last few weeks of electrical work have been much more enjoyable than I would have guessed. It’s nice to know that I do enjoy the field that I spent seven years training/working in because there have definitely been times where I’ve second-guessed my choice. These last couple weeks have pushed me to learn and do new things with my knowledge. I get to walk around and investigate and measure and make real decisions, and I don’t spend all day sitting at a desk. It’s so satisfying to make my brain work on a higher level!
It kind of looks like actual Emma Watson is in this picture.
Today was the beginning of Lara’s Last Weekend of Fun, Peru edition. What could be better than a princess day to start things off? Tony, Debbie, Julie, and I went to see Beauty and the Beast, and it was so good!! We had to go into Lima to find a theatre with Spanish subtitles and English audio rather than a dubbed version, and it was so worth the effort. Piñata time!
Part two of Princess Day was a 4-year-old’s princess-themed birthday party. During the week when the team was here, we had a translator to help out with things. She is super cool, and we got to spend a lot of time together that week. The birthday party was for her daughter, so it was triply fun because I got to experience a Peruvian birthday party, pretend I was a princess, AND see our friend again! Purple is definitely her favorite color, and Sofia the First is kind of a big deal.
The party was, as you might imagine, somewhat insane. I’m all hyped up on sugar right now because I basically just ate candy for 3 hours. The party consisted of some games for the kids, lots of sugary snacks, dancing, princess dresses, and a piñata. In other words, it had everything required to be considered a fabulous success. It was funny seeing the kids go from being kind of shy and quiet at the beginning to wild and crazy after they got some sugar pumped into them. Sugar never fails.
In conclusion, life is great, sugar is magical, and every day should be Princess Day.
There have been some crazy weather-related things happening here recently. You may recall that I mentioned some “huaicos” (mudslides) a couple weeks ago when we went into Pucusana for dinner. I said that there’s been a lot of rain in the highlands, and as a result, the water levels in the rivers are much higher than they usually are at this time of year. The problem with Pucusana is that the “dried up” river bed that used to serve as an escape path was developed, so the water can’t drain that way anymore. Also, when it re-filled with water, it did damage to the buildings that were built in the river bed, as you might expect. Since the water can’t drain, it overflowed over the road that leads into Pucusana, and I’m not even sure if it’s all cleaned up yet, two weeks later.
A couple of Pucusana throwbacks.. Yes, there is a street underneath that water.
Good thing those light posts are there to show us where the street is supposed to be…
Now, things are getting even crazier. Yesterday, the Chilca River overflowed, flooded parts of Chilca, and ran over the Pan-American! That’s the biggest highway here, and it’s more than just a Peruvian highway. It’s so long that it runs from Canada, through the USA, Mexico, and Central America, to South America where it runs mostly down the western coast to Chile and has a branch that runs into Argentina. There’s an impassable gap between Central and South America, but it’s still an amazing roadway. The point is, this isn’t just some little, 4 lane road. It’s a big deal! And the river flowed over and blocked it! They managed to re-route traffic around the flooding, but the fact that it even happened is blowing everyone’s minds. This isn’t normal.
To make things even more ridiculous, there were MORE huaicos today, north of us. That’s moving into Lima, so now we’re not even talking about the little town of Chilca. This is the capital city! To give you an idea of the craziness of today, we had three people on staff who went up to Lima today, all to do different things. The first person to head home made it with no trouble. The second person, leaving not long after the first, got past the location of huaico #1 before it hit but got stuck behind huaico #2. The third person got completely stuck in Lima, trapped behind both huaicos.
The guy who was stuck in the middle had to just sit in traffic until they figured things out. He said things were a bit chaotic, as one would guess. There are dead animals in the water, and he has videos of people working to save pigs that got stuck. Everyone is so thrown off that I’m not even sure that anyone knows what to do to fix it all.
We’re located in the desert, and since I’ve been here, it has rained probably more than 10 times, and with actual raindrops. The first time it happened, everyone told me that it NEVER rains during the summer, and when it does, it’s more of a mist. Well, it looks like that’s not the case this year. So just think… if we’re getting all of this “never happens” rain, the highlands must be getting dumped on.
To make things even more dramatic, we haven’t been getting water over the last couple weeks. Normally, the water in the town is only turned on at very specific times. They email out a schedule of when there will be water, and we have to turn on our water pump at the scheduled times so that our water tanks get filled as much as possible before it shuts off again. Recently, the water has been off with no word about the schedule, and today we found out that it’s because the well has gotten flooded by the river waters. I don’t know how it all works exactly, but with the way that it’s currently set up, the water can’t be turned back on until the flood goes down. There’s a way to update the well so this won’t happen again, but in order to do the work, the ground has to be dry. So they’re estimating that the water won’t come back on for a few months! We can get water delivered by a water truck, but it definitely makes you think… where’s the water truck getting its water? And what if the same thing happens there that happened to our neighborhood well? Craziness.
This is my second-to-last weekend at Esperanza de Ana, and today I’m really feeling the weight of that reality. I finally feel like I’m hitting my groove here. I’m part of the team. I have a sense of purpose and play a role in making things run smoothly. I’m getting to know the local staff better, and I’m comfortable with all of them. My Spanish has improved immensely, and I want to invest the time and effort required to take it to the next level. I’m at the point where I feel at home, and now I have to find a way to pull myself away without falling apart.
This is the park we went to. It’s green! And there’s grass! Living in the desert is so depressing, and it’s a nice change to see some vibrant plant life!
I know that I’m the one who planned things this way. I know that I have no one to blame but myself, but that doesn’t change anything or make the transition any easier. I have to keep on my game though. I’ll have my week of solo traveling to sort things out in my head, but after that, it’s back to the US and off to India in the blink of an eye. This park was no joke… They even had horses! Like probably 15 horses, at least. You might be wondering what brought on these emotions. I’ve found that reality starts to hit you when people start making plans beyond the time that you’ll be around. Yesterday, we met up with a group of girls from church. The church is doing a “season of small groups” from March-May, and the groups are based on location and common interests. It’s a way to make a big community smaller and give people an actual opportunity to connect. It reminds me of college… it’s a big place with a lot of different people, and where do you even start? You finally start feeling more comfortable once you join a club or two and have a setting where you can narrow down the overwhelming group to a more manageable number of people. Is a park even really a park without some dinosaurs? Anyway, Debbie found this group of women who are doing a camping group! Debbie, Julie, Vanessa, and I went to the first meeting at a park in the south of Lima, in Villa el Salvador. There are four other girls in the group, and from first impressions, they’re really cool. We went around the circle and talked a bit about ourselves, and guess what? I spoke Spanish! And not just a few words. And mostly in past tense! When it was my turn, I tried to get them to skip me, but they all said I should just do my best. I talked VERY slowly and one sentence at a time, but they were all so nice about it and looked at me like I was saying things that made sense and not just spouting nonsense. I think I did okay!! So many trees, and so much shade! I actually felt a little chilled for possibly the first time since I’ve been here.
When they found out that I’m only around for a few more weeks, they started planning a meeting for next weekend where we’ll eat all of the Peruvian foods that I haven’t tried yet. They were all so excited, and it made me simultaneously happy and sad – happy to have met such great people, and sad that I’m only going to know them for a short time. They also started planning some weekend camping trips that sound awesome. I’m glad that Julie and Debbie have this new community and some fresh faces in their lives, but of course there’s a part of me that wishes I could stick around and see things through. I know you can’t really see in the picture, but just trust me when I say that there are monkeys on that island. Yes, real live monkeys. No, we’re not at a zoo. It’s just a park. And by “just a park” I mean “a bizarre collection of animals, dinosaur replicas, green space, and recreational areas”.
I know that I’m going to hit this point in every one of my trips, but knowing that doesn’t make it any easier when it happens. I just need to enjoy the time I have left, take advantage of every opportunity, and not allow myself to start pushing people away to try to protect myself. I did that a bit at the end of my time in Ghana… I could feel it happening and fought to stop it, but it’s hard to oppose your brain’s self-defense mechanisms.
So I’m conflicted between 1) pretending (in my head) that I’m not leaving and getting hit with an emotional shock when I do and 2) accepting that I’m leaving and fighting through the things my brain and emotions will try to do to distance myself.
Thank goodness it’s Friday because I’m ready for a break! All of the thinking I’ve done this week has taken a toll on me. I know that sounds pathetic, and it’s not like my time here has been mindless. It’s just a different kind of thinking, and one that generally leads to me sitting in a chair for extended periods of time. Yes, it’s kind of like I’m back in an office job. It’s okay though… it might be a weird adjustment back to what feels like a former life, but I’m enjoying the challenge and the brain workout.
My home away from home
Yesterday I actually did spend the entire day at my desk. I did a little more background research and checked out the building plans that they have. The plans aren’t terrible, but after looking at them, I had the feeling that they might not be completely right. That’s how, today, I found myself surveying Building A (I still have to do buildings B and C). I did the easy part this morning. I went through and checked to make sure that the outlets and light fixtures shown on the drawings were actually installed. That part was extra fun because I put my computer in tablet mode, opened the PDFs of the plans, and used my stylus to draw on them. I felt super cool, and I got to use pretty colors. That’s all that’s required to make it a good day… having an excuse to draw with pretty colors.
The brain frying part of the day started after lunch when I looked more closely at the plans and realized that they contradict themselves. The information about what is connected to what is completely wrong. Ugh. That makes this a much bigger job than anticipated, and to do it right, it would take longer than the time I have left. I’ll just have to do my best.
Debbie using three frying pans to make three pancakes at a time.
Now I’m sure you’re bored out of your mind… sorry. The problem is that this is my life right now, so I can’t just make up something more exciting. Probably the most exciting parts of the last two days were dinner yesterday and dinner today. Apparently Thursday nights are pizza and movie nights for the kids! Delia made a bunch of pizzas, and Julie and I helped hand them out and then hid in the kitchen and chowed on the leftovers. Tonight, we made pancakes and slathered them in peanut butter and Nutella. It’s been a healthy couple of days because cheese has calcium, sauce is a vegetable, I needed some carbs to get me through our run this morning, peanut butter has protein, and chocolate is good for your brain. And I skipped dessert BOTH nights!
I don’t know that I’m really cut out to be a teacher. The last three days have proven to me that I like kids a lot more when I’m not spending all day in a classroom with them. Maybe that sounds horrible, but some people are “kid people”, and some are not. More and more, I’m convinced of my place in the latter category. For any of you who have never taught before, you can just trust me on this… Preschool and elementary school teachers are cut from a very special mold.
While the fabulous teachers here have been getting back into the swing of the after-school program, I’ve been holed up in the office with Debbie… hence the lack of pictures again today. Maybe tomorrow I’ll take a picture of my desk so that you can see where I’ve been spending my days. Exciting, right?
Actually though, it has been exciting. This might be super nerdy (okay it’s definitely super nerdy), but I spent yesterday doing research to help me understand the electrical system here. I had some awesome “ah-ha!” moments where things I’ve learned a hundred times finally clicked, and I think I made some real progress with making a plan of action. Even if I can’t come up with any great recommendations that can fix all of the electrical problems here, I can at least pull together some documents that show the existing system. The current documentation is lacking a bit because the ‘design’ was mostly just done in the field by the electrician and documented later. I think it would be helpful for them to have some drawings that are up-to-date and accurate.
Today was even more fun! Debbie let me play architect a bit, and we talked over some ideas for how to update the master plan for the property. It was last done fully in 2014, and the ministry and vision for the future have changed a lot since then! We got to walk around the property, measuring things and sharing thoughts, and then spent some time sketching up our ideas.
Dinner tonight was the dreaded chicken soup… usually, chicken soup is a Tuesday night event, and Debbie and I thought we had outsmarted the system by making our own dinner last night. Instead, I guess the system outsmarted us.
When I use the word “dreaded”, that makes it sound like no one likes it, but that’s not the case. Really, just Debbie and I don’t like it. I’m not a huge soup fan anyway, but this soup has all of the parts of the chickens that don’t make the cut for lunch. That includes feet, livers, necks, etc. Yum. The rest of the soup is actually not bad… tonight there were noodles, potatoes, carrots, corn, and a few other things I’m sure. But I’m not interested in stumbling upon a chicken foot in my soup bowl. Thankfully, I think Delia knew that and didn’t give me any chicken parts. Potential crisis averted.
In summary: brainstorming + research + sketching – chicken feet = a good day!
School started today! Our schedule has completely shifted now, and it’s going to take a little getting used to – mostly because eating times have shifted and that changes everything. Here’s how the new schedule is going to go:
5:30AM – the kids wake up
6:00AM – we wake up (on running days… on other days we can sleep later)
6:15-6:45AM – run time
7AM – kids’ breakfast
7:40AM – kids depart for school
9AM – worship
11:30AM – staff meeting, Monday and Friday
2PM – I help set up for lunch
2:30-3:00PM – lunch
3:30-5:30PM – after-school program (which I’m not involved in)
5:30-7PM – overnight program kids shower, do laundry, do chores, etc.
7-7:30PM – dinner
8:30PM – kids’ bedtime
I wasn’t completely sure about what I’d be spending my last 3 weeks here doing, but don’t worry, I figured it out today. Debbie had a bunch of questions about the electrical system here and some issues that an inspector doing an unofficial inspection came up with. She wants me to study the electrical system and keep an eye out for a few things. To name a few: if anything jumps out as unsafe, if the equipment is sized appropriately to accommodate the new buildings they’re planning, and if there are any other things that should be looked at more closely. They also want me to check out the electric bills and see if they seem reasonable.
With all of those things together, I’m going to have more than enough to keep me busy for the rest of my time here. I’m happy though. I feel like I’m being of real use and have been doing things that actually take advantage of my skills and background. That’s a good feeling to have!
Debbie and I spent the whole afternoon going over what she knows and then walking the property so that I could check out the equipment for myself. Maybe this is weird, but I’m excited to get started! I’m going to learn a lot by doing this. It’s much more hands-on and involved than anything I did while working, and I’ll definitely have to do some research and studying in order to be successful (electrical friends – expect a call from me! I’m going to do a lot of phoning friends for advice haha). It’s cool that I’ll have a real chance to figure things out and be able to make recommendations that will be taken seriously. Hopefully I’ll be able to leave something useful behind!
Fun, right?
My only pictures today are of pumps and electrical panels, so enjoy this beautiful picture of a hole that 1) shouldn’t have water in it (so we’re off to a good start) and 2) I climbed into to get a closer look at a couple of septic pumps. Woo! If you want some slightly more interesting pictures, you can go back a couple posts to the one from Friday… I got someone else’s pictures from the staff team-building exercises and added them in!
I’ve been loving our little weekend adventures! For the last few Saturdays, we’ve been sleeping in, taking some free time in the morning, and then going somewhere and doing something together in the afternoon/evening. It’s the perfect combination of relaxation and adventure so you don’t feel like the whole day was wasted.
Yesterday morning was especially good for me because I finally put my foot down and forced myself to finish the planning for my trip to Machu Picchu. I had been mulling over the train times and other options for days at that point and just needed to decide. My biggest choice was whether I wanted to do an organized trek with a company or just go on my own, and I ultimately decided that it would be better on my own because I’ll be able to go at my pace and do all of the things I want without worrying about a group. After I decided that, I had to pick train times, and that’s complicated because you have to get to the train station in a town that’s about an hour away from Cuzco. I was originally thinking that I would hike Machu Picchu and take a train back that same night, but then I was worried about having to figure out transport back to Cuzco in the dark and by myself. All that worrying finally led me to the conclusion that I should just stay over two nights in the town by Machu Picchu because if the thought of doing it in a day was stressing me out that much, it probably wasn’t right.
In summary, I got my train tickets and Machu Picchu tickets and hostel booking all finished, and I feel a million times more relaxed as a result. Why didn’t I just do it earlier? That’s always the question after you procrastinate something, and somehow, I still haven’t learned my lesson. The answer is, yeah, I probably should have. Now it’s finished though, so we can put that behind us!
See the streetlights? See the street?
Our afternoon adventure was a trip to Pucusana, the same fishing village that we went to when the team was here. The car was being used, so we took public transportation there instead. There is a very similar system here to what they have in Ghana with tro tros. Here they’re called combis (cohm-bee) and the fare collector is a cobrador, rather than a “mate” like in Ghana. Conceptually though, they’re completely the same. Super packed and super cheap. We got a ride to Pucusana for 1 sol (1 USD = about 3.25 soles). It’s usually maybe a 10-15 minute ride, but we hit some traffic because there was a “huaico” (mudslide) last week, and the street is still underwater.
Yeah, there’s a street somewhere under there…
This is the second time in the last few weeks that there’s been a huaico there, and we learned that the problem started because of some bad decisions. There’s a river bed that had been dry “for a while” (I know no specifics), so recently, the land there was developed. Good idea, right? Except there’s been more rain than usual in the highlands this year, and all of that water needs to go somewhere. Instead of just flowing down the river as it would have in the past, it’s been flooding the new developments and overflowing because there’s no path for it to follow anymore. Who knows what is going to be done about it, but it seems clear that something has to change. It’s all politics though, so it could take forever.
Looking towards Pucusana from the top of the hill
Anyway, we eventually made it into town and hiked up a hill to watch the sunset over the ocean. I love the mountains here… the sunset made the sky glow orange in all directions, and the mountains behind Pucusana looked like something from another planet. It was surreal.Sunset!
Mars mountains
We stuck around for dinner and got a pizza at an Italian restaurant nearby. Weekends are a wonderful break from the rice, rice, and rice that we eat every day during the week. Out of the nine meals that we have prepared for us each week, I’d say at least 7-8 involve rice. I love carbs, and that’s a lot even for me. So yeah, the pizza was a nice change of pace! For dessert, we got picarones (pee-cah-ROH-nays), Peruvian doughnuts made from sweet potato and squash and coated in a syrup that Debbie and Julie said was made with figs (figs are a big deal around here), but who knows. I was definitely a fan of the picarones (it was like eating fried air… yes, I know that doesn’t make sense), but I could have done without the sauce. Maple syrup probably would have been really good on them, or just a sprinkling of powdered sugar. Either way, I would do it again.
My picarones
It was a short adventure but more than worth the trip. We took a combi back to the highway and then went the rest of the way on a moto. The motos are like if you chopped the back wheel off of a motorcycle, connected the front part to a carriage, and stuck a tarp over it. You end up with three-wheeled “taxis” with space for a driver on the motorcycle part and about three full-sized passengers on the bench seat behind them (though three is just the maximum number for a comfortable ride… it seems like ‘as many as you can cram inside’ is the maximum number allowed).
This isn’t a great picture, but you can see some motos on the street
Today was the usual church, grocery shopping, cleaning, and working on my to-do list. Big changes are ahead tomorrow! School starts and with it come the afterschool and overnight programs. Goodbye quiet, kid-less nights. See you next weekend.
Today was a VERY long day (also, apologies in advance that I have very few pictures from today, so I’ll attempt to be somewhat entertaining to make up for it). Since this is the last work day before the after-school and overnight programs start back up next week, we had a staff meeting/team building day. Thank goodness my Spanish has gotten a lot better since I’ve been here… I at least understood most of what was happening. The day would have felt MUCH longer had I been completely lost.
The first item on the agenda was mostly concerned with logistics. Irma first talked about how important each part of the team is and how everyone’s skills complement each other so that the team as a whole can be successful. She also went through the specifics of what people’s roles and responsibilities will be once the programs begin. I was interested in all of the details because I’m excited to see how everything comes together next week, and it will be good to have some background knowledge to help with the learning curve.
Part two of the morning of meetings was a workplace safety presentation by some “safety expert” guy. It was just about what you would expect from a workplace safety presentation… mostly boring and unrealistic. The guy had an unfortunate habit of asking questions and then calling on random people in the group to answer them, so I put most of my effort into taking fake notes and avoiding eye contact. I’m sure that my notes will serve me well in the future. Here is an excerpt so that you also can learn about workplace safety:
I’m terrified he’s going to call on me.
OMG he just made intense eye contact and said something to me, but I don’t think it required a response.
I just gave him the most wide-eyed look. Calm down, Lara!
No more eye contact.
I think I also need to write something every once in a while to make it look like I’m engaged.
Maybe I should keep some chips close and shove them into my mouth when he asks a question.
Now he’s talking about controlling your environment to minimize risks, and honestly, it’s a little crazy.
He said there’s a chance the ceiling fan will fall, so you can walk around it rather than under it to be safe 😑
He has to be kidding.
This is ridiculous.
Yeah… you get the picture. My worst nightmare came true with only about 10 minutes left in the presentation: he asked me a question. I was a disaster. Honestly, it’s a bit embarrassing in hindsight. I had a mild freak out and then started sweating even more (I was already sweating because it was at least 5000 degrees in that room) and blushing. The worst part? I knew the answer to his question, but my brain and body were too busy calculating how quickly I could escape from the room to realize it. Smooth, Lara.
Thankfully, he left after the presentation, and I never have to see him again. Everyone else… well, I do have to see them, but they’ve mostly accepted that I can understand them but am mostly a mute except in special circumstances when I awe them with my mastery of the language by saying things like, “Good morning” and “do you know where the extra AA batteries are?”
Crushing the water aerobics game
Tony and Jim wrapped up the morning by talking a bit about the vision and mission of the ministry, and then we were off to the pool for lunch and team building! Through this activity planning process, I’ve realized that I have some serious anxiety when it comes to planning events (this is unrelated to my horrible decision making skills that I talked about yesterday). When I’m responsible for something, I worry that it’s going to go horribly and that everyone is going to have a miserable time and blame me. It’s not the blaming me part that bothers me. It’s the everyone having a miserable time because of me part. I feel like it’s my responsibility to make sure everyone is okay and enjoying themselves. Yes, I know it’s over-the-top and ridiculous, but regardless, that’s the way I am. Something to work on! Anyway, that was how I felt about the team building activities. Yes, Tony had a hand in the planning, but I’m the one that came up with all of the potential ideas. She just picked from those.
We started off with some water aerobics moves to get everyone comfortable, and people slowly moved from being latched onto the wall to being about 2 inches away, so that’s getting counted as a success.
Next, we attempted to make a whirlpool, but everyone was moving too slowly and bumping into each other and failing, to an impressive degree, to stay on path. You know what though? Everyone was also laughing the entire time, so we can check that off as a team building success.
Our small group was pretty amazing at human knot detangling
The third activity was the human knot… in the pool. For those of you who haven’t done it, your group gets into a circle, and everyone crosses their arms and grabs hands with two different people from across the circle. Then, you attempt to untangle yourselves, a process that always includes some acrobatics and close-proximity awkwardness with your teammates. That also went well! It was funny doing it in the pool, and after doing it successfully in small groups, we combined into one big group that got hopelessly tangled. Again though… bonding, communication, and teamwork were the goals, not successful untangling. I get to be the success judge today, so yeah, activity three also gets a gold star. Our big group, on the other hand, was probably just way too many people. It was still fun though!
Finally, we split into two groups and each made a synchronized swimming routine. My group was beyond dysfunctional… I partly blame my language barrier, but I think we would have been a mess either way. We mostly just moved around, unsynchronized, during our “routine” and laughed because no one knew what to do. The other group managed to pull something together that was quite nice.
Afterwards, we had free time to play around and hang out before heading home. It was a full day, but I am so happy with how everything went and how comfortable everyone seemed in the pool by the time we were finished. Even if they didn’t actually feel comfortable, they all embraced the spirit of team building and pushed themselves. Solid efforts from everyone!
It’s been mentally exhausting couple of days… Yesterday morning, as predicted, I finished the library cataloging job! It’s exciting that I actually estimated my finish time correctly because estimation is definitely not one of my strengths. (For example, I once estimated that there were 200 people at a concert where there were a few thousand. Another time, I estimated the population of our village in Ghana at 1000 people which, in hindsight, is ridiculously low because there are probably at least that many kids in the schools. Oops.) Anyway, for once I was right and with a little time to spare. I finished all of the books about 20 minutes before lunch. Perfect!
Isn’t it beautiful? I put those colored stickers on the spines. Vanessa did most of the pink, blue, and light orange books in the bottom left part of the bookcase, but the rest was all me!
The rest of the day was spent attempting and failing to make plans for my last week in Peru when I’m going to Cuzco and visiting Machu Picchu. I usually plan vacations with my friend Sarah, and we’re a perfect team because I gather a bunch of information, get overwhelmed, and am paralyzed. She steps in, combines her research with mine, and makes decisions. Then, I come back and work out the details. We’re a well-oiled machine. In summary, I can’t make choices because there are too many options. I spent probably 5 hours researching the same thing over and over again and getting nowhere because I have the information I need, but I want someone to just tell me what is best. I feel like this is such a classic girl problem… can’t make decisions. For me though, it’s mostly just in the area of vacation planning. So yeah, got nowhere on the trip details. I’m giving myself a deadline of this weekend to book my tickets (I do, at least, have my plane tickets already, so that’s something).
My big planning attempt was in response to a mild freak out I had when I realized that it’s March, and I’m only 3 weeks away from leaving Esperanza de Ana. How did time go so quickly?? Part of me is trying to ignore reality, and another part is trying to force myself to acknowledge it because it’s best to be mentally prepared. I can tell already that I’m going to have a much harder time leaving here than Ghana. There, yes I was leaving friends, but with my volunteer friends, I knew that soon enough, they were leaving too. Here, I will leave, and life will go on with all of the same people but without me. For some reason, that makes it harder to accept. I don’t know if that makes any sense… My head is all over the place about this.
Anyway, I’m apparently in a rambling mood today. Sorry for all of the mixed-up thoughts, but that’s where I am right now. No need to worry… I’ll work everything out soon enough.
I spent today helping Tony plan a staff activity for tomorrow. We’re going back to the pool where we took the kids that one time during summer school, and she asked me for help coming up with team building activities to do in the water. It should be interesting considering the broad spectrum of the staff’s experience and comfort level with water. We’re starting out with some water aerobics to get everyone moving and used to the pool, so I spent a few hours today watching videos of water aerobics workouts, learning some moves, and putting together a couple of routines. I think I’ve found my new calling, but we’ll find out for sure tomorrow.
