A Little More Insight Into My Life

After some thought, the reasons why life is harder here:

1. Here, I am an adult. There, I was a child. Here, I work. There, I spent my days studying, learning, and hanging out with other volunteers and my high school siblings & their friends.
2. Here, it is HOT and humid. There, it was warm, but fresh. Let’s be honest when you are uncomfortably hot and sweating, smaller problems seem bigger.
3. Here, I am like a movie star with NO privacy and nowhere to hide from the masses of people who want to talk to me. There, I was one of many volunteers and so masses of people didn’t hunt me down to ask for English help. (That happens here.)
4. Here, there is no tension breaker. There, I had tons of tension breakers.
For example: At the moment when I could not handle Spanish ANYMORE, my pcbff would come over and we would laugh. OR when I was feeling lonely, my brother and ALL his friends would suddenly be there dancing around the house. AND every day I looked forward to sharing coffee and a cookie with my family and neighbors, because that was their tradition. Here the family is not as much a part of the community and I miss adolescent siblings and other peace corps volunteers…so there are no tension breakers. (makes a huge difference!)

Also, it’s the little things every day that effect life:

1. To have privacy, I can’t just go home. I have to lock myself in my room, shut the curtains, and turn up the music very loudly.

a. If I leave the door open -- People come in and make themselves comfortable. OR better yet, people gather in the doorway to STARE at me.
b. If I leave the curtains open -- People sit outside my window and stare at me. (NOT KIDDING or EXAGERATING) Also, people from the community know I am home because they can see into my window and so they all stop to talk to me.
c. If I do not turn on music -- People will try to talk to me through my window or over the walls.

2. My brother happens to be in town! Just the fact that there is someone in the house my age that kind of understands what it is like to be this age and living here makes life better.

3. I come home to eat lunch. 25 people interrupt me to ask me to give their children English classes. When I am not available (because already I am very busy during the weeks), they want me to give lessons at 9pm at night or on Saturday and Sunday. While it is in my job description to work on the week-ends as this is appropriate for working with kids, it is NOT in my JOB description to work from 7am-10pm Sunday-Saturday. Then when I have to say NO, I FEEL SO GUILTY.

4. My cousin, the medical doctor, is 26 and lives here during the week! She is GREAT! And she understands how this hard for me. And she lets me vent to her! She is always happy to see me and I am always happy to see her and she is my FRIEND! So I always look forward to when she comes home from work. (Unfortunately, she spends the week-ends in the capital city.)

(the picture is of my cousin, me, my sister & my brother-in-law...one night before we went into "the city" to eat fried chicken....oh my life!)