Random thoughts

I hate writing "post titles" more and more as time goes on...  it may be a contributing factor to my less-than-impressive 75 posts during my two years here. Really?! Only 75??? Why does it feel like so much more? Maybe because it is more than I have written about myself and my daily thoughts, feelings, activities since that super-introspective phase I went through in high school.  I was really into the whole 'teenage angst' thing back then and felt that I was best expressed by moping a lot, dying my hair weird colors and wearing a lot of black, torn, mismatched clothes.......

.... On an unrelated note, if you notice my blog turning super introspective, its probably due to the fact that I'm approaching another Huge transition in my life. Gah!  Again! I'll probably be shocked about the impending end to my PC service every time I write until it happens. Sorry. 

Anyways.  I've been busy cooking super amazing meals (chopping vegetables is like a zen thing for me. apparently.), discovering Adele (where have I been??),  running, and slowly writing my informe tecnico reviewing the last year workwise for Peace Corps. 

It was unreasonably, ridiculously cold last Tuesday. I could see my breath inside my house.  Not. OK.  So I opted to stay in and made Roasted Carrot and Cheese Gnocchi with Herbed Butter.  They were AMAZING...

Bought a ton of veggies in the market down in Xela over the weekend so I was looking for a different way to use them up. I landed on Spinach/Tuna/Bell Pepper/Black Bean "burgers". Basically a catch all patty of vegetables and tuna but turned out pretty good. Never eating a frozen veggie patty again, its pretty simple to make your own.

The first mangoes of the season are trickling into the market so I indulged (at Q3 or about .40 cents) and It Was Worth It.  Delicious.  Look, this variety you can peel like a banana, forgoing the nightmare that is peeling and slicing those big mangos you buy in the grocery store back home.

Oh, we received late Xmas presents last week-Bella was remembered by Grandma and Grandpa, and Mom and Dad. She's sporting her new collar and cuddling with her stuffed worm (?) that Grandma sent...

In other news, Guatemala's new president will take the reins on Sunday, along with the new mayors, etc all over the country.  I guess it's going to be a big deal.  Will keep everyone posted. 

Hope everyone is getting 2012 off to a great start.

xoxo's

amber

Bring it On

That was a fast - two weeks?!? I've heard Peace Corps compared to a Roller Coaster so many times...but that's because it's the perfect analogy.  And now, with 88% (24 months/27 months) completed, I feel like I'm about to drop off that big final drop, carried along as the weeks whizz by on that momentum of medical clearance, COS (close-of-service) conference, final reports, wrapping up projects, etc. and it will be over before I know it, truly, the last sprint to the finish. 

That is a lot to take in.  After all the aspiration and anticipation for years before finally getting on a plane and being dropped into a completely new and unfamiliar territory, adjusting and struggling to make headway in my assigned work, meeting new people, making new friends and family, and finally feeling comfortable in that once unfamiliar vocation and location *phew*  Now, in a blink of an eye, all of that will be...over.

How do I feel?  People around me are starting to realize that I'll be gone soon, to which they generally ask, "Y tu, estas feliz?"  or "Am I happy?" to be returning home.  The short answer-of course I am!  I can't wait to see my friends and family, drive a car, flush a toilet, drink water from the tap, turn on a damn heater when it's cold outside.... But I'm sad too.  Sad at the end of an era, to live a block from the wonderful open air market with fresh fruits and vegetables, to hang out with my host mom, to head to xela to go thrift store shopping with my peace corps friends and commiserate on the quirks of Guatemalan life, the conversations in broken english with total strangers who are so pleased to run into an American girl in the middle of the Gutaemalan campo....

I can't believe I'm about to be catapulted back into the hurried, consumeristic US culture in a couple of short months-its enough to give a girl a slight panic attack. 

But I'm not gone yet.  That's important. So I'll try to drink it all in in the short time I have remaining.  Enjoy the people and places that surround me, and try not to worry about it too much.  That feeling rising in my chest as the unknown approaches yet again is a good thing-it signals a new adventure on the horizon. 




Bring it on