I spent yet another 4th of July holiday abroad; at least I remembered this year, that’s more than last year. How could I forget this year?
I am surrounded by Americans! In celebration, we got some ground beef and made burgers. Siobhan made mine but she was impatient, so ours weren’t cooked all the way. Luckily, I am not sick, yet.
The Peace Corps experience is a roller-coaster ride, and everyone goes through crazy mood swings. Yesterday was a perfect example of that. I was incredibly happy at the party. Great conversations took place and I felt a true sense of community. I even found great amusement when the power went out while we were sitting at Chez Pierre’s and 20 of us were sitting at a “bar” with candle/flashlight.
Somehow, the mood took a drastic deep as I was walking home in the dark with friends. When I got home, I sat in darkness and silence, never felt so alone. When the power came back, there was a giant cockroach crawling around my room. Luckily, I had bought some Raid when I was at the supermarket and I fought with that sucker for a
while and killed it. For no apparent reason, my irritation exacerbated. That little stinker aggravated me far more than the dead mouse I found on my desk a few mornings ago. For the first time since arrival, I dread the
A friend told me that in his emails home, he always ends them by
saying, “if you think you know, you don’t know.” The stories I tell here are words on a page. The incidents are a minute part of this experience. Words cannot accurately capture the feelings, the smell, the scenery, and the night sky. If I get nothing else out of this experience, at least now, I know.
