End of summer

The dip. I was looking back and at about this time last year I had a similar dip feeling. Summer is really over and I can feel winter getting closer. I bought my wood last week- this time all at once so that I don't have to buy more in the middle of the winter. Today it is rainy and not quite cold, but you can tell that the colder weather is coming. A perfect day to snuggle into bed with a good book. I've been searching for the reason for my current dip- I'm not unhappy here by any means. Work things are generally good, I'm getting busy again with the start of school. We had a really successful summer camp at the beginning of Sept. and I had a really successful workshop with my staff about time management and strategic planning. I've started English lessons with a few people in my office. The radio station is very close to being registered and start looking for funding. We had more than 20 kids come to our last Outdoor Ambassadors meeting and are hoping to go camping next week. With one of the girls from my MUN team, I am starting a girls leadership club for the girls that live in the school dormitories. I'm busy. And yet I'm feeling melancholy and homesick. I understand it to be more of an abstract sort of melancholy, rather than missing anything specific. I think part of it is the fact that the end of my service now is closer than the beginning- sort of a theoretical reality that I will be going home sooner rather than later, so I feel homesick because I will be there sometime soon (and by soon I mean within the next year or so) but I'm not there now. Ok, I don't know if that really makes much sense, but anyway . . .

Small bits

I lost my CNN. I have cable TV from my landlord and for some reason or another every so often some of the channels change. First I lost Digiplus, a channel that showed mostly American tv shows and Spanish/Portuguese/Italian soap operas. That was sad, but the real blow came when last week CNN World became a German channel that has infomercials during the day and poker tournaments at night. I still have one movie channel showing mostly bad action (Jean Claude van Dam, Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan etc.) but occasionally gems like all three Terminators and the original Superman movies. This is a real blow because it comes at the same time that we are also loosing our Newsweek service. For the past 25 years or so, Newsweek has provided free weekly copies to all PCVs. They have decided that the expense of this service is too great and that most volunteers now have access to other sources of news (like the internet). That’s all well and good, but when I am working with dial-up and have to do a lot of other things on line it is often hard to sift through news (and it takes forever to load and my internet is expensive). Should I write a letter to my congressman?

I’ve always loved the spring. Here, the spring seemed to pass by too quickly with rainy days and then all of a sudden it was June 1st and hot. Usually I like the summer- in Denver the summer is hot, but with beautiful cooling thunderstorms in the afternoons. Here, it was just hot. I’m thinking that I will like the fall here. Today, when I woke up it was pleasantly foggy. I’m looking forward to getting my wood stove running and snuggling with a hot cup of tea and a good book. I’m a little worried about winter . . . nothing seems to be insulated for the snows that they tell me will come.

The Georgians are coming. You may have seen in coverage of the conflict in the Republic of Georgia that all of the Peace Corps Volunteers stationed there were evacuated. I think that many of them will return to the US and a few of them may try to return to Georgia to help with relief, but some of them are choosing to be reassigned. Albania has offered to take in 12 volunteers. They are scheduled to arrive next week. I’m not sure what I would do in their situation- they were almost done with training and learning one obscure language (Georgian is in fact even more obscure than Albanian- it isn’t even the same language family as we are) and now they have to go through weeks more training in a new obscure language and get used to a new strange culture, all after having been through what I imagine was a very scary experience. I wish them luck and want them to know that when they arrive, the volunteers and staff here will do whatever we can to the transition smooth. Welcome to Albania!

I went out walking

Yesterday I took a walk. Walking is not something that I do very much anymore. When I was growing up, I walked all the time. At least to and from school every day from 3rd to 8th grade. Also to the library and the rec center. I very rarely had a ride anywhere and I imagine that I walked at least 3 miles every day for most of my childhood. In college I walked a lot as well. Back and forth across campus, sometimes 3 or 4 times in a day. It just wasn't worth it to drive, mostly because if I had a parking spot, I didn't want to move my car. Since I've been done with school I have noticed a serious decrease in the amount of walking I do. There is no reason to walk- it takes longer and most of the places that I go to now are not within reasonable walking distance.

I've never been a person that does anything- walking, running, driving- just to do it. I like to have a destination. The idea of "let's just go for a drive" is completeley foriegn to me. Why would I want to do that? I want to GO SOMEWHERE. But yesterday, I felt the need to walk. I have been feeling rather lethargic lately, spending most of my free time locked away in my room watching TV, movies and playing mindless games on my computer. I don't actually like myself like this, I feel like I am antisocial and boring and bored. So I decided to walk.

I had a book to pick up from the library and since I don't like walking aimlessly, this seemed like a good destination. I have walked this route before- the approxomately one mile to the Decker Branch of the Denver Public Library- but it has been years, choosing lately to make the trip by car, usually on my way home from somewhere.

Walking through the neighborhood that I spent my childhood walking through brought me back in time. I passed the Presbertirain Church that we had Girl Scout meetings in. There used to be a playground next to it, now there is a community garden full of flowers and ripe squash. I pass by houses that used to be occupied by my friends. I don't know the people that live there now. The nieghborhood is beautiful. Unlike many of the other neighborhoods nearby, there are not too many scrape off McMansions or unsightly add-ons. Most of the neighborhood is still well kept Victorians and cute bungaloos. The weather is perfect for walking. Sunny, but not too hot. Most of the trees are just starting to change color and the yellows and oranges are spectacular.

I think I'm going to try walking more. I'll start with going for destinations and see how that goes. I may even learn to walk just to walk.