Once in a lifetime

"And you may ask yourself, Well, how did I get here?"

In 7th grade, my class went on a backpacking trip. While the experience was memorable in many ways, the one that stands out now is that it introduced me to the band The Talking Heads. During that 7 hour car ride to Sierra Canyon, my car must have listened to "Psychokiller" at least 30 times. Psychokiller remains a favorite, but when exploring the disography of the Talking Heads, "Once in a lifetime" always stuck a chord in me emotionally.

"And you may tell yourself, This is not my beautiful house"

I moved into my new house on Friday, the day after swear in. My house is not particularly beautiful. Or large. Truthfully, I've lived in dorm rooms larger than it. But it's mine. I spent most of yesterday and today putting together a kitchen. Tonight, I'll be cooking my first meal.

The house is part of a large family compound, the mashiani family. There are eleven family members who live there, a grandmother and a grandfather, three sisters and six children. Have definitely not gotten everyone's names down yet. But they are all incredibly nice and welcoming, while still letting me have my independence.

I met my last supervisor (I apparently have 3, its going to be a bit confusing) and I start work tomorrow. By work, I'm not exactly sure. I plan to do what I did during site visit, which is to follow one of the nurses around. According to Peace Corps, I'm not supposed to do any major work for the first three months, just integrate and study the community. We'll see how it goes.

Bundu is still lovely. It's a tiny village, population of maybe 1000, surrounded by beautiful rolling hills. Sometimes the views take my breath away. There is a strong community here, it seems like everyone knows each other and says hi.The community seems very receptive to me. Even more than receptive, I keep on getting asked about projects people want help on, groups people want to start. It's a bit overwhelming, but very fun. I'm a replacement volunteer, the last volunteer just left and I was lucky enough to meet her and talk to her about Bundu.

"And you may tell yourself, this is not my beautiful wife"

On Thursday and Friday, I had to say goodbye to the 32 other members of SA 25. Because of geographic distance and peace wcorps regulations, the likelihood that I will see any members of the group for the first three months is slim.
Its going to be pretty hard, as I have gotten close with many volunteers. But hanging out with american friends is not why I joined peace corps. Ill just become best friends with my blackberry and think back on good PST memories, knowing that there will be many more to come in the next two years.

These past two months have been incredible. Not without lows, but on the whole, an amazing experience. I have to pinch myself at least once a day, because sometimes the fact that I AM a peace corps volunteer, this is my real life. It seems very surreal at times.

But sometimes as "once in a lifetime" says, this really is my life. And I'm just going to enjoy it