Great Expectations

So I realize that it has been about three months since I last posted anything of substance. I apologize for being remiss in my communications. The past few months were extremely trying and so I generally did not know what to write home about. Since it is very difficult to explain what life is like out here, sometimes I feel like it is best not to say anything when things just are not going well. Unfortunately, that has been the case over the past months.

I do not wish to go into much detail about the problems I’ve had out here because the situation I was in is not something which I could ever accurately depict to someone unfamiliar with this country and culture. So in a gist, I was extremely dissatisfied with my working environment. I did not feel like I was being productive in Gobabis, that I was integrating into the community, or that I really had any satisfactory prospects in regards to the majority of my work.

It took me about five months to realize the damaging effect my placement in Gobabis was having on my emotional health but I’ve very happy that I finally acknowledged it. So after I accepted the deterioration of my work, I started pressuring Peace Corps staff to find me a new site. It took some time to finally convince PC that I needed to be moved. But last Monday, a Peace Corps vehicle picked me and all my things up in Gobabis and took me to Windhoek for the night. With all my things in storage, they then drove me all the way to Rundu in the Kavango region where I am now staying with an Education volunteer until a new site is found.

At present, I am not sure where my next site will be or how long it will take to find that site but I am completely confident that my next site will be much better than my first one was! So I’m very relieved to be out of Gobabis and am excited about whatever new challenges are about to come my way. I’m anxious to have a fresh start out here and really cannot wait to begin work at my new site.

I’m sure some of you may be questioning why I didn’t just come back to the States. In spite of my homesickness, I really didn’t want to return. I still believe that I can make a deeper impact here and I really want to give my service another shot. Whenever the official word comes in about my move, I will try to let you all know where I’m heading off to.

Hope all is well in the land of the freedom fries.