I'm a bit late in the day because it's been a busy one, but I'm officially six weeks out from my departure date! It has been a hard week for me, realizing that I'm actually going to be leaving my friends and family... Man I'm leaving everything I've ever known. I've never been out of the country even, so what am I really getting myself into? This week I have felt a switch from "I'm just so excited to be taking this huge leap into my Peace Corps life!!" to "Holy crap I'm leaving everything behind." I don't know why, but six weeks just feels so much more real, so much more terrifying, than seven did.
But this post isn't all about doubting myself! I'm back at camp for the week, making a bit of money because we all need a bit. I've only been back for a few hours, but it brings back how unprepared I was for "roughing it" at the beginning of the summer. I was absolutely taken aback by the mouse poop on the floor, appalled at the state of the bathrooms (with running water and electricity, nonetheless). Now that I'm so close to departure and have learned so much more about what day-to-day life is like in Uganda, I'm constantly comparing the two.
Story time: When I first got to camp at the beginning of summer, I was in a cabin with a mouse problem. I was kept up several nights of that first week just listening to the scuttling feet, afraid of something that can only hurt me if either it is sick and bites me or I ingest some of its poop, neither of which sound appealing. I even had some granola bars eaten out of my backpack, a thought that still grosses me out to this day. Through reading blogs of current and recently returned PCVs, as well as being friends with many of the current ones on Facebook, I know that cockroaches are common in Uganda, and this fact was brought swiftly to my memory when recollecting the mouse incident from my first week. I'm not sure I won't be kept awake in terror of the small things, but at least camp has taught me that I won't die from something small uninvitedly sharing my living space.
I also won't die from the gunk in the sink right now from the cabin not being lived in for the last who knows how long, even if it is gross and I don't want to touch it. Neither will I, nor have I as of yet, get bedbugs from sleeping in a bed that's not my own or sleep under a mosquito net. I could go on and on about how much more developed even camp life is compared to what I'm expecting in Uganda, but I think it's a moot point, especially considering I don't have firsthand experience.
But if camp taught me one thing the whole summer, it taught me that just because something is gross or uncomfortable does not mean that it's not worth your time. Sometimes you make the biggest impact in those places, impacting the ones whose normal it is.
But I'm still going to keep everything off the floor while I'm here....
But this post isn't all about doubting myself! I'm back at camp for the week, making a bit of money because we all need a bit. I've only been back for a few hours, but it brings back how unprepared I was for "roughing it" at the beginning of the summer. I was absolutely taken aback by the mouse poop on the floor, appalled at the state of the bathrooms (with running water and electricity, nonetheless). Now that I'm so close to departure and have learned so much more about what day-to-day life is like in Uganda, I'm constantly comparing the two.
Story time: When I first got to camp at the beginning of summer, I was in a cabin with a mouse problem. I was kept up several nights of that first week just listening to the scuttling feet, afraid of something that can only hurt me if either it is sick and bites me or I ingest some of its poop, neither of which sound appealing. I even had some granola bars eaten out of my backpack, a thought that still grosses me out to this day. Through reading blogs of current and recently returned PCVs, as well as being friends with many of the current ones on Facebook, I know that cockroaches are common in Uganda, and this fact was brought swiftly to my memory when recollecting the mouse incident from my first week. I'm not sure I won't be kept awake in terror of the small things, but at least camp has taught me that I won't die from something small uninvitedly sharing my living space.
I also won't die from the gunk in the sink right now from the cabin not being lived in for the last who knows how long, even if it is gross and I don't want to touch it. Neither will I, nor have I as of yet, get bedbugs from sleeping in a bed that's not my own or sleep under a mosquito net. I could go on and on about how much more developed even camp life is compared to what I'm expecting in Uganda, but I think it's a moot point, especially considering I don't have firsthand experience.
But if camp taught me one thing the whole summer, it taught me that just because something is gross or uncomfortable does not mean that it's not worth your time. Sometimes you make the biggest impact in those places, impacting the ones whose normal it is.
But I'm still going to keep everything off the floor while I'm here....
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