Time is a funny, funny thing. take, for example, how long there is until Christmas. Today is 16 August 2017. According to Google, there 131 days until Christmas. That means there are just over four and a half months left for all of the usual preparations such as gift buying, travel plans making, menu preparing, etc.
131 days, at least to me, seems like an awful long time. It's more than a third of the year. I have to wake up, go to sleep, and do my normal things up to 131 times before the most wonderful time of the year arrives. When I think about how many months are left until Christmas, though, I almost feel sad. It feels like I was just home for Christmas a few weeks ago, and yet, eight months have passed since I arrived (actually, eight months ago today), and over seven have passed since I returned to Uganda. Four and a half months until Christmas seems like ample time to prepare, although still a bit far off. I know that I can save money in the long run by starting my Christmas shopping soon and that doing so will allow me to focus on more important things later.
Then, I think about how many weeks are left. 18 weeks. At first, this count doesn't seem to mean much. After all, we usually count down in either months or days to Christmas (depending on how enthusiastic you are about the season). Suddenly, I realized.... There is only one week left in Term Two, three weeks of break, my COS conference during the first week of Term Three, six weeks of classes (And I have to find time to do some workshops!), four weeks of exams (two for each year), one week of marking, and then only two weeks until Christmas! How crazy is that? See, when I break things down by week, I realize that while there are 131 days, four and a half months left until Christmas, I have an awful lot to do in the next 18 weeks. I also realize that I only have 15 weeks left with my students - really only 10 when you count the time that I'll be gone.
When I joined Peace Corps, I heard all about how funny time is. One of my trainers passed on this wisdom: "The days feel long but the weeks fly by." Every Friday this rings true: "How did I make it through another week so quickly when I was sure on Wednesday that it would never end?" I'm not so sure that my musings have a point to them other than to echo others about how important it is to lie in the moment. Because in reality, those 18 weeks until Christmas will absolutely fly by.
