Saturday, October 2, 2010

The One-Year Anniversary of the Turkmenistan Thing

Hello all! Sorry I have not been updating things here for a while. It is getting pretty hard to describe everything that has been going on over here in SA. I wanted to write a little bit about what happened last year and how I see things now a year later.

So, around this time last year I was in Philly and sent back because the Turkmen government did not want PC volunteers. Four months later I left for SA. Those days in Philly were some of the most disappointing days of my life and the subsequent four months were really strange for me. After saying all these goodbyes and closing everything up in the states and then returning only a few days later was just difficult. Then, waiting that week or so for the PC to find me another spot was really stressful because I had no idea where or when I was going to go.

Now, a year later and about 8 months into my service, I can look back upon those times and think about what that experience taught me. Sadly I think I will always be a bit cynical about everything after being disappointed so much in Philly. But I think it really did turn out for the better, as I am now in SA and doing a lot of really cool stuff. Overall, I feel that I have overcome so many difficult obstacles and disappointments to come to where I am now. I do feel that, having gone through all of that, I can really succeed at any goal I set out to accomplish.