The Final Countdown

Although some (or perhaps many) of you may not be able to appreciate the goodness of what were the 80s (minus the hair- seriously, WTF), it is possibly an undeniable fact that some of the best one-hit-wonders came from the decade that, in hindsight, should have had the most fashion police on force.

I am now in the final stages of my time as a PCV. With less than six months to go (not including the All-Volunteer Conference, 4th of July party and three week Honduran / Nicaraguan holiday in July, which will leave me with just the last few days of July left of actual project work), I feel the clock ticking. With just the last bit of May left, a few days of work in July and about half of October, realistically this leaves me with just over three months left to get things accomplished (that is, June, August and September).

Maybe now is a bit of a premature time to reflect on some of the challenges I have had, but there was one point of my service where I seriously considered ET-ing (early terminating), but words cannot express how glad I am that I made the decision to tough it out.

January 2009. It was my third month in site and I had just found out that my NGO's three-year funding had ended. The best part? They didn't start the application process for the next three years of funding until - wait for it - January. Actually, this is the best part: as someone new to the artisan project, the director of my NGO wanted and expected me to write the proposal for the next three years of funding for the artisans. What the...?

I barely knew anything about the groups, let alone the project, and to make matters worse, the head artisan, my wonderful counterpart Isa, was not hired for the this process because at the time she was unable to use a computer, which is why I was insensibly assigned to a job that wasn't really supposed to be my responsibility.

What really put the icing on my frustration was that for almost the entire month of January I had no water in my house- neither did the rest of town. So leave it to Murphy's Law- things always get worse before they get better- and worse they got: during this time I got what was one of the worst bouts of food-poisoning I had ever gotten during my service (but I guess there's still time for worse)- simultaneous explosive diarrhea and projectile vomiting with no flushing ability that lasted for three days. And then rocking up to the Peace Corps office after an eight hour bus ride and not having showered for over a week (not even wet wipes).

So this what they were talking about when roughing it. Good times.

I kept on thinking to myself, "Barbara, this is the real test- get through this, and you can get through anything."

Well, everything sure got through me all right, and I would like to believe that I have gotten through most, if not all, of the challenges I have been put through the past nineteen months- be that on professional or personal levels, both have pushed me to have a more positive outlook on life. If you can't change a situation, you must change your attitude. No easy feat, but there must always be an alternative outlook.

My last few months here will certainly be filled with challenges (save my holiday- woohoo!)-trying to leave my projects here as completed as possible and figuring out my post-PC life (yikes).

While it would be a complete lie to say I am not excited of what lies beyond in the future, it would also be untrue to say I am not sad to know that my time left here is limited... two years really isn't that long.

Realizing my service is slowly coming to an end, I have found myself trying to take advantage of things I had previously taken for granted- such as hanging out and playing more with the kids on my street, taking more time to chat with the many vendors in the market, and I have found myself becoming increasingly patient as my ladies chat (read: gossip) away in Mam in the artisan store as I wait for one of them to translate for me so I can give them my own two cents, ;-) or just being stopped in the street to say a quick buenos días or buenas tardes by one of my 120 ladies who happen to be in town on any given day, asking when I am going to visit them in their community next.

Heading back to the states will be a challenge in itself- I haven't lived there since December 2007, and while I am entirely sure I will not be returning to Buffalo for the long-term, I am still uncertain as to whether or not I will move somewhere else within the country.

The other option? Take advantage of my dual US - Hungarian (EU) citizenship and search for an opportunity within any of the European Union member states. Since I am fortunate to have access to such, I may as well explore my options on both continents.

So that is exactly what I plan on doing: keep my options open. I have learnt that you can plan things to the T, but sometimes it's better to just take the punches as they come and be spontaneous.

Here's to an uncertain, but certainly exciting, future- both here in Guatemala and where ever the wind blows me to next.