Wednesday, September 29, 2010

a trip to the country

September 25, 2010

Today we visited our “link” training group – another group of trainees that shares a staff person with us. They live in a village about a half hour bus ride from our city. Even though they’re relatively close, the difference in environment is night and day. My house isn’t that much different from you might encounter in other Western European countries. All the members in our link group live on farms. They go outside to use the bathroom. Let me tell you, it’s no easy task squatting over a hole in the ground and trying to pee while pulling your tights the opposite way so you don’t pee on them or your shoes. I need to start doing more squats so that my quads are nice and strong should my permanent site be a village with an outhouse.

The language is still incredibly frustrating. We can’t do anything on our own – a 5 year old can function better in this country alone than I can. We bought cell phones yesterday, and it took hours to complete the whole process of finding a store, getting help, actually purchasing the products, and buying cards to load minutes onto the phones. Even with a translator. But we all have phones now and can text and call one another, so that’s made keeping in touch with other volunteers much easier.

Despite the frustrations, I think at this point overall, I’d say I’m having a positive experience. I’m still terribly homesick and want a hug from my mom and Sadie in the worst way. But my group has been a good support and we all get along really well, so that’s been a huge help. The weather has been really nice, even a little on the warm side, so that’s certainly helped me keep a positive attitude. As our trainers keep say, day by day. So I’m just taking things one day at a time and trying not to think about the entire process because that’s when I really get overwhelmed.

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