Holidaze

December, month full of birthdays, pretty lights, cookies, and lots of classic Christmas movies!

Don't get me wrong, I'm still counting down days, but I'm glad I'm in the states for one more Christmas. 

Soon enough I'll be packing my bags for Fiji! I try to squeeze this little tidbit in to at least one conversation a day. What can I say? I'm excited, and the words "Fiji," "Peace Corps," and "Mozambique"have simply become a part of my speech pattern.

Here's some catch-up of recent happenings:

December 11th, was my boyfriend's birthday over in Fiji! I sent this package a few weeks ago, and it has yet to arrive. I hope he has as much fun opening it as I did wrapping it!

To whittle away time, I've taken up knitting again!

And I ran my second ever half-marathon! Coming in at a time of 2 hours and 23 minutes! 20 minutes faster than my last one!

I hope to do another in March!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

This time next year I'll be Christmasing' in Africa!

Give Thanks

Its easy for me to be so focused on the exciting future I have ahead of me that I sometimes overlook the simple things in my day to day life. I am thankful, not only on Thanksgiving, but for all the things that make my life wonderful each and every day.

-my wonderful boyfriend (#1 on my list!)

-my long awaited invitation to Mozambique

-skype (in all its glory, dropped calls and all)

-a warm bed (and how extra comfortable it feels in the early morning)

-amazing and supportive friends

-loving family (even when they get on my nerves)

-my health, and the health of those I love

-a job (even if it is boring)

-arizona sunsets

-the beauty of the internet which makes learning Portuguese for free and long-distance connections so easy

-smiles and laughter (especially that caused by said friends and family)

-cozy socks 

-and tea

Happy Thanksgiving

Fiji Holiday

My Fiji tickets are booked! Yay!!!!!

The bright side of not leaving till May: I get plenty of time to visit Fiji!

{photo creds: Max}

Coastin'

Finally, there are less than 200 days till I depart for Mozambique! I cannot wait until that number drops to double digits (by single digits I will be dying of excitement). 

I'm finally starting to be comfortable again with everyday life. In the last two and a half months I moved back home, started a new (and boring, oh so boring) job, said a tear-filled "see ya in 3 years" to my boyfriend, and basically lived each day just so I could cross it off my calendar. I felt like I had taken a huge step backwards in life. This wasn't how I expected my Peace Corps journey to be. I originally expected to have left by now (a year after I applied). My delayed departure delayed my life.  I've always been ambitious, but I feel like I'm missing out on exciting things and accomplishments by moving home to save money. Its hard to get over this feeling of just waiting, the feeling that my life won't begin till my departure in May.

Maybe its the holidays speaking, but days are becoming more enjoyable. I'm focusing more on getting the most out of this extra time I have with family and friends. Weeks are moving faster, weekends especially. There are dates I'm looking forward to besides just May 28th. I feel like I'm learning to enjoy the mundane, because life is made up of these boring times too.

A few weeks ago, when the boyfriend was sent to his new site, I went through a sort of epiphany. His site was very rural; only getting cell service after a 15 minute walk up a hill. Long story short, his phone ran out of minutes and he had no way of contacting anyone. He was completely disconnected from everyone outside of his small village. The following night he had a deathly asthma attack. He seriously considered giving up then and there and coming home. For the time being he has been in limbo at a hotel in Suva until Peace Corps can find him a new site closer to a hospital, just in case.

During this time we both reconsidered our desire to do the Peace Corps (especially doing it separately). As much as I'd like to say Peace Corps is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I wouldn't give it up for anything, I can't. Despite how long and hard I have worked to get to this point, I am not on my own anymore. I have someone whose life is intertwined with mine.

That was a rocky week. We are coasting now, moved along by the ability to skype every night while he's in the city. I don't quite know how we got up from that low, but I think we're both set and more committed now to our own peace corps' journeys. We made it through the first rough patch; the first real batch of homesickness, and came out better and stronger. Ups and downs are part of Peace Corps' life, but they are a part of any life and learning to ride out these waves will be invaluable once I, too, am living the Peace Corps roller coaster.

Greatest Invention Ever!

Let there be Skype!

Fijian Update

Some big news from my soon-to-be-official Peace Corps volunteer in Fiji....

His final site is Namarai Bay!

This is where he will be living and working for the next two years.

They are building him a traditional Fijian house called a "Bure." It is essentially, a structure of pounded bamboo and local grasses. He'll have no electricity, but will be getting solar panels to charge lights and his computer. 

Its a pretty remote place and unfortunately he's been told that the cell service there is questionable. He will either get service, or he won't, but until he actually gets there we won't know. We're trying not to worry about it till we see how the situation is.

He is currently spending his last night with his host family before heading out for his last week of training in Suva (one of the bigger towns/cities). He will get hot showers and quality American time with other volunteers before he's dropped off in Namarai Bay and on his own. By Friday, he will be officially sworn in and no longer a trainee.

Meanwhile

Time. 

I'm frustrated with it. Its strange how I've spend so much of my life wishing for more hours in a day to get things done and suddenly wishing for less. I feel guilty for wanting time to speed by. But really, I am leaving for the PEACE CORPS in 217 days. I hit submit on my application over a year ago. I am past the point of impatience for my departure date to come already.

I'm normally such a go-getter, a live-in-the-moment type of person, but for the time being, I'm kinda stuck in limbo. My future is much more exciting than my day to day life and its hard to focus on the now. I continually daydream about visiting Max or Mozambique. My American life pales in comparison.

BUT there's not much I can do about Time. Its just kinda there and continual ticks at its constant steady pace. In the mean time I plan to keep busy (my not so secret ploy to make time fly).

Between now and May I hope to:

-run a half-marathon in December (maybe a full in April)

-study for and take the GRE

-work work work

-learn Portuguese

-and fill my remaining hours with volunteering, friends, and family

Time doesn't make the long-distance stuff any easier either. I try to always be honest about my feelings in this blog because I know other volunteers or future volunteers may be searching for long-distance advice as well. I try to stay positive (despite all my complaining in this blog, I'm really quite a glass-half full person), but at times its tough and when I'm feeling really down, writing it out helps.

My life is continuous ups and downs now. I'll be fine one day, but then find out that Max can't call tonight, or realize that I still have so many months till I leave. It's just hard; really hard to be separated from the person I love most in the world. I want to share and hear every detail of his day and my day, but sometimes he only has a few minutes to talk which is rough. Enough to say a quick "I love you" or "Good night". He is busy as a trainee; his schedule is packed and with the time differences and lots of rain in Fiji, finding time for him to call has been lacking the past few days. I miss him, a lot. The worst part is that this isn't exactly going to get easier. I said that I was training for a half-marathon, will long-distance relationships are like a marathon as well. Its hard at the beginning we're only 1.75 months down the 27 month total and that's not including the additional separation with my service. I don't see us quitting, but I'm already struggling, not with keeping up the relationship, but with general feelings of sadness and longing for him and we've barely begun.

Right now I am cheering on the sidelines while Max has his 8 month head start. I just really really miss him and its tough knowing we'll still be separated for 2+ years.