I have been thinking a lot about how I wanted to write my
first year reflection. I also figured
I’d better just start and get it over with because I know how time goes
here.
“Expectation is the root of all heartache”-William
Shakespeare
 |
| The Demerara river the separates Wizmer and Mckenzie |
Upon submitting my application to Peace Corps, I was told to
have no expectations.
Do not expect
anything about where you will end up, how you will be living, or the job you
will be doing.
Expectations lead to
disappointment and only muddle your experience.
Well that sounded easy enough.
I
am pretty open-minded, would go most places, and as long as I was working in
health I was good to go.
Unfortunately,
being open-minded and having no expectations are two different things.
I expected to serve in Guatemala and that
turned out to be my first lesson in the no expectations rule.
Having no expectations even meant that you
were not guaranteed to go anywhere, even if they said you would.
I wasn’t about to touch the hot pot twice, so
I really tried to let everything go.
I
put my faith in the process and hoped for the best.
Of course, no matter how hard you try not to
have them, expectations are always there.
I certainly had to wrangle with a few when I came here and probably
still am.
The thing about having certain
expectations in the Peace Corps is that every individual’s experience is
completely different.
I know that is one
of those cliché Peace Corps statements, but everyone is in such a unique
situation.
We all miss different things
or people from home, some cultural things might bother some more than others,
we all live in different houses with all sorts of neighbors, and of course we
all work in different places.
How we react
to everything, how we cope, is all up to each individual volunteer.
The place you might have expected to be might
have been the worst place for you.
You
never really know.
The beauty with not
expecting much is that you become an open vessel.
As you go along, you become filled with the
things around you and you begin to accept life in a new form, for better or for
worse.
If you are full to begin with, how
would you have room for anything more?
 |
| Walking around Linden |
For the past year, I have tried to live in Guyana with as
few expectations as possible, just trying to soak it all in.
Believe me; I have become saturated with so
many things. Now as I enter year two, I get to have some expectations again.
I know to arrive to meetings about 15 minutes
late so I get there “on-time.”
I know I
will see some assortment of livestock running around on my way to work.
More importantly, I have more realistic
expectations as to what I could accomplish here.
I use ‘could’ because I also recognize that I
am still in Peace Corps, I am still living in a foreign country and I know the
unexpected can happen anywhere, but for some reason, it seems to be much more
prevalent here.
Nonetheless, it is nice
to have some sort of an idea as to how things should go.
 |
| In Guyana we have sand to sled on! |
 |
| A very PCV Christmas |
I enjoyed my Christmas and New Year’s here and am surprised
I am already into February. For
Christmas, a bunch of volunteers got together in a town called Linden. We had a big BBQ, we swam in a black water
creek, went on a hike, and even attempted to sled down a big sand hill. Yes!
Linden has hills! I returned
briefly back to site where I wrapped and shared out some Christmas gifts with
my neighbors. It was pretty fun because
I don’t think they really wrap gifts here so all the kids took their time to
neatly unwrap the paper. I remember when
I was little I just tore into my presents and could care less about the
paper.
 |
| My neighbors and I celebrating Christmas |
The next weekend I went into town and rang in the New Year
with more volunteers.
It was really nice
to get together and we danced most of the way through Old Year’s night to New
Year’s Day.
New Year’s is not as big of
a deal here as in the U.S. so we had the place we went to pretty much all to
ourselves.
They did however, have a ball
drop!
Although they announced “30
seconds until the New Year!” and then a bit later, “Sorry we are having
technical difficulties with the ball drop, but its 2013!!”
So we missed the final countdown but that is
just kind of how it is here.
Work has started back, although my classes are finishing,
which presents a new challenge. Our GAD
group has also started to plan for Camp GLOW August 2013. I took an AMAZING
trip to see some fellow volunteers in a small village up near the Venezuelan
border. I think I was in the most remote
area I have ever been in (I will explain this trip in more detail just now). My friend Tara is also coming to visit in one
week so I certainly will have more stories to come.
So much has happened this past year and I’m sure 2013 will
have its own share of memorable events. I
am now armed with a few expectations for this year so I’m looking forward to
see how it all pans out.
I hope everyone is doing well and are surviving the winter! Spring will be here before you know it. :-)
Lots of Love,
KB
