another slightly nostalgic entry about Guinea

It was a year ago today that I said my tearful goodbyes at the airport and flew to my Peace Corps Guinea staging in Philadelphia. (See entry for June 5, 2009) I would have never imagined what was to come. (See subsequent entries on evacuation, etc..)

Life is funny and unpredictable. I would have never thought that a year later I'd be back in Phoenix, waiting to embark on a new assignment in Nicaragua (leaving in 56 days!) I am filled with awe and gratitude for all of the little twists and turns that have steered me to where I am today, and I am open to the changes that the future will bring.

I am grateful for my brief experience with Peace Corps Guinea, and for all of the wonderful people I met there. (G-18, I love you!) I am grateful for learning how to bucket bathe, teach math in French, greet people in Fulani, fetch water from a well, and hand wash clothes. Not to mention having learned to integrate myself into a culture that is vastly different from my own.

I am grateful also for the time I've spent back at home after the evacuation. I have made new friends and done wonderful things in the past nine months, and I've had the opportunity to spend more time with friends and family.

I have learned so much in the past year-- much more that I could have imagined-- about myself and the world. I have grown and blossomed in too many ways to count.

Let's see where I'll be a year from now! If all goes as planned, I'll be in Nicaragua, using my summer vacation to work on English curriculum for my students. But you never know...