So I am here (and who might you be?)

No, I am not your new Zum-bay teacher. Nor am I a Peace Corps Volunteer. I am officially a Peace Corps Trainee. Unofficially, I am curious, lost, far from home, open to anything that comes along, full of rice, frustrated and ecstatic to be here.

Life as a trainee is…not like a box of chocolates. I don’t know where I am going with this metaphor, which I never understood in the first place, because there are many ways of telling what you are going to get in a box of chocolates. You can a) look for the handy dandy map on the inside cover telling you which one is the vanilla cream, my personal favorite (usually a round one in the top left corner) or b) be a box-of-chocolates expert and know which shapes usually go with which candy, or c) cut the chocolate in half, or discreetly scrape some chocolate off the bottom, and look at the filling.

So after stalling for one paragraph, the metaphor has started to solidify in my head. Life as a trainee is indeed not like a box of chocolates (if you are, like me, of the belief that in a box of chocolates you can always figure out what you are going to get). We received a handy dandy map of the town we live in, but you really just have to wander around in order to learn the roads. I flip through my English-Portuguese dictionary every day, but often the most common words are the ones spoken and not printed. We have a detailed schedule of training events, but it’s better to just play it by ear. Now that I have completely confused myself by trying to compare my life to chocolate, let me give you a sample of one day:

5:15 - I may be able to achieve something I always wanted to do: start my day without depending on an alarm. The sun rises at around 5:15, and so do I (wow, “so do I” is a strange expression. I never thought about that before). I lie in bed for about 15 minutes, listening to the roosters, and the booming music from neighbors who enjoy early-morning tunes. Sometimes I go running with my host-brothers, or play frisbee with other trainees.

6:00 - take my bucket bath and sit down to a lovely breakfast of tea, a giant hunk of bread, and peanut butter.

7:30 - language class and tech training

12:00 – home for lunch

2:00 – more training

5:00 – hang out with other volunteers for a bit to practice our English, or go home and watch my host sisters cook dinner and practice my Changana (a local language that my family speaks all the time, of which I understand nothing)

8:00 – dinner

8:07 – start yawning

8:30 – write or do homework

9:00 – bedtime! It’s amazing how if you go to sleep four hours earlier, you can wake up four hours earlier.

The purpose of this blog is for us (you and me) to be able to keep in touch. Since at this rate I only use the internet about once every 47 days, I don’t know if it will serve its purpose. But, if you have any burning questions that need to be answered, such as “how do you flush a toilet with no running water?” or “how do you prepare a meal that is currently wandering around your house clucking its head off?” feel free to let me know, and I will answer here so all can see. No question will be considered stupid, unless it is, in which case I will send the answer to your personal email so you won’t be embarrassed in front of my entire fan base of 2 people.