Complete PST...Check!

It's been several weeks since my last post due once again to a lack of internet. I've processed so many emotions and circumstances since then; it's really hard to determine where to begin writing. It feels so strange at only a few months in to be so disconnected from what is happening in the rest of the world and overwhelming to even try to catch up at this point. And also scary to imagine what it will feel like after two years of that disconnect.

I've now officially completed Pre-Service Training, which was definitely intense. It was hard for reasons I expected and many I did not. The language kicked my butt but mainly because I switched dialects midway through training and essentially started from scratch. I'll be living in the Androy region, which speaks the Antandroy dialect deemed one of the most difficult to understand by Peace Corps Volunteers, as well as locals. I was also the only one in my stage learning this particular dialect, which in turn gave me no one to really practice with; however, my language skills will increase greatly once I get to site and hear it on a daily basis.

I'm currently underway in the installation process staying in Fort Dauphin. Today we shopped for a few items we'll be taking to site, such as mattresses and random household items. Tomorrow we are installing another person from my stage in St. Luce and then we'll be going to Ambovombe on Wednesday.

I am already cognoscente of the many ways my perceptions of the world in which we live are going to change. I daydream at times about a variety of things I miss from the U.S. and how amazing it will be in two years to have those things again - mostly in response to the culture shock I am now beginning to recognize that I'm experiencing. I was in denial that I was experiencing it at all until fairly recently - perhaps because the word "shock" always seems so dramatic that it didn't feel entirely appropriate for this emotional state.

This experience has thus far helped me to gain immense insight about who I am as an individual and a better idea of how I fit into this great jigsaw puzzle that is our world. I am most grateful at this point for the contentment I have gained for my life back in the U.S. Up to this point I've been a change junkie always transforming various details of my life in a search for greater happiness. I'm beginning to realize how the little things that I took for granted have a greater impact upon my life than any drastic change I could ever wish to make.

There are many stories that I could share from the past couple of months but I'll have to determine how to begin. Instead I'll end here for now and share a few more pictures.

 


Pic 1: Artisan wood carving we saw on our tech trip
Pic 2: Malaria mural I helped paint in Mantasoa
Pic 3: Landscape in Fort Dauphin

Peace.