Mid Service, Puchica.

If feels like just yesterday I was filling out stacks of medical paperwork, rushing around during finals of my last term of college getting to get all my appointments done before I lost my insurance...

Now I'm in San Salvador this week for my Mid-service medical check up, and next week will end with a mid-service site visit from my jefa Clelia.

I am so glad to feel, even (or especially) after a year, that I am still sure about why I chose to apply to Peace Corps, and I am still happy that I found myself in a country like El Salvador, the little thumb of Central America.

I can't imagine being here, and hating everything about the country, the culture, the lifestyle. If my outlook was permanently hazed and darkened by resentment, frustration and anxiety, I would be on the next flight back home. Period.

My experience has been unique, with plenty of bumps in the road and challenges along el camino. However, I don't live in fear, nor do I pretend to be a different version of myself, and I know that, while I may not have built a casa communal and my projects are a little low-key, I have done a pretty good job for a volunteer in a challenging first time site. So far.

My rough days are different now and are usually the result of restlessness, boredom and an impossible wish that the only hard part about a project was starting.

Here's to the next year!

"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter
and those who matter don't mind." ~Dr. Seuss