Here I Am
Well, I meant to post here last night in order to discuss my glorious return to D.C., however, English Major waylaid me and I ended up in Larry’s Lounge for most of the night, with two more stops in Adams Morgan. Not that it was bad or anything, but I didn’t get home till like 11:30. Tonight was a cookout at Traumatize’s, so I’m hoping tomorrow, I can go buy some rice, and spend the rest of the night at home.
I’m beginning to feel a bit worried that I haven’t been doing as much prep work as I’ve needed to for Cape Verde. I’ve been emailing with my fellow soon-to-be-trainees, (as a random side note, I've already met one of them, and I think I'll be meeting two more of them before staging. I'll probably be the only person to have had the chance to meet this many of them before we ship out) and they’re going on about the lists of what they need to do, and thinking about packing and all that, and all of the research that they’ve been doing about Cape Verde and everything. So I feel super inefficient, since I don’t seem to be moving at the same pace as the rest of them. I’m just feeling overwhelmed between finishing up at the office, getting through all of my Peace Corps email, packing, seeing people, preparing, reading, watching Netflix, and so on. Of course, I’m also thinking that part of the issue is that my enthusiasm level isn’t as high as the others. This though, isn’t that bad of a thing. I’m seeing some of the people on the peacecorps2 list hyperventilating over the fact that they are leaving soon and are just so excited. I’m still trying to make it through the week in one piece!
But yeah, in general, Albuquerque was a good time. It was a winding down of everything and it marks the end of a big era in my life. I’ve been involved in the movement since my freshman year at the U -- locally and nationally. That’s like seven years. I had an actual moment of panic when I was going to the closing plenary and I realized that in a very short while, I would be basically leaving the movement for (at least) the next two years. I know I’ll be back someday, and I’m already getting curious to see what everything is going to look like when I return. But other than donating some money before I go, and reading the Humanist News Network, it’s probably better for me to just stay away. I’m sure even from half way around the globe, I could get riled up about what’s going on if I try to stay really informed.
Las Vegas...what can one say about Vegas? The two Cirque Du Soleil shows I saw were ok. I think I was more impressed by the two that I saw last year. Otherwise, I tried to recover from Albuquerque. (I think the earliest I went to bed at the conference was 3 a.m. and the latest was 5 a.m. And of course, we always had to get up around 7 or 8 in the morning. I got so very drunk a few of those nights. I have this very impressive photo of how much vodka I drank by myself one afternoon, as we were preparing conference packets. However, I'm too lazy to follow all of Blogger's instructions in order to get a photo online. So, you'll just have to take my word for it, it was a great photo).
Anyway, back to Vegas. The highlight of my time there was when I was waiting for the light and a guy came up to me and asked “what day of the week is it?” and I realized that I couldn’t for the life of me remember which day of the week it was. I had to check my watch to figure out that it was a Wednesday.
But now that all of that is out of the way, my slow panic about Peace Corps can begin!
Ah yes, and any readers coming from the British Isles will be amused to hear that when I was on the Southwest flight going to BWI, and the flight attendant asked me what I wanted to drink, I said “do you have, like, a Pepsi?” and her response was a raised eyebrow and “no, but I have, like, a Coke” on her Texan twang. Har har.
I’m beginning to feel a bit worried that I haven’t been doing as much prep work as I’ve needed to for Cape Verde. I’ve been emailing with my fellow soon-to-be-trainees, (as a random side note, I've already met one of them, and I think I'll be meeting two more of them before staging. I'll probably be the only person to have had the chance to meet this many of them before we ship out) and they’re going on about the lists of what they need to do, and thinking about packing and all that, and all of the research that they’ve been doing about Cape Verde and everything. So I feel super inefficient, since I don’t seem to be moving at the same pace as the rest of them. I’m just feeling overwhelmed between finishing up at the office, getting through all of my Peace Corps email, packing, seeing people, preparing, reading, watching Netflix, and so on. Of course, I’m also thinking that part of the issue is that my enthusiasm level isn’t as high as the others. This though, isn’t that bad of a thing. I’m seeing some of the people on the peacecorps2 list hyperventilating over the fact that they are leaving soon and are just so excited. I’m still trying to make it through the week in one piece!
But yeah, in general, Albuquerque was a good time. It was a winding down of everything and it marks the end of a big era in my life. I’ve been involved in the movement since my freshman year at the U -- locally and nationally. That’s like seven years. I had an actual moment of panic when I was going to the closing plenary and I realized that in a very short while, I would be basically leaving the movement for (at least) the next two years. I know I’ll be back someday, and I’m already getting curious to see what everything is going to look like when I return. But other than donating some money before I go, and reading the Humanist News Network, it’s probably better for me to just stay away. I’m sure even from half way around the globe, I could get riled up about what’s going on if I try to stay really informed.
Las Vegas...what can one say about Vegas? The two Cirque Du Soleil shows I saw were ok. I think I was more impressed by the two that I saw last year. Otherwise, I tried to recover from Albuquerque. (I think the earliest I went to bed at the conference was 3 a.m. and the latest was 5 a.m. And of course, we always had to get up around 7 or 8 in the morning. I got so very drunk a few of those nights. I have this very impressive photo of how much vodka I drank by myself one afternoon, as we were preparing conference packets. However, I'm too lazy to follow all of Blogger's instructions in order to get a photo online. So, you'll just have to take my word for it, it was a great photo).
Anyway, back to Vegas. The highlight of my time there was when I was waiting for the light and a guy came up to me and asked “what day of the week is it?” and I realized that I couldn’t for the life of me remember which day of the week it was. I had to check my watch to figure out that it was a Wednesday.
But now that all of that is out of the way, my slow panic about Peace Corps can begin!
Ah yes, and any readers coming from the British Isles will be amused to hear that when I was on the Southwest flight going to BWI, and the flight attendant asked me what I wanted to drink, I said “do you have, like, a Pepsi?” and her response was a raised eyebrow and “no, but I have, like, a Coke” on her Texan twang. Har har.
posted by jende turtle at 11:14 PM
2 Comments:
Jende,
Thanks for the post card. I put it on my fridge. I'm suprised after this post that you could even write it at all :). When my mom was in vegas she passed out after one vodka drink.
I heard once in one of my women studies courses that you should be careful with the peace cor because they kind of treat you like an indentured servant. You get to have a favorite reagion, but they send you where ever they like.
It will be fun to hear what you become passionate about once you leave the u.s. I wonder if the humanist movement will see as important in light of other world experiences you may have. It may just be what you think humanists may need to be doing for the world.
I've been feeling a little intimidated by other bloggers lately, so I can relate.
love always,
post the picture. do it!
xoxo
black widow
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