Sophomore Slump

so if you broke out time here into four classes we'd just be entering our sophomore year...(7th month of 27)...prior to coming to peace corps i read extensively about the difficulties of living in a different culture and a different country and with a different language...and pretty much everything i read talked about a magical sixth month mark where around that time homesickness really sets in...i think i had my hard period shortly after arriving back from the states, and then again a couple weeks ago...but so far i've gotten through it, and i know i'm not going anywhere...

recently i spoke to other volunteers about the challenges they're facing as well, and low and behold...the sophomore slump pretty much holds true...not everyone goes through it...(i didn't think i would)...but many do..and it's normal, and i guess that's the most important thing to keep in mind..it's normal to question our choices...

the challenges in Albania are very different than many other peace corps countries i'd guess...although we all share the new culture...new language..seclusion...in albania we have hot water...we have internet...we have phones...so it's not all bad...but just cuz our challenges are different doesn't make them any easier...for instance...quite possibly if i was in another less developed country, i wouldn't quite mind if the pace of work was so slow...but being here, it can get really frustrating, because being the optimist that i am, and that i know other volunteers are as well...i see great opportunity for albania...and the people here...but sometimes i'm not quite sure they see the same...it's hard to always keep things in perspective and remember that the borders here were closed for so long...and they lived in a communist govt until the early nineties....and then they had the terrible ponzi scheme crash in the late nineties...and i'm sure all these things add to the reason things are the way they are....

but i'm not on here to complain...just wanted to lend some perspective to those curious about what we go through here, and the challenges...if you want details of course feel free to send me an email...

so, what to do? well, i'm going to keep working...i'm going to branch out a bit and work with other individuals and organizations outside of the bashkia while still spending the majority of my time at the bashkia...i think this will rejuvenate me a bit and allow me to take on some small projects...

as for what projects: one idea i've thrown around is working on getting some funding for the local gym...how convenient you might think since i'm a gym rat...well, p90x has brought the gym home..but before i got the p90x videos i did go to the gym, and i noticed that a slight upgrade to the equipment would be nice..then, in telling my sitemate kim about the gym she asked if any girls ever go...and having the gender roles and separation that albania does, girls do not go...so my idea is to try and secure some funding for some equipment upgrades on the contingency that they set aside a certain amount of time each day so that only women, or girls can go in and use the equipment...of course i have to see if this is something the girls are even interested in...and it might take quite a bit of legwork...but that's the what's what of what i am looking to do as far as branching out goes...

take care.