The Fun That Was Peace Corps Guyana - Mark's Blog

Postings from just north of the equator. Let's see if training in CPR and First Aid prepares me to teach Health Education in a small, remote village in Guyana. I'm thinking... no. Read all about this ill advised decision! In addition, here is the required Peace Corps disclaimer: "The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the US government or the Peace Corps." So, please, don't confuse me with the White House Press Secretary.

Sunday, September 16, 2007

The End is (not really) Near

So I'm in Georgetown this weekend using free internet so I can apply to law school. It's actually pretty exciting to do this - it reminds me how close I am to the next step. Though I'm still enjoying my time down here, I'm realizing how long it's been. Nineteen months! I've still got another seven months to go, but the end is creeping up. And that feels much more real when I'm planning my future.

Anyways, being in Georgetown also let me go to the circus last night. Now, you may be nonplussed by that statement, but I was excited. I had never gone to the circus before (isn't that a form of child abuse? It should be...). But this wasn't any ol' circus. This was the Suarez Circus from Mexico! With seven tigers, a giraffe, and four motorcycles in a steel ball of death! In other words, my first circus experience was a Mexican circus in Guyana. Totally sweet. We had a blast.

Otherwise, life is pretty normal out here. I wish I could write some exotic story that would entertain you guys, but my life is fairly mundane out here. My work projects are coming along and about to get even a little more intense. That, coupled with looming law school applications, has somehow made me feel stressed out, which is a weird feeling down here. I mean, I have lots of down time when I can't get anything done. But when I get access to a computer for a long time or whatever, I suddenly have millions of things to do. These short bursts of work are hard, because then I just think about how I'm not doing those things during my down time. The result has been that I'm realizing that I have limits on what I'm capable of doing down here. And these limits are tied mostly to my lack of resources, not my desire to do things. This can be frustrating. But it's a good lesson to learn.

In other news, my birthday is next Thursday. I'm turning 25, which makes me feel old (ahem, don't laugh) when some of the new Peace Corps volunteers are 21 and just out of college (class of 2007? I was class of 2005! Crazy!). I was a junior in college at age 21, not already graduated and in Peace Corps. Dang, they are getting a jump on life. And I'm old (well, not really).

I'm writing this post at 7am. Have I let you guys know that I'm essentially unable to sleep past 6:30 or 7am every morning? And I'm usually in bed by 9pm? Such is the exciting life of a Peace Corps volunteer. I think that adds to the old man status right now. The mornings are just too hot and bright and loud to sleep in. And the evenings? Well, there's usually nothing to do, so you might as well sleep and get ten hours of rest.

and Well, that's enough of these random ramblings. Shout out to all the parents of Guy19ers who might be reading this. Don't worry, your daughter/son is doing fine. And I can definitely vouch that that is true for those new volunteers on the Essequibo Coast with me - they are great PCVs settling in as well as you can expect. Alrighty, hope everyone is peachy. Later!