Six more months to go!

Six more months left to goof off with these silly little kiddies!

   It’s hard to believe that I have about six more months remaining in my Peace Corps service here in Lesotho.

   Six more months!

   Crazy thing is that those months are going to zoom by in the same exact way that these 21 months have.

   Life after Peace Corps is becoming more and more of a reality these days. It’s all my fellow volunteers and I talk about. And honestly, I can’t stop thinking about it. I’m not anxious. Just preparing because nothing goes according to plan.

   But I also have been trying to simply enjoy these present moments, especially since my time is so limited in Lesotho.

   At school, I am wrapping up projects. Contractors have broken ground on my school’s water pump. If weather permits, it will be finished in about a month or so. I can’t explain to you all how exciting this is. The road to this water pump was a long and hard one, but like Betty Wright so famously sang, “No pain, no gain!”

   I’ve also begun to help organize the school’s library and will finish during winter break, which starts in early June and lasts through July. We recently picked up our boxes of books and have prepared lockers to house them. There are lots and lots and lots of books to go through. It’s been tedious but fun work, and really has brought me back to my childhood. We received lots of Dr. Seuss, Curious George and Beverly Cleary books.

   At home, I spend most of my free time with my host family. I plant extra little kisses on the children’s cheeks and dole out more hugs. Every night, we find ourselves playing more and more rounds of UNO. Every Sunday, eating more homemade cakes.

   I’m truly savoring all of this time with my host family and will miss them the most, especially the children, when I leave Lesotho.

   Personally, I really am laying the groundwork for life after Peace Corps. I have lots of options: Grad school. Peace Corps Response. Flipping burgers at Mickey D’s. Being a couch potato.  

   I’m blessed to be able to do anything that I want to do and to be anybody that I want to be. And I’m even more blessed to have six more months to figure it all out!