Good Days and Bad Days

You know it’s one of those days when you are crying in the middle of the road with a pick ax. Life has its good days and bad days, and it doesn’t matter whether you are in a foreign country or not. The circumstances just change a bit. 

My life is definitely not the same here, but there are creature comforts that keep me going; little things that help me keep me grounded. 

Coffee, for one. I enjoy a good cup of French pressed coffee not just to keep me awake during long meetings, but one little taste of coffee sends me back to the Pacific Northwest, as if I was in my kitchen at home getting ready to go to work. 

Exercise is another big one. I’ve definitely gained some potato pounds since being here, and while I can’t go to the gym or to the pool and work out for 2 hours, I can work in my garden. In fact, one of my favorite activities in Peru is to work in my garden while listening to NPR podcasts. Like I said, it’s all about the little things.

And of course, internet. The internet is not only an escape from this world, but a connection to my old one. I can email my family and friends, look at their photos posted, and catch up on the news abroad. I’ve faired pretty well while being in Peru. I used to be constantly connected back in the states, and even during the beginning of my service, it’d be a stretch to go 3 days without internet. Now I walk down to the nearest big town once a week just to check my email. It seems like a long way to go, but it’s worth every step. I will never take for granted 3G wi-fi ever again. 

So when all these little things come tumble down, such as your water boiler breaking, walking all the way down to Bambamarca only to find the power out, or a rainy day when all you planned to do was work in your garden, you find yourself tearing up for no good reason. Any sane person looking would be thinking “what the heck happened?” And all you could say is “I couldn’t have my coffee in the morning.” 

The reason why I am telling everyone this is because that’s just the life of a Peace Corps volunteer. One day you are up, and the next down, completely down in the dirt. It’s an on-going roller coaster of emotions that you have to look out for, and yet, you never know when it is coming. 

So the next time you see a fellow volunteer having an emotional breakdown, just go up and give them a hug, and just hope they don’t have a pick ax with them.