Tim and I spent the last days of 2009 hanging about with Mom and Stephan, visiting family and enjoying their company. Nana hosted a delicious lunch of arroz con pollo, Panamanian style. I imagine we will be eating similar food in Guyana and got very excited at the prospect. Another “goodbye for now” was said and my sentimentality began to leak out. The next day we drove up to San Francisco for a trip to the DeYoung Museum and a look at the King Tut exhibit. After lunch at the Greens Buddhist Restaurant and a blustery walk along the shores of San Francisco Bay we said farewell to Oma and Sampa. More tears.
I am trying to understand why I feel so sentimental when I know that we are about to embark on a grand adventure with the love and support of our family and friends behind us. Peace Corps service is something Tim and I have been wanting for so many years now and I try to be rational and remind myself that two years is a relatively short period of time. Nonetheless, I got weepy at every goodbye. When I think about not being able to be in physical proximity of those I love, hug them and hold their hands, for extended amounts of time, the waterworks begin. Tim is ever supportive of my sentimental meltdowns, although I don’t know if he fully understands them either. ☺ Tim and I welcomed the New Year in Santa Cruz, at his family cabin with our dearest friends. The evening was filled with games and laughter. We took a walk down to the beach and burned away representations of what we do not wish to carry into the New Year with us. We left the smoldering pieces of paper to be washed away by the Pacific Ocean. Mom and I spent the first day of 2010 doing things that we want to welcome into this new year. We welcomed our personal physical health by walking with Dia on the beach. We welcomed spiritual calm and relaxation by getting pedicures and a massage. We welcomed family, good food, friends and laughter.
I have a good feeling about 2010 too.
Now we are back in San Diego. We survived the first week back from break. I stepped in for an injured coworker and taught 9th graders art history and was reminded how much it sucks to be a freshman in high school. How any of us navigated that social and hormonal labyrinth I will never know. Now we have two and a half weeks left of work at HSHMC and then it is off to Guyana! We have so many things to do before we depart but staying busy keeps my mind away from sentimental mushiness so I don’t burst into tears at the thought of leaving the students and staff that have become a second family to us.
Nonetheless, we are constantly sent reminders from the universe of the value of our future as PC volunteers. For example, today a coworker brought her brother, a Foreign Service Officer, in to speak to our students. He told a story from his experience as a diplomat in Vietnam. He mentioned that before the tsunami hit Indonesia on Christmas of 2004, 90 percent of the, predominantly Muslim, population claimed to distrust and dislike the United States. The nation was rapidly becoming a center for radical extremists. After the disastrous tsunami left most of the coastal region of Banda Aceh with devastating casualties and virtually no drinking water, the United States rushed to their aid. Our nation’s Navy pumped millions of gallons of fresh water to survivors and sent relief workers to aid a country in need. After the water receded and things began to stabilize in the region another survey was conducted. 90 percent of the population now respected and liked the U.S. Without their base of support, the growing terrorist threat was effectively quelled and the extremist group was disbanded. This was not the intention of our foreign service officers. Rather, it was a domino effect of reaching across international and cultural barriers to help other human beings in need.
We were deeply struck by this story. Tim and I are reminded of our goal to use the skills, such as our education, that we have been lucky enough to have gained as Americans to promote global cooperation and peace. It is with this in mind that we prepare to take a leap into a new year and new adventures.
No comments:
Post a Comment