Site visits

For those who don't know "what they want to be when they grow up" the Peace Corps is an especially good fit. I was thinking yesterday about how incredible this program is at giving people with a wide range of experience (from very little to a significant amount) the chance to start with a clean slate and see what they can do when given the same resources. I realized today that it's a relief to throw myself into a new situation, regardless of whether or not it provides some finality to the age-old question of what I will do in the work world.

These thoughts were spurred by mounting insecurities about language acquisition and being able to teach. This week I've generally felt a lot more motivated and excited about finally relaxing into this experience, which I guess accounts for the mood swings and doubts. 

Highlights have been getting this card from some local kids who hang around our school. It made me feel very teacher-y : ) 

Also visiting a traditional Indonesian drive-by wedding (the entire thing lasted 45 minutes).

I'll have more to write about next week because we're doing site visits (not our actual permanent sites, to which we have yet to be assigned) for the next four days. I'm going 4 hours away to a place called Blitar with some other people from my group. We will be put up in a volunteer's house (I think she stays in a boarding house owned by her host family) and get to shadow them for a few days, eating what they eat, helping teach their classes and getting a tour of their side projects. I'm excited we're finally going to see what our job will be like. I say finally but it's taken me this long to feel comfortable having simple conversations with people so it's probably good we weren't put in front of a classroom before now.