Monday, October 5, 2009

Boring Posting for Bored Man

It's been awhile...I know...

I'm going to use this post to reflect on the last six months in sort of a stream of conciousness/mish-mash of styles kind of way. Because that is the kind of mood I am in currently, and thus, that is how it shall be written. It may not make any sense, but let's just go with it.

Since touchdown in April life has been slow moving, frusturating, mind-bendinbg, protocol ridden craziness. Some days hair needs to be torn or shorn from it's roots, otherdays a smile accompanies my walk down endlessly looping tar roads veined by dirt tracks. Running naked through the pans, working on my mean farmers tan, missin' water, life slowly trods on. I sit at my desk day after day watching world's fall apart while we sit in blissful ignorance.

Okay, I'm bored with that...hah... I guess that word sums up my life right now though-bored. I just don't really understand my program I guess. Instead of capacitating as Peace Corps Volunteers should be doing, I am just replacing - exactly what Peace Corps Volunteers shouldn't be doing. To give an example, our Monitoring and Evaluation Officer left for brighter horizons which has left me being the M and E officer... This is fine, i know how to do it, but it means that I am not teaching anyone jack shite and when I leave, so does the skill set. There is no rush to fill the position because there is a PCV in the office who can do it. So in essence the government is having me do exactly what the Peace Corps does not do...replacing a job.
I'm frusturated because I DID have expectations about Peace Corps. Basically, sitting under a mango tree talking to villagers about stuff and doing cool stuff (broad enough, right!). Instead I wear slacks and a tie everyday, take a taxi to my desk job and sit at my desk from 7:30-4:30, with an hour for lunch from 12:45-1:45....like clockwork. Of course, this routine is broken up when I attend a workshop or a conference and stay in a hotel room in some other village/town/city. I guess it boils down to I just don't understand why there are Peace Corps Volunteers in this position in Botswana anymore...but...here...I...am. In the words of Ren and Stimpy "happy, happy, joy, joy."

All is not boring however. I got to go up to the Sowa Pans this last week and visit the Dukwe refugee camp. That was pretty, freaking amazing. We also did a naked run on the pan which was great and just all got to hang out/let it hang out...which was also great. I probably should talk about the refugee camp, but that will have to be saved for another time. On the way home our bus hit the car in front of it, so we had to hitchhike back to the capital (400km away). All was good though and everyone made it home in one piece. I of course lost a pair of shoes and my phone...as I normally do.

I have also spent too much money this quarter. See, we get paid on a quarterly basis with this quarter starting in September. Unfortunately, I spent most of September in the capital at In-Service Training and then Workshops for work. This translated into me eating out...a lot...which one can not really afford to do on a Peace Corps budget. So the next two months are going to be brought to you by rice and beans...at least there I'll get some authentic Peace Corps experience;-)

Okay, I think I'm done...this one was short and not very informative...guess you'll have to wait two months to get a really witty posting.