Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Tick Tock


Things are coming to an end. It’s a shame that it takes so long to get good at something that by the time you’re really ready, I mean really, get your teeth in there it’s time to leave. I feel like that. I’m at the top of my game with only 2 seconds left on the clock. Well, 2 months but you get the drift. I wasn’t terrible during my service so don’t get me wrong, but in hindsight I could have done even more. The end of service comes with many Schindler’s List moments. Why didn’t I know about and get the list of the 50 most used words in English to teach my host sisters last year instead of a week ago!? Why didn’t I start a Geography club? I could have been doing Life Skills lessons years ago (well, almost). There is always this huge learning curb in life, but how do you get ahead of it?

I remember seeing volunteers that were about to leave. I had only been in Gambia for a couple months and I thought “wow, they really look comfortable here. They have work, they know the language, their families love them, ect”. That isn’t something that happens in a day, and even if you know that, it’s hard to realize at the time that eventually, long long from that moment, you will be a volunteer on the verge of going home. You will know the language, you will know the answers, and your host family will love you (really love you).

New volunteers or those on your way, it’s hard, it’s awkward, it’s frustrating, but even if it takes to the 11th hour, eventually, you won’t be the odd one out, you’ll be the one their crying is on their way out.

1 comment:

  1. Good morning how are you?

    My name is Emilio, I am a Spanish boy and I live in a town near to Madrid. I am a very interested person in knowing things so different as the culture, the way of life of the inhabitants of our planet, the fauna, the flora, and the landscapes of all the countries of the world etc. in summary, I am a person that enjoys traveling, learning and respecting people's diversity from all over the world.

    I would love to travel and meet in person all the aspects above mentioned, but unfortunately as this is very expensive and my purchasing power is quite small, so I devised a way to travel with the imagination in every corner of our planet. A few years ago I started a collection of letters addressed to me in which my goal was to get at least 1 letter from each country in the world. This modest goal is feasible to reach in the most part of countries, but unfortunately it’s impossible to achieve in other various territories for several reasons, either because they are countries at war, either because they are countries with extreme poverty or because for whatever reason the postal system is not functioning properly.

    For all this I would ask you one small favour:
    Would you be so kind as to send me a letter by traditional mail from Gambia? I understand perfectly that you think that your blog is not the appropriate place to ask this, and even, is very probably that you ignore my letter, but I would call your attention to the difficulty involved in getting a letter from that country, and also I don’t know anyone neither where to write in Gambia in order to increase my collection. a letter for me is like a little souvenir, like if I have had visited that territory with my imagination and at same time, the arrival of the letters from a country is a sign of peace and normality and a original way to promote a country in the world. My postal address is the following one:

    Emilio Fernandez Esteban
    Calle Valencia, 39
    28903 Getafe (Madrid)
    Spain

    If you wish, you can visit my blog www.cartasenmibuzon.blogspot.com, where you can see the pictures of all the letters that I have received from whole World.

    Finally I would like to thank the attention given to this letter, and whether you can help me or not, I send my best wishes for peace, health and happiness for you, your family and all your dear beings.

    Yours Sincerely

    ReplyDelete