Survivor: Gweru: 2009

Be warned-this post will be largely unstructured, as i'm writing it as it comes to me.

I apologize for the huge gap between my last post and this one. Things have been...arduous...since my return. Nothing major, thankfully, like illness or poverty or what have you. These difficulties stray more towards the emotional and life decision end of the spectrum.

I've been constantly putting off updating this blog (despite my Father's constant nagging and insistence that people are clamoring to hear from me) due to the fact that I can hardly put down my thoughts and feelings when even I don't seem to know what they are. Plus, I have not been inclined to do much of anything as of late. As I said, arduous.

Before I continue to gripe about my uncharacteristic moroseness and confusion, i'll give you the summarized version of the past month and a half.

I spent my last week or so at Antelope Park dreading the trip home and trying to make the most of my remaining time there. Most of my group of Volunteers had left, so that was a bit strange. I certainly missed and continue to miss them. An odd thing, that. I'm hardly a person that gets attached to anyone. I continued to walk the E's and the S's, as well as do all the other typical activities. I learned a bit of tracking from Roy, which was quite interesting.

My last walk before leaving was with Echo and Etosha. It was a very nice walk, although sad. I'm missing those two a lot. When I eventually return to A.P they will have been retired and probably be doing night encounters. Before leaving I also gave a bit of money to the lion handlers I got along best with. I'm going to miss those guys a lot, too. I developed some good friendships with a few of them. They're great people.

After driving back to Bulawayu I was dropped off at a hostel-esq house and stayed the night there. It was a very lovely house and largely unaffected by the hardships of Zim. Adam (The dvd guy for A.P.) was going into town for a short vacation and invited me to hang out with him as an alternative to sitting around the hostel all day. I accepted and spent some time at his house chatting with his family and then went to the Tin Cup (a local bar) with him. It was enjoyable, but I didn't stay out too late. I was not only tired but I also had a 26 hour journey home ahead of me.

The trip home was largely uneventful. It was long...so very long. But uneventful. I did meet some nice returning Peace Corps volunteers, however, and as a result had some people to kill time with while waiting for our flight. Coming home to the nice cold air, certain types of food, my own bed, and family was nice. They were not enough to make me not prefer Zim and A.P, however.

Initially, I did not want to return to college. I realized while over in Africa that I was absolutely miserable while dealing with school. I much prefer travelling, being in the outdoors, working with animals, or pretty much anything other than learning useless Trig or Sociology and doing busy work. After finally running it past my parents, however, I ended up going back to College of Dupage to finish off my two year degree. Involuntarily, I might add. I was told either I finish or I'm kicked out. Even I can see sense sometimes and thus decided to bite the bullet and complete my two year degree. Had I been kicked out, there would have been no way I could ever have saved enough money to go do what I wished. I should, if all goes according to plan, be finished either mid October or December. Then I am free!

So, i'm back at College of Dupage. Just as miserable as always, but at least now I have something to look forward to upon completing it. Its just a matter of grimacing and bearing it. I have very little free time now between work (I'm back at Sears, still hate it), School (of which my opinion is plain), and Martial Arts (Absolutely love it, although its frustrating when you feel like your not progressing as fast as you would like). This is good and bad. It doesn't give me an enormous amount of time to dwell on things. Which, again, is both good and bad.

Now for one of the bigger decisions I've made since coming home.

I plan on joining the Peace Corps and going back to Africa. I've looked into it very extensively and the Government is essentially paying for me to go and do something I want to do anyway. They pay for your flight to and from your placement in Africa, provide training, provide a weekly stipend for food and essentials, and some other nice perks. I have no illusions that it will be effortless and realize it is no paltry thing to go and spend two years of your life living just above poverty level in the African bush but am going to do it nonetheless.

After doing more research into the application process, I discovered something surprising. Its actually very difficult to get into the Peace Corps. The application process is long and full of red tape (Its a Government agency, I should have known) and they have high standards. You have to have immaculate health and prefer that you have either a four year degree or substantial job experience. Since I have neither, I have decided to WWOOF for five or six months in order to gain job experience.

WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) is a network of organic farmers that take on volunteers to help on the farm in exchange for food, shelter, ect. This would not only show the Peace Corps that I have substantial volunteer experience but also to prove that I have an applicable skill to provide. One of the jobs you can be assigned by the Peace Corps is Environmental Volunteer. EVs essentially teach locals in and around their village more modern, efficient, and environmentally sound farming practices. Things such as composting, using trees to anchor the soil, ect. I would learn a large portion of this while working on the various organic farms. Peace Corps benefits aside, however, it just looks really fun. Hard work, but fun. I'd get to be outdoors a lot and learn some new skills in the process. I am planning on doing this in Canada, as its a place I've always wanted to go. This may change, however.

It is now 1:15 AM and I still want to read before I go to bed. This turned out to be surprisingly long and easy to write. I will continue on the morrow with the more intangible goings on in my life. You can listen to me divulge my absolute love of mankind, society, life, and the way things are done in general. I will then proceed to teach pigs to fly and birds to swim. One thing I can promise, however, is that it will be more humorous and have a slightly less "Woe is me" undertone than the previous post.