Breathe

As of today I can just breathe for the next week. The election is over and done. I have finished and submitted my Community Entry Passport. I am through teaching and have already graded all the exams. All that is left is to invigilate some of the remaining exams and catch up on my novel for Nanowrimo. Then it will be time to go to Early Service Training. This past week marked four months that I have been in country. It is almost too crazy to believe. When I have not been planning my lessons or teaching, I have been interviewing or just plain talking with people in the village. Occasionally I still feel like a deer in the headlights when it comes to them speaking fast Swahili with me, but I am adjusting. When I was doing more formal interviews for my CEP, I had one of my fellow teachers come with me to help translate. I have learned so much about the village through doing this. Now that the document is complete, I need to make up more excuses to go down the hill and into the village other than to buy necessities.

The rainy season has started. The good news is that there are plenty of mangos and avocados. The bad news is that there is hard, deafening rain fairly often which can flood my house by coming under the door. Whoops. I just have to be thankful that the roof over my head keeps the worst of it out. My cat does not like the rain, so I cuddle with her so she remains calm, which is not necessarily bad. She has been such a comfort for me too. We keep each other sane. I don’t know how she will be able to cope without me for three weeks while I am at training. She’ll be fine. She just needs to breathe. And eat.