The End of the Beginning

Tomorrow I take that big leap and become a true Peace Corps Volunteer (until this point I've been a "Trainee"). PST has been a rigorous time, imagine finals week that never ended, and if you think about it, PST is longer than the Army Basic Training. Not that it's anywhere near as physically or mentally demanding, but another 10 weeks of PST and I might dig my own foxhole, crawl in the fetal position, and cry... loudly. Okay, maybe not, but it was still hard.

PST was also a comforting time. Back home in America, whether working at the Nursery School, being unemployed, going to graduate school (minus student teaching), or being a student at AU I had a lot of free time. Sometimes the free time can be a real pain in the ass, because you'd go to sleep at night and go "shit, I didn't do anything worthwhile today, yesterday, last week, the past year..." and a mini panic attack would ensue as I tried to mentally force myself to do something worthwhile besides achieving level 70 in Call of Duty, or knowing I could totally own my 7 year old nephew in Halo 3 (which I don't think I could anymore). In PST I always felt useful in some way, shape, or form; even if I complained bitterly about being treated like a 7 year-old day in and day out. I will certainly miss some of the structure of PST, but more importantly I'll miss the closeness of my friends here.

Remember Freshman year of college when you get to the dorms excited but nervous to be doing something totally out of the ordinary? When you know many of your high school friendships won't last (I'm lucky enough to still talk to all my best high school friends on a regular basis), and you'll naturally grow apart. You look towards the people on your freshman floor. Certainly my freshman year, the epic "black hole" of Letts 6 became my best friends, and most remained so for the remaining four years. It's the same here in PST. I am within a 30 second walk of most of my cluster, and we find ourselves doing almost the same types of things as I did Freshman year. Then there are your friends in other dorms that you don't see as much, except on weekends at parties, or in class. That's what my friends from other clusters are like. I will miss having all of my friends really close, BUT i joined Peace Corps for the chance to grow as an individual. It's comfortable to be near people, to rely on them, to complain, joke, and act like we're freshman, but I've been there done that. It's time to move on the real reason I joined Peace Corps, which was to help the people and students of Georgia.

Now I'm not big into Top 10 lists, because I try to be much funnier than I actually am, but here's a few Top 10's.

Top 10 Experiences of PST
10. The bus ride from Tbilisi to our clusters and the anxiety that I felt. Then arriving in my village and dragging my bag 3/4 mile up a steep hill while thinking "What the hell did I get myself into"
9. The absurd amount of time we spend talking about our bowel movements. I know the bowel movement of at least half the TEFL Trainees. Just as they know I can squat for 45 minutes in my outhouse playing snake on my phone... Strange? Maybe. High score of all G-10's in snake? Yes.
8. The several supra's I have been to and at every one they ask me to make a toast. I use the only three words I know, "America", "Georgia", and "Friends"... They love this toast.
7. Losing about 15 pounds here and having my cluster (this was yesterday actually) say, "Tom, we want your butt back, please eat more".
6. Being asked to name every animal my family sees. My host cat I named "Persephone", and I've named three of the four kitten Persephone had "Brasdias", "Pericles", and "Aspasia". Now my family can't pronounce any of these names, so I don't think they'll stick.
5. Playing games with my host brother and sister, and finally being a big brother (which I must admit, I need to give credit to Dean for dealing with me for that long, I would have tied myself to a chair and left me outside, too).
4. Trying to unsuccessfully explain I cannot drink water out of the tap. Sometimes I do anyway... thinking about it now... maybe I've lost 15 pounds because I have a worm... hmmm. Maybe I should look into that. Just joookkiinnggg.
3. Eatting brains... pig or cow, I'm not quite sure.
2. My view (pictures to come)
1. Finishing PST.


Top 10 Things I Don't Miss About America
10. Oprah
9. The Twilight series
8. The variety of weird people you find at the Jersey Shore
7. Not knowing what to do during the day.
6. Waking up and facing the same boring house with the swimming pool.
5. 24-hour CNN
4. Selfish people
3. Walking around and not having every girl within 50 meters want to marry me (which also gets annoying)
2. Public transportation
1. The Twilight series deserves to be on this twice... because really... it just sucks


Top 10 Things I Miss About America
10. My privacy
9. Driving
8. Hoagie Haven
7. Taco Bell
6. Indian Food
5. Nachos
4. Going to New York City
3. Clean toilets (with seats that flush)
2. FDA approved food
1. Be able to drink out of the tap