One Year Anniversary

I've been in South Africa for a year now, and in Mapayeni for nearly ten months, a time that is naturally introspective to the PCV. I've accomplished less than I hoped but more than I feared. As the cast of Rent asks, "How do you measure a year?" I could summarize the postings past, listing again all that I have done, things I have gained or lost, but it's an exercise that seems besides the point to me. Instead, I'd rather take this opportunity to think about the year stretching before me. I feel, though at times I felt as though I would never feel this way, as though I'm positioned to do a lot in my second year as a Peace Corps Volunteer.

Exciting things to look forward to:

Developing more training programs for drop-in centres
Finding out if my VAST grant gets approved
Developing computer literacy program for high schoolers
The Mapayeni Drop-In Centre growing and strengthening
Parents visiting
Welcoming SA 19 when they arrive
Encouraging more people to submit to the Diversity Blog (I say encouraging, they say badgering...)
Playing with the small children who are no longer afraid of me
...and hopefully a few pleasant surprises.

Of course, there are a few things I am not looking forward to. For example, as I discovered yesterday, a year really takes the novelty and sense of productivity out of doing my laundry in a bucket. But fingers crossed that the good will continue to outweigh the bad, as I think it has so far in 2009.

(Also: Happy slightly-late Chinese New Year. It's the year of the ox, which is also my zodiac year.)