12/15

 

The past week has been mostly BLAH.  After my day trip to the capital, I went through about a 5 day stint of Peace Corps Depression.  For no reason at all.  Didn’t really feel like doing much.  Wanted alone time, but at the same time felt really lonely.  Read over 400 pages.  Didn’t really talk much.  Slept a lot and just felt BLAH.  Monday I told myself I would snap out of it.  That afternoon, I’m sitting on the porch with my family waiting for my project partner to show up so we can work.  Around the same time that I realize she has stood me up, yet again (a regular occurence), a muchacho rolls up on his moto to invite me to play basketball with him and some others this weekend.  I should have been excited about this, but he started yelling at me when he thought I didn’t understand him.  Like legit screaming at me.  The thing was…I understood him perfectly, so I yelled back at him that I would play, and then got up, walked away, and completely lost it.  I put on my running clothes for a second time that day, and spent the next 2.5 hours sobbing and running practically half way across the country and back.  That’s all I needed, that snapped me out of it.  Well, that and when I got home, showered, and came out in sweatpants and a tank top, my four year old neighbor, Jesus, exclaimed, “She’s so beautiful.  I’m in love with her.”  That didn’t hurt either. (He now has a huge lead in the Race for the Visa).

Since then, I’ve done a few more interviews with my project partner, hung out a lot with the ninos, played some guitar, and helped paint my room.  (We’re painting the whole house at some point, but we started with my room).  My family and neighbors think I’m REALLY good at the guitar (I’m not just FYI).  And they think I sing beautifully (I don’t just FYI).  They even said that I’m better than the guy who plays in church and that I need to give him lessons.  I’m just waiting for that to get back to him.

Okay, here’s some funny, lighthearted stuff to make this post not so emo.  Whenever I do something here, everyone is like, “Look! Look! She knows how to [fill in the blank with absolutely anything]…eat crabs, braid hair, paint walls, color inside the lines, tie her shoe.”  I’m not kidding (except for the tie her shoe bit).  I had the whole neighborhood watching me paint my room yesterday because they were so impressed.  I turned around and said, “Jessica Pekala, Professional Painter” and they died and have been repeating it for hours now.  Whenever I color with the kids, everyone, even the adults, make a fuss over how beautifully I color.  Are you kidding me?  I’m 23.  I may have an elementary level grasp of your language, but I’m not a blubbering idiot in all aspects of my life.  I promise.  Most of the time I just awkwardly laugh as my audience watches on.

I’m spending Thursday through Saturday in the capital for our Peace Corps Navidad celebration.  Our country director throws a nice party for all of the volunteers and PC Staff.  He apparently goes all out and spoils us. :)

Ashley and I painting my room (“Oh my god, look, she can paint!”)

And this is what Leslie and I did to my wall.  Ha.  I’m not sure why my family kept pushing me to do this…but in the end, it felt great…something I always wanted to do, but was never allowed to (ahem dad).