On Blogging - A Centenial Post

At various milestones I have endeavored to reflect on the plethora of situations I have encountered during my Peace Corps service. This is not another temporal milestone; rather I am commemorating my 100 ^th post on this blog. Since its inception with the announcement of my Peace Corps assignment my blog has played an important role in my service. The obvious use is to share stories but often I write so that I will stop talking to myself. My isolated location makes it that when absurd and infuriating things happen the only place I can turn for a release of the seething is this blog. That said, I try not to censor myself when I write but I know that the account I provide is somewhat sanitized. I don't actually know what that last sentence means but that is also a regular occurrence in my writing. Maybe I'm trying to say that despite my candid approach to this blog and thorough disregard for the potentially broad scope of potential (though not expected) readers I do hold some information back. Even when I reveal that life in the Peace Corps isn't always great, my account carries a rosy tint that is more my effort to stay optimistic than an honest diagnosis of the situation.

 

The strangest thing about writing this way is that you can read my posts within seconds of my uploading them but there is a lag of about a week between writing and uploading. It's still faster and more reliable than letters but by no means an efficient form of communication. The difficulty that I face with this is that when I know I won't be in town for 10 days I have to force myself to sit down and write about interesting events when they happen before I lose interest and type out banal descriptions. Luckily for me this forum let me write whatever I want. If I was sending emails I would feel obliged to be concise and thorough because you would feel some obligation to read the email (although I know most people never do because I am one of those people). With a blog you read when you decide to check up on me so I still aim for concise and thorough but if I feel like going on a meaningless rant then I can because you're skimming for information already. There is always some irrational fear that Peace Corps will check up on me via my blog, but other than a Namibia PCV being quoted without consent from his blog in a national Peace Corps publication I'm not too worried about that.

 

As far as the beginning of school goes, the most exciting thing that happened was the office was robbed last week. We lost two computers, two printers, the fax machine and a typewriter. There is something infuriating about the situation but there's not much anybody can do besides putting better doors on the office. We did get our supplies from the Ministry which included new copies of the grade 10 physical science book so every kid has one this year. My biggest success so far has been having the grade 10 classes try to make words by combining the atomic symbols on the periodic table. I almost ditched the activity last minute because I was skeptical of their ability to pull this off but it has turned out to be a hit. The longest words right now are 15 letters like RePReSeNTaTiVEs. They have also come up with PReCoCIOUSNeSS, LiCeNTiOUSnEsS, ReCoNCILiAtION, XeNoPHoBeS, PReCIPITaTiON, and the list goes on. I talked to the grade 10 kids about how they can use all the periods they have without a teacher and this has been one thing to help them stay busy. I've already filled up half a wall with over 50 words they have made with more than 10 letters. I write the word with their name on a quarter sheet of paper and I think the biggest motivator is just to get their names on the wall. Its always fun when things work because too many things don't work at all. My other approach with grade 10 this year is to open the library for them on the weekends. I have a sign that says only grade 10 can enter and the exclusivity of it makes them want to take advantage even if they are studying on the weekends. I'm maintaining a cautious optimism about the grade 10 and trying to plan my next visit to the doctor so that the time lost at school will have minimal impact. If you find any information about retention cysts around the Eustachian tube or abnormal adenoidal tissue at the age of 23 (I almost said mid 20s but that would be inappropriate) I would be interested. I am losing confidence in the doctor I have been seeing and expect to go for a second opinion sometime in February (there are two ENT specialists in Windhoek). There hasn't been any appreciable change for better or worse in the last five months and I'm growing weary of the incessant ache in my ears. That means you're not allowed to worry about me but any information that I might use to help the doctor would be useful.