Life outside of a dayplanner - week 7 of PST

Today, something simple yet beautiful occurred. The past few weeks in the schools have been infiltrated by ongoing sports days. I still don't understand it 100% but its kind of like field day every day for 2 weeks then all the top teams and competitors from areas around the island get together for one big sports day to compete. Again, I have yet to figure it out fully so I will update you as I learn more.

So you may be wondering why an ex-athlete ( yes I have come to terms that I am no longer in any type of shape to call myself  an athlete AND I think my balance is getting even worse) ok, back to what I was saying you may wonder why I would have a problem with the schools here dedicating so much of their time to sports. Of course I think  benefits exist , being part of a team teaches various life skills and obviously leading an active lifestyle as a child most likely increases your chance of continuing to lead a healthy life as an adult.This is all fine and dandy but I have 2 weeks left in training. This means I have to develop  a SLP( Service Learning Project)  to be assessed  by one of my trainers. The SLP is a major part of PST for Youth Developers ( Me) , lets just say its my final exam.

When you have kids that are focused on sports sports sports and aching to get through the day to exit the class room its difficult to introduce a new idea to them that doesn't include fun and games. Oh and I forgot to mention they are going on a  2 week break next week!  Needless to say, not only has it been difficult to introduce my project idea to the students but the teachers also seem a bit scattered during this time.

After 2-3 attempts to get the ball rolling and scheduling constraints from my assessor I finally decided to just LET GO.  Today I entered the school knowing the entire day would be dedicated to sports competitions. I had 2 tentative dates that my assessor has available to come out to my site to see my project. And the bottom line was I had no idea how it was all going to come together. No details pinned down, no idea which kids would participate, no time, no agenda.... no real plan other than my nice little outline of how it is supposed to look.I simply walked in the school an allowed the day to unfold as is.  Knowing that whatever was going to happen next week would occur with or without any additional stress from my end. ..but then...it happened!

Agnes, one of my grade 6 students came to life. I don't know where it came from but she was my little starlight today. It warmed my heart and reminded me of the beauty that will occur when we step back and allow life to happen.  Agnes not only began to question me about this Poetry club I mentioned but she took initiative on how WE were going to make it happen by break next week. One thing led to another and by the end of the day I had a list of 15 dedicated participants, a leader, co lead and 15 hand written letters to be given as reminders for next weeks meeting. GO Agnes!

The ability to just be without constantly pushing for more or finding a way to organize what appears to be chaos was granted to me today. I hope to get more practice with this concept .

Highlight of the week: Count down to move out day ( less than 1 month)! I will miss my nightly home cooked meals but I am ready to have my own space again.

Running on E (mpty) - Week 6 of PST

Ooook so here it is, my first post lined with a hint of grey as opposed to sparkling rays of yellow. I believe the best way to describe this feeling is >>>PLATEAU<<< : Any of the following definitions can be used to describe my state of being this past week.

–noun


2. a period or state of little or no growth or decline: to reach a plateau in one's career.

3. Psychology . a period of little or no apparent progress in an individuals learning, marked by an inability to increase speed, reduce number of errors, etc., and indicated by a horizontal stretch in a learning curve or graph.



4. a flat stand, as for a centerpiece, sometimes extending the full length of a table. ( YES, there are moments in the day where I FEEL as if I am indeed a centerpiece!)



–verb (used without object)



5. to reach a state or level of little or no growth or decline, especially to stop increasing or progressing; remain at a stable level of achievement; level off: After a period of uninterrupted growth, sales began to plateau.






Well I think you get the point. On top of feeling as if my wheels are spinning round and round going absolutely nowhere other than the pre -constructed track already laid out for me. My thoughts run rampant day dreaming has it perks , truly, however there comes a point where I would like to enjoy the present moment more than the thoughts dancing around in my head.



On a brighter note, I have encountered a surge within that has lead me to writing more than ever before. Journaling, poems, vents, motivational speeches (to myself I guess), blurbs...its pretty neat.



Highlight of my week: being nominated by my fellow trainees to give a speech at our Swearing in Ceremony. Its a pretty special event because it marks the transition from successfully completing training to being sworn in as an official Peace Corps Volunteer. I am excited and honored. We are kind of like a dysfunctional family, I appreciate each of them in a special way. With that said I also feel we are all getting to the point of being annoyed over little things. Its not so much one another, more so the situation. Imagine being randomly selected to begin 2 years of your life with 12 strangers. ( Some of my military friends probably identify) You are forced to become each others support system in one way or another. I enjoy the camaraderie and familiarity that we get from all the time we have been spending together...lunch, after training liming, weekend excursions.. its been great.

                   
Training, however, is starting to feel repetitive, boring, ceaseless, constant, continual, dull, insistent, monotonous, repeated, uninteresting, verbose..you get the point. I understand the purpose of training. I get the need to expose us to module after module. Some of you may know I actually enjoy meetings and trainings, I love learning new things but I find myself mentally grasping into the air as I watch my day dreams float away into the pretty shades of blue in the sky. Skipping stones across the flood of information just to create a ripple in the flow.



I think it's safe to say I have successfully exited the honeymoon stage :)