Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Lists and Lines

It's March 1st. This means I have been here six and a half months, and also, in a few more days, my service is one quarter completed. I promised myself when I first got here that I wouldn't do this - that I wouldn't keep track and count down and otherwise treat this time as some kind of diversion from my normal life, something to be gotten through, finished, accomplished. No, I wanted this to be a simple continuation of life. This is just what I am doing now, I am here, and I'm not going to spend any time pondering some vague event at some arbitrary point in November of 2012.

Ha. Yeah right.

I think about points on this timeline all the time. I think about November 2012. I wonder about other dates and numbers too. For instance, last night when I was lying on my bed under my mosquito net and I realized that over six months have passed and that meant I was one quarter finished, I started wondering how many other things I have finished too.

How many pairs of shoes molded? Four

How many books read? Eight and four halves - all but one of those in the last three months

How many mosquito bites sustained? About seven a day for the last six and a half months...too many

How many mosquitoes killed? Clearly not enough. I will get them ALL.

How many IEC presentations given? Eighteen

How many fisherfolk and community members reached? Six hundred ten

How many Bantay Dagat members acquired since my arrival? Four

How many small children high-fived? Two dozen

How many ants consumed? One bajillion

How much do I miss my family, friends, and Teebs? Incalculable

And of course, how much time left to go? Twenty and a half months

Photo stolen shamelessly from Kate.

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4 comments:

  1. UnknownMarch 1, 2011 at 9:15 AM

    Soon, you'll do like my dad during his military service and start to carve a knife with one cut for every month passed :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. WalkerMarch 1, 2011 at 1:36 PM

    how much time left to go? Too much time to even think about. Congrats on passing the six month mark....I'm keeping track too.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousMarch 1, 2011 at 2:52 PM

    We have already discussed how I feel about this, and I'm sorry I don't have any pep for you. I wish I could figure out a way to send you an ant free celebration cupcake.

    ReplyDelete
  4. kris.elizaMarch 2, 2011 at 10:14 AM

    Maybe when I come back you can throw me a welcome home party and have cupcakes swarming with candy ants. We can call them Corps Cakes. I would eat that.
    Also on the menu: Ramen, tang, and cheap, cheap rum.
    Actually, scrap that, one of your wine and cheese snooty parties might be in order.

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