I would like to say that this is the last post about moving in, but I’m very excited about my futon delivery on Thursday, so there will probably be a picture of that as well. These moving-in pictures and posts are what is happening in my life right now, but they are not interesting for more a few seconds. I’m supposed to be in the Peace Corps, and yet here I am buying furniture, silverware, dishes, and cleaning my apartment like anywhere else. It somehow doesn’t feel different or special enough, but that is the reality of Peace Corps Mexico. There are ongoing discussions among those of us that stayed in the area about our quality of life here in Mexico, and hypothetical comparisons to what it must be like to have just a hut with dirt floors. There can be no real comparison, because we are here, living in cities where we need/have (plenty of) furniture, a refrigerator, and most of us are getting high-speed internet at home.

I was prepared to go to Africa, or so I think. I’m not unhappy to have a great apartment here with a big kitchen and a roof terrace. Still, there is a mixture of guilt, confusion, and dissatisfaction about this assignment – mostly dealing with the primary project assignment. However, that is where the independence at the work site is already good, and I’m working towards the goals that I want. Away from training, able to control my life again, it feels more like the Peace Corps that we were told to expect, where you have to come up with ideas and how to implement them yourself, except that our projects are not traditional community-based projects. I’m still learning to accept that there is nothing wrong with that, because there are plenty of opportunities for community service. And, still I’m wondering if PST is as universally hated as it was here.