Like everything else in life, Peace Corps service has its highs and lows.
Culture shock has affected me more than I expected it would.
Homesickness has affected me more than I expected it would.
Seasonal affective disorder has affected me more than I expected it would.
Loneliness has affected me more than I expected it would.
The good news is that tomorrow is Friday and the start of fall break. I am leaving tomorrow to go visit the most beautiful Ukrainian I know, Natalia. She is the wonderful woman who hosted me during training. I’ll be back in my training community along with all four of my training mates. I’ll also be meeting some of the newest trainees in Ukraine and giving a couple presentations to them: one about workplace values in Ukraine and another about culture shock. Then, next weekend is Halloween, and I’ll be celebrating in Harkiv along with a whole bunch of other PCVs. Also, tomorrow I am going to try to teach some of my students how to carve pumpkins. Holidays so far have been the most difficult days, but it looks like that won’t be true of Halloween this year!
Happy Halloween!
Thomas
P.S. I recently read a Buddhist saying: If there were no illusion, there would be no enlightenment. I guess I could say in other words, if there were no lows, there would be no highs.
