So here we are, back again. Back, you might ask, from what? Or where? How, when, and why seem slightly less applicable, at least in that sentence structure! I am back from two weeks in the city for my Early Service Training. EST is the official gateway to fully functional volunteerhood. I am now empowered - through the training I received and by the permission of the organization - to write project proposals, seeking funding for said, and to take vacation time!
The last three months were focused on learning and integrating. If you'd like to read what came out of that effort, let me know and I can send you the report I submitted to Peace Corps. It's not a bad read, though not my best writing work I'm sad to say. Still, it's just a springboard for future work so I have time to refine it.
But really, I think of it as Set 1 complete. There was a warmup set - Pre Service Training. Now there has been a first set - where you really throw yourself out there and start to get a feel for it. And this training marks the transition to the real work. Seven more sets to go - time to push through and make it happen. A set is three months basically, not a training - though I do have to go into the city for training or otherwise every three months so whatever.
Seven sets to get as much out of this workout as possible and to...leave...um...as big of dents in the floor...from where I dropped my weight stack...as possible? So the metaphor broke down. Sue me. I want to get a lot and give a lot - you get it.
Anyway, it was a good training. Project management is project management and funding proposals are just cover letters - whether you attach a project plan or a resume, you are still asking them to give you money in exchange for work and time. Still, specifics on all of that was very helpful. I've never had formal training on any of it, really, so it's nice to go through the steps and whatnot. When it comes to training, I remain impressed with Peace Corps - they do a very good job.
Still, the best part of the training was the Counterpart Conference and Resource Fair. The CC brought us together with our counterparts - or whomever from our village we could convince to come to the city for 3 days - in a guided conversation about expectations and possibilies. The RF took that possibilities step out of the abstract by introducing us to a flock of organizations with money and a desire to spend it helping Suriname. It was somewhere between club fair and career fair. And it really did make you feel the possibilities.
It made me excited for the next several months. There is a lot to do and, after the training and the many conversations, I feel well prepared to do it. Now it's just the matter of squeezing out the sets and doing like I always do - makin' it look good.
One aside. Being in the city was awesome. Thank you to everyone who sent me letters and packages - you have no idea how much they mean to me! Food, friends, and English felt pretty good. But it's good to be home, too. It was a strange but wonderful feeling to hear myself give that "I finally arrived home" sigh when I settled into my hammock, that first night back in my thatched roof hut in the jungle.
