Oh Dear!

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear indeed. Indeed! I am a bit behind. More than a bit, really – nearly 3 months and let me apologize, gentle readers! I offer no excuses, only know that you have been far from my typing fingers undeniably, but not far from my story-telling heart!

I’ll just briefly fill in the story and then the many adventures I have to share will follow, each in their own vignette. I will do my best to keep them digestible and enjoyable, as always. Anyway, I’ve missed you! So let’s dive in!

After Boys Camp I did a swift dive back into my Peace Corps-ing village life as I tried to prepare for various things – most namely World AIDS Day, which you will hear more about. My efforts to be super-efficient were spurred by the desire to be guilt free in my enjoyment of time with Ariel who arrived in Suriname on Dec 28^th (about 3 weeks after Boys Camp). I was not quite as productive as I wanted, but I did pretty well all told. The wait ended with Christmas in the Jungle and I went to the city to prepare for Ariel the following day. Let me tell you, I’ve never felt the countdown ancies more! I actually had trouble sleeping! And reading!! Of course, it was the countdown to Ariel instead of to Christmas but I could ask for no better present than her presence, to steal a line from somewhere.

Ariel’s Visit went as well as I could have hoped – life ever fails to achieve perfection, but that doesn't mean somethings can't go pretty darn well. Seeing her was simply amazing and I’ll say no more about it (untrue even in this post, much less the one dedicated to it!). It was needed and necessary and good – for both of us, I like to think.

That visit ended with a kiss and a sprint back to the village for World AIDS Day (the caps mean it will be a post! Oooh, maybe even a hyperlink? Dare I? Dare I??? Nope, not that organized!) which unfortunately had ended up being exactly the day Ariel left – Jan 19. It was a long day that lead into 2 more – my AIDS education event spanned 3 days – but it went absolutely swimmingly. Education, condoms, and cookies were all distributed to hundreds of people and the critics loved it. Zero rotten tomatoes (I don’t know the website very well so I don’t know if that is actually good or bad, but you know what I mean. Nobody threw stuff at me. It went really well. More in the actual post, ok? Sheesh!)

After that, it was another 3 weeks of Peace Corps immersion – reestablishing myself in the village and trying to do all sorts of things! Unfortunately, it was tough to do them in the village since we ran out of oil (and with it, electricity). So I went on a Two Hour (Week) Tour of the city – longer than I wanted, but it turned out I needed every minute to get stuff done before My Parents Come to Suriname!

That visit also went very well – adventures and fun were had by all and my parents no doubt have some new stories of roughing it to add to the ones beginning “Back at the farm…” We really had a great time! I’m glad they were able to come and that it worked out for them to stay in my house. And in my hammocks! Say what you will, they are still some tough farm folk and it was awesome to have them here!

And that is that, so to speak. Here I am, back in the village, trying to do some Peace Corpsing! Throughout it all, I’ve been thinking about my future in Peace Corps and after it (not sure if that will be a separate post or not yet) and all those future thoughts and visits have me a bit on edge – so now I’m just try to settle back in and enjoy the adventures the jungle has to offer me and that I have to offer the jungle! And that's mix of Looking Ahead is actually going really well, just now!

So, that’s the summary, now let’s dive in to the rest! Welcome back to my life, I hope you missed me! I know I missed you.

XOX,

Evan