5 weeks left: Still 5 weeks left?

Life: In January, we had a big conference at a beautiful hotel on the banks of Lake Kivu, and we talked, essentially, about endings and beginnings. What did Peace Corps mean to us, what did we do, how can we feel proud of it, how do we bring things to a close, and what will we do next. It was really well done, and made me feel good and peaceful about my experience, and more prepared for finding meaningful work once I am done here. It made things feel like they were ending really, really soon. But that was over a month ago, and now there is more than a month to go. It’s strange—too little time to start new things, but too much time to start wrapping things up in earnest, too early to start packing up and giving things away, too early to really say goodbye, but having those goodbyes looming in front of you.

Work: The health post is still going. I took a few more pictures this week. I wish I could be there more often, but it’s far, and there’s a lot of administrative work to be done back here at my site. I won’t bore you.

Crafts and Cooking: There has been a lot of cooking going on, since there are a lot of things I have been saving for later, and now there’s not much later left. In the last week alone, I’ve made chocolate ice cream, brownies, my grandma’s apricot bars, barbecue sauce, sushi, with lots more plans for the weekend. Now that we have memorized the word for ribs, we have talked it over with the owner of our preferred local restaurant, and are having goat ribs on Friday, with my barbecue sauce. We are very excited about this.

Also, I’ve been making a lot of things. I finished a pair of socks, and finished knitting a scarf, except for the crochet trim, which bored me, so I started yet another scarf. Plus, working on some small goodbye and thank you gifts.