09 January 2008

return to volunteer life

so i am back off to tablas and the last six weeks of my volunteer life there. i am horrendously behind in this blog and in my e-mails, so the next time i get to internet (who knows?), i promise entries on the rest of the adventures (vigan, baguio, rice terraces, manila).

what can i really say about this month of traveling? it has been good to see other parts of the philippines on many different levels. i’ve seen such a huge range of classes of people, levels of society and really feel like i have a more accurate picture of the philippines in general. and overall a better picture of the country and how it functions, works, lives. and it is good to see that some of the things that bother me so much in tablas are ubiquitous – it is just part of how things are done here.

i am starting to think about the future and the situation when i return to the states. i’ve got my plane ticket to uruguay (leaving 26 february!) and will be back in LA on march 25. i have to fly through the states to get down to south america and … i think this is going to be the worst. i will be absolutely aching to get out of the airport and to go home. but … south america and seeing brad again will be good. how nice it is to know that this break will only be for two months. but then i have future jobs and possibilities to be thinking of and considering. how weird to be planning the next phase of my life when i still have these other parts to finish.

i am … sort of not looking forward to returning to tablas. i feel unsure if i can finish what i want to before i leave … i knew these last six weeks were likely to be the hardest (excluding those first months, of course), and i just hope that i can keep my focus and drive and finish whatever it is that i may have started.

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