I’ve been doing some thinking (a dangerous pastime I
know). It’s been over 3 months now in my
Peace Corps stint in Panama. To tell the
truth I’m incredibly happy here and it’s one of the best decisions I’ve made in
my life. I’ve changed a lot since coming
here, but in some ways I’ve remained the same.
You all know me, and you know that during the past I’ve slacked on some
things in my life (that could even be an understatement). I haven’t treated this Peace Corps experience
the same way – I’ve actually been doing some pretty great things in the small
amount of time I’ve been here. But in
other areas I’m still the same old me…in more important areas as a matter of
fact.
I left January 10th knowing that I’d be gone for
almost a whole year before I get to see any of you again, and I promised you
all that I’d keep you updated, keep you close to my Peace Corps experience so
you’d in a way be right here with me.
But as you can see, it’s been over a month since I’ve updated my
blog. Not much has happened in that span
of time, but at the same time so much has happened. You don’t know too much about what I’m doing,
just that I’ve gone to Panama to teach English.
But how am I doing it? How am I
living my life right now? You’re all
pretty much clueless to my day-to-day life, and I want to share it with
you. I’ve slacked on some pretty
important things in the past, and it’s been gnawing on me that I’ve been
slacking on my Peace Corps blog as well.
In reality though, it’s not the blog I’m slacking on. It’s you – the friends and family who’ve been
so close to me throughout my entire life. It was this realization that inspired a sort
of reawakening for myself and this blog.
You deserve better than a once-a-month look into my new life, and you
can be sure that you’ll get something better from now on.
What’s more, in not updating as often as I should, I know
that I’m disappointing Future Nate. Sure
sometimes this can be an uneventful life that I’m living, and the little things
that happen on a daily basis I remember weeks and months later, but what about
in a year? In 23 months? In 10 years?
I don’t want to forget this experience, but day by day I know it’s
slipping away. I don’t want it to. I want to look back on this blog one day and
remember what I was feeling during my experience and what I went through to get
to the end of my service.
So to all of you who I’ve left in the dark these past 3
months, and to Future Nate – I’m sorry. But
hey, I’ve got 23 more months here! And I
don’t plan to let those go by unshared. I
came across a blog of a fellow Peace Corps volunteer here in Panama a few weeks
ago and she writes a pretty sick blog, updating a few times a week. Little things that may seem uneventful at
first glance, but in the grand scheme of things very important. It’s inspired me to post this blog entry and
to start posting more often. All that
being said, you’ll be seeing much more posts from here on out and I hope you
enjoy them as much as I enjoy writing them.
Cheers!
Nate
