Reawakening

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 10^th 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