An Unexpected Journey

It is no secret that I am an ultimate, die-hard The Hobbit fan.  It doesn't matter if it is the book or the movie series, the story line and characters get to me every time.  I recently decided to re-read the book and I cannot help but, naturally, find parallels between my life and that of Bilbo Baggins'.  As a Peace Corps volunteer, here are the similarities that I have found between service and Bilbo's story. 1. We partake in an unexpected journey It is custom for individuals applying to be a volunteer to be placed in any (dependent on the selected sector of application) of the 60+ countries where Peace Corps volunteers serve without knowing about their placement country until receiving an invitation for an interview.  The application process recently has allowed for volunteers to have a say in where they would like to go, but it is not a guarantee that someone will get their choice for a country.  It is not unheard of for volunteers to be placed in countr...

...never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined that my service as a Peace Corps volunteer would begin in an almost traumatic fashion.  But, before I get to ahead of myself, let's do a small capstone of the past ten weeks. For those who are unaware of the Peace Corps structure, all those who want to become volunteers most go through a two to three month training period known as Pre-Service Training (PST).  This training consists of orientation, the development of technical skills, the study of language, as well as the time to practice implementation of gained knowledge and skills out in the community.  I spent various amounts of time - anywhere from one to four weeks at a given time - in different parts of Uganda - Mukono, Gulu, Soroti, Kampala - to do all of these activities as required by Peace Corps.  For example, while in Gulu district, I studied Acholi, the local language of my placement district, for four weeks. During our language training, we are ...

After about six months away, I have been most welcomed back into the country most commonly called "The Pearl of Africa".  Now, I understand that some of you may be confused because it has been quite some time since I have last blogged about my experiences in Uganda and, as far as you can tell from my site, I have never left.  However, there have been some major changes in my life since that point in time and the most significant of all has been my acceptance into the Peace Corps.  Never had I imagined that my unexpected journey would take so many unconventional twists (but I guess that is the point).   To be completely honest with you, I thought I had achieved my goal in returning to Uganda.  I was angry and felt stripped of my ability to decide after my semester had come to an early conclusion.  I did not have the proper closure that I needed because we were rushed out of the country so quickly.  I was determined to come back on my own terms and th...