Sometimes it feels like I just got back from Korea and other times it feels like I never left at all. Like I never spent five years in college or visited Ghana or South Korea. I think it has something to do with the fact that I've lived in the same home my entire life and I will probably feel similarly once I return from Costa Rica in 27 months. Of course, the house itself has gone through many changes during my lifetime and I've long since realized that it's not the house of my childhood any longer, but still, I've lived here my whole life, in the same room even and it seems like a blur sometimes. Sometimes. If you read my aspiration statement, you will remember the awkward introduction before I got down to answering the questions (which the Peace Corps definitely did not ask for by the way, haha) in which I talked about my mixed emotions. I feel the same way now as I did when I wrote those words. Leaving the country and coming back and leaving again... it's always so bittersweet. You're excited about experiencing new things, meeting new people, learning a new language, trying new foods, maybe you're even excited about the challenging times ahead. But leaving your friends and family is something that is never easy. I try to play it cool and shrug it off like it's no big deal, but it really sucks sometimes. For instance, I left for Korea in February 2009 and one of my best friends left for China literally two weeks before I returned. Now, seven months later, I'll be going to Costa Rica for 27 months. Barring a vacation down to Costa Rica to see me or a trip home during my service, which is entirely probable, don't get me wrong, I will have gone almost four years without seeing him... 4 years, that's insane. That's the amount of time it takes to get a college degree and I won't have seen him for that long. And that's just one friend. I may have had the opportunity to visit most of my other friends and family in between this trip and the last, but just because it breaks the chain of consecutive months without seeing them, that doesn't really make up for the fact that I will have been away for three years of my life. Don't worry, I'm still going! I just wanted to let anyone and everyone who happens to read this thing know that I do miss you guys and your support while I'm gone is crucial (hint: comments on here or emails).
Speaking of email, I got a laptop today! I really wasn't planning on bringing one, especially since I don't have one and have never had one before, but my mentor (the Peace Corps sets you up with the email address for a volunteer who is currently serving in your host country = invaluable resource) told me that he and every single volunteer he knows either brought one or bought one and that it's basically necessary for you to do your job adequately. So... I got one! After much thinking and researching, I realized that I don't need to get the best one out there. I'm a desktop guy; I don't care about the portability of laptops. What I do care about is getting the most powerful machine for the cheapest price so I can own in the video games I play. But this was a completely different circumstance than any other time I had gone computer shopping. I realized that all I needed was a computer that had Microsoft Office (which isn't cheap... $100!) and could access the Internet. I probably could have saved a lot of money by going the netbook route, but I think I would get really frustrated with a computer that small. I had narrowed it down to four computers: 2 Toshibas, a Gateway, and an HP. One of the Toshibas was sold out and I heard bad things and read bad reviews about the other so it came down to the Gateway and the HP. The Gateway had superior reviews, both customer and expert, a superior processor and more hard drive space. So I went with that one for $550. Of course, that was before Microsoft Office, the anti-virus software and whatever else they charge you for. I also have yet to buy a case and am already over $700. Laim <-- you know who you are.
I also got a camera today! This decision was made much easier after I found out that the camera we had used in Korea was actually only a 5x optical zoom and not a 10x as I had been thinking. I knew that I wanted more zoom and it's kind of hard to find a pocket-sized digital camera that offers more than 10x and doesn't suck in some other category. I had been considering more medium-sized cameras, you know the kind that doesn't fit in your pocket but isn't huge either, because the stats were just so appealing. 30x optical zoom and all the other bells and whistles were almost enough to make me go against my better judgment on the size issue. Lugging around a camera case around my neck and the possibility of it getting lost or stolen were too much in the end. So I ended up with the Sony HX5V. Hopefully, I will be taking lots of pictures and videos and posting them to this blog before too long! Just like the laptop, this purchase skyrocketed in price after adding all the little things you truly need that don't come with it: memory cards, a case, an extra battery and a battery charging station.
Among the lesser purchases I've made or hope to make before I leave are Nike Dri Fit shirts, a nice rain jacket and rain pants (it rains about 3x more there than in Roanoke), a new pair of shoes and a water filter so I can drink the local water and not have to buy bottled water all the time. The Dri Fit shirts were recommended to me by my mentor, so I definitely had to give them consideration. They're meant for running, but sitting around in Costa Rica is probably as hot or hotter than running in the States. They're sweet because they're cooler than normal shirts, they dry faster and they don't stretch. All of which are extremely helpful in the tropics because it's hot, there are no dryers and drying racks stretch clothes really bad as I experienced once before in Korea. We'll see how they hold up.
I had been going back and forth on whether or not to write about this, but the overwhelming support of my guy friends made the decision for me. I noticed a change in myself last week. A thought had occurred to me that had never occurred to me before. While I was at the gym, I saw a girl that I thought was really attractive. So attractive that I would be scared to talk to her because I'm a wuss. Now maybe it was simply because I'm leaving the country for 27 months and I've got nothing to lose but I actually thought about asking her out on a date. If you don't know me, this is something I have never done before and it had literally never even crossed my mind - to ask out a girl that I had never met before or been introduced to; a complete stranger, knowing nothing about her except that she goes to the Y. We will call her YMCA girl as I still do not know her name. My other theory about why it crossed my mind is that living in a foreign country, learning the language, interacting with people in broken English or broken Spanish or broken Korean, has somehow changed me in such a way that I'm at least partially immune to the fear of people. Just the other day I had a pleasant conversation with a random guy in Wendy's. That would have never happened before. But that's not as interesting as YMCA girl - sorry Wendy's guy. I wanted to get the opinions and advice of my friends as I had never done anything like this before and was at a loss for how to go about it exactly. Do I wait for the perfect opportunity or do I make one for myself? Do I bump into her or meet her at the water fountain or just walk straight up to her and ask her? Surely one of my friends would have had experience with this sort of thing and could tell me what to do and what to say. Maybe if I was friends with a bunch of meatheads I could have gotten some terrible pickup lines or something, but not one of them had ever gone up to a random girl and asked her out. I could have easily been discouraged by this, and the old me definitely would have been, but now I feel like it's my duty to ask this girl out. I honestly don't even care what she says in response. Actually, if she says yes I may be more scared about the actual date than I was about asking her in the first place lol. The interesting thing is that although none of my friends had ever done it before, they were all urging me to do it. Some said I had to do it. "Dude, you have to do it," they said. "You've got to." We may never know what YMCA girl's name truly is or what she would have said if I had gotten the chance to ask her (I've only seen her like three times in two months so chances are slim I'll get another chance), but one thing is for sure: overseas travel has changed me, for the better I hope!
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