...of course I'll update my blog regularly!

Let's see: the last time I updated this blog was September 27th, 2013. I wrote about how it had been a whole THREE WEEKS since the last time I had written. And then I moved to the town where I am currently doing my Peace Corps service, and have not written since. Whoops.

So between October 2013 and April 2014 (7 months), the following has happened:

• I moved out of one family's house and into another
• I got a kitten 
• I "ran" a half-marathon (some might say "crawled") 
• I cut bangs for myself and let them grow back out 
• I got a yoga mat AND a hammock (aka, I became a happier person) 
• I saw my first wild monkeys and snakes just hanging out 

And now... 

• I flew home to visit family and friends!

So here I am, back in the bedroom I inhabited years ago when I lived with my parents, freezing in the 40-degree-Fahrenheit April, gorging myself on the smorgasbord that is the American food industry, stressing out over traffic jams and too many iMessages, planning exactly what I will do for the rest of my days here, and wondering: have I changed at all? 

Have I changed at all? Meaning either, have my core values changed, or have I changed anything about the world around me. Because isn't that the point of Peace Corps? We all want to change the world, and we all know that we must "be the change we want to see". This isn't new stuff. But how do you know if anything has changed? Some brands of toothbrush bristles turn blue when they've scraped away enough crust, and Brita filters light up now when they reach their water-cleaning capacity. Unfortunately, though, people are a lot more discreet. But I think that one of the core lessons I've learned so far is this: all of life is a continuum. There is no such thing as a flashy indicator that lets you know when you've made a difference. Sure, people develop diagnostics, evaluations, and questionnaires that supposedly measure the spaces between befores-and-afters...but really? Think about it: in my line of work, I can teach small business owners the importance of tracking their income and expenses. The space between before-and-after is big. Cool! But...what difference really happened? Is it that they learned the physical act of writing things down, or that they learned the importance of keeping track of things? I could get existential and say that "it doesn't really matter", but let's be real: it does matter. 

Well, I'll leave you with that to ponder, along with some pictures, because I'm sure there is some research out there that says that people prefer when blogs have pictures. 

Río San Juan - the other side is Nicaragua 

Fishing hole 

Fresh cacao (or, what dreams are made of)

Pineapple field on a cloudy day 

By the way, this blog marks the beginning of my new ongoing blog project. AKA, I am going to update this weekly, and I also just launched another blog specifically about food and fitness in the Peace Corps. Check it out!