Peace Corps, Take Two!

 So Peace Corps is hard. I knew this, of course, based on my previous volunteer experience, but "living it" again has reminded me of how mental and sensory exhaustion can be just as challenging as your basic physical exhaustion.  As we wrap up our 5 day orientation in Albania at the Monastery of St Vlash (click HERE for a history of the place - pretty interesting), here are some initial thoughts/observations:

• As soon as we exited the airport, there was that wood burning smell. Same thing I experienced in Kazakhstan and other "developing" countries. Still a lot of trash burning. It's not necessarily that unpleasant, just odd.
• The monastery has its pros and cons as an orientation/host site. The food is good and naturally locally sourced. They have goats, sheep, chickens, fruit trees, etc. (a pomegranate tree with the biggest pomegranates I've ever seen!) They make their own butter, yogurt, jams, etc. so I'm already eating healthier and eating more veggies than I did in the states.
• On the downside, they also have a fair number of dogs to guard the compound and the animals. When we first arrived, I was like, "Awwww, doggies!" But after a few nights of them barking their fool heads off, I've progressed more to an atittude of, "Those fucking dogs!"  :)
• Back to the food: one night they served what they called "Potato Puree" - which, as you may have guessed, is basically mashed potatoes. But I like their phrase better and hope to remember to always refer to mashed potatoes as potato puree in the future!  :)  I have also eaten more eggplant in the past few days here than I have in....well, ever.  Lol
• The trainees are just as interesting a mix - if not more so - than my first go round. Definitely more POC. We even have a very proud drag queen from Arizona. Lots of whip smart folks, as well as a few of your usual PC hippy dippy types (like me!). At least four LGBTQ folks, including me, and probably more who have not yet "announced." I am actually the 4th oldest volunteer, as we have an 82 year old woman, a 71 year old woman, and a 63 year old man. There's a few other folks in their mid-late 50s and then the remainder of the 42 total (35 Albania, 7 Montenegro) are a mix of recent/semi-recent college grads and folks in their 30s.
• One thing that is very different from my last go round is the technology, and what PC provides to facilitate connectivity. We were each given a Samsung tablet with headphones, wireless keyboard & mouse, and a 60gb data plan--partly to aid in ongoing online training.  We were also given sim cards for our phones with a data plan that left the one I had in the states in the dust. I wanna say it's another 40gb for the phone for data and gobs of minutes and texts. Accordingly, PC expects - and provides - pretty consistent communication with volunteers. 
• Tomorrow, we leave for the Pre-service training villages and the Albania and Montenegro trainees will thus split up (expect for periodic joint training when we come together - sometimes in Albania and sometimes in Montenegro). I have been told my host family is an older couple - a retired priest (!) who is 73, and his wife is a retired banker of 68. 
• As it so happens, these folks just found out they've come up in the "queue" to be able to go to a thermal spa for a week or so and will be leaving soon after I arrive, so I will actually be settling in to THEIR house alone. Kinda trippy, but I'm actually glad to be able to acclimate a bit, figure things out etc., w/o having to bother them.

Will probably post again right before they return with initial observations on Montenegro and our training site, my homestay, etc. Onward!

Disclaimer: Any thoughts, observations, opinions, etc. are of course mine and not necessarily the views of Peace Corps.