Sore Endurance

Well, I spent a couple days in the Western World (Dakar, Senegal has become America for me) and remembered many things I had forgotten.  Some problems that are still waiting for me back in the States, and others that now confuse me with their irrelevance.  Just the regular growth pains, I suppose.  But I do wonder what will happen to me when I return.  Will I be difficult to live with?  What will I have to deal with as far as the economy and finding employment?

I've been thinking lately about what sort of life I want to have.  These things, after all, for most people, do not just happen, no matter what fairy tale endings Sleeping Beauty and Snow White get.  Between frustrations with the dense government bureaucracy I am forced to interact with and the purely physical difficulty of surviving in a malnourished country, I want to plan and act for my future, so that I am not planned for or acted on.

Other than that, I am living on letters and packages from friends and family, my lifeline that lets me know I am not forgotten and I am not unloved.  I am starting to work on a project proposal, what will be the biggest work of my service (at least according to some standards).  When it's been approved by my boss and my boss' boss, I'll let you know.  Until then I'm going to be cagey and secretive.  :)

I'm doing well.  Life is hard, but every day I try to manage it better.  It helps to know you still care.  I may be alone in my village, but I am not alone in this world.  I love you.