Thursday, July 22, 2010

Sorry it's been so long...

The last few months have been a whirlwind and I can hardly believe that half of the summer is already over. I haven’t posted since May even though I’ve been very busy with many exciting and interesting things because blogging isn’t exactly something that comes natural to me. You may or may not have been wondering what I’ve been up to these past two months…well I haven’t disappeared, I’ve just been avoiding sitting down and writing. I’ve never really enjoyed writing about myself. Writing essays about myself for college admissions and scholarships is akin to torture for me. I’ve always wanted to be one of those witty, self-aware people who keep detailed journals chronicling my life and thoughts and I have set many resolutions to write in my journal everyday or every week, but it invariably fails because I’m too self-critical and self-conscious about my writing. I spend half the writing process in my head wondering if what I’m writing is interesting and smart. Sadly for someone who spends half my day in my thoughts – day dreaming and analyzing – I’m not very introspective, at least not in a constructive way. I was discussing blogging with a friend of mine, whose blog happens to be hilarious, and he told me to stop waiting to only write about the big events and to write about my everyday life instead. He said consistently posting helps people connect to what you are writing about. The truth is that my average day as a Peace Corps volunteer in Armenia isn’t that exciting. On a productive day I wake up around 9 AM, exercise, eat breakfast, and get ready for work. I enjoy working at home so I often work at home unless I am teaching a class that day. Besides work I read, watch TV or movies on my computer, or do chores around my house. I also spend a lot of time thinking about what I’m going to do after Peace Corps.

Now that I’m beginning my second year I have projects to start and after how quickly the first year went I imagine that the second year is going to fly by in no time. I’m starting my SPA project now, which is to open a cultural house in my village and develop after-school activities for the youth. This will keep me very busy throughout the fall and then this winter I must start the research for my thesis to finish my masters degree. I’m also beginning to study for the Foreign Service Officers Test, which means brushing up on my U.S. Constitution and U.S. history. The last year has definitely been a roller coaster – at times I feel a little worse for the wear, but I know in the end I’m learning a lot about myself and what I want. I still have a lot to figure out and as cheesy as it might sound I really am focused on self-improvement over the next year and making the most of my second year in Armenia.

So after giving my blog a re-vamp I'm going to hopefully dive right in and actually keep a resolution for once.