Extension of Service and Home leave

As I look back over the past few months, I can’t imagine what I would be doing with myself if I had not been approved to extend my Peace Corps Service for a third year! Would I be back in Alaska right now trying to figure out how to put all the small pieces of my service into a thesis? Just considering that alone makes me realize I made the right move.

Being a third year volunteer is a little strange. Two and a half years ago when I first arrived in Fiji, two years away seemed like an eternity. However, I can now say that having recently returned from a month of “home leave” in the US (which PC graciously grants extendees), I felt more at home when I returned here. 

18 out of 26 people in the original group of volunteers I came to country with made it to Close of Service.  4 of us were granted extensions. Each of us 4 are all that remains of the Integrated Environmental Resource Management Program. The two new groups of volunteers who have since entered their service in Fiji are all doing work in the Health Sector.

Judging from my group, and the group of PCVs before us, when service ends some people are reluctant to go, some just want the hell out, and some look back fondly upon their service but are ready to move on. Sometimes it is difficult to adjust back into the America lifestyle and sometimes it takes being out of your country of service for a while before you can really reflect back and come to terms with what your service meant to you and whether or not you made a difference.

I was in the US for a little over a month, and jet-set around the country seeing many of the people and places I love. My first destination was San Diego, where my intention was to relax in Ocean Beach with Lauren and prepare for the half-marathon I was about to run. But Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum always get together and have too much fun!

Next stop was Missoula, Montana, where I was greeted at the airport by Mr. Anderson and quickly whisked away in his ambulance to the town’s new distillery.

The half marathon approached rather promptly, having to wake up at 4am on the morning of Talasi’s 30^th birthday. It was my 2^nd half-marathon, and somehow I managed to beat my previous time despite all the festivities! The Missoula course was very nice, beginning with sunrise coming out of a canyon and down the river into town. After a few measly hours of recovery we carpooled up the Blackfoot and inner-tubed 3 hours down the river. The mountain water was so cold compared to Fiji, but with beers and good company it was so much fun.

Ian and I toured around Western Montana for two days in the ambulance. It was best friends reunited, buffaloes, beers under the stars, and strange company in once resort town, Hot Springs.

Next stop: Fairbanks, Alaska! I spent a week in Squarebanks where I was able to move my remaining possessions from my professor’s storage shed into Sam and Brady’s house. It was so nice to be in the Great North, however briefly, and see that wonderful group of people again.

Next stop: Colorado! I spent the next week in CO where I got to see all the old CSU gang! It just so happened that Sarah and Lauren were there at the same time, and we got to meet up for one evening in Fort Collins. Lauren was moving across the country on her way to begin her next adventure: grad school at Penn State.

 I got to visit with my favorite cowboy and ex-professor on his ranch, where he treated me to a straight from the garden veggie lunch. He told unreal stories of lobster diving gangs in his Peace Corps Service in the late 1960s and how in Fort Collins he used to have to check his pistol in at the bar when he’d go out dancing.

 I convinced Lolly to join me for a few days at the Rockgrass Festival in Lyons. Mike had so awesomely given me his guest pass for three days of amazing traditional bluegrass! Whoop whoop!

 Finally, I made it to Nitro, WV the ol’ hometown in the Appalachian hills. Let me tell ya, there ain’t NUTHIN’ like a hug Momma!! It was so great to see the family and finally slow down my pace. Dad’s battery business is bumping, Mom’s new house is adorable, and the boys are all grown up! I am officially the shortest person in the family!

Although my trip was action packed, I got to appreciate the fact that I have so many awesome people in my life who are there for me regardless of how long I’ve been away. I am blessed with so much love in my life!

This trip also helped me step outside of my little Fiji bubble, and look objectively at where I am in life right now. Tucked away on a small island in the Pacific, I sometimes wonder if there’s something I’m missing. Am I really that happy and satisfied to be here? Or am I disillusioned after being gone for what sometimes feels like a long time?

I didn’t second guess my decision to remain in Fiji even once! That’s how I know I am where I am supposed to be.

Though I am generally unplugged, I am not disconnected entirely from friends and family back home. At the beginning of service, it was a small worry that people would move on without me, but I have come to realize that true friendships reach across oceans, international datelines, and hemispheres.