The Warmth

"So don't let the world bring you down,

Not everyone here is that fucked up and cold,

Remember why you came,

And while you're alive,

Experience the warmth,

Before you grow old."

'The Warmth', Incubus, Make Yourself 1999

They say that a year into service one senses a lull, a dragging, a low point on the roller coaster of emotion that is being a PCV. After 14 some-ought months, work is routine, experiences familiar, cultural integration commonplace. For all intents and purposes, things are just less shiny and new. Thoughts steer away from immediate surroundings to ever-closer holidays and post-PCV life.

Now, I wouldn't say I've been completely enveloped by this state of mind, but I'm sure about 50% of my allocated active-imagination time most certainly revolves around the aforementioned topics. The thought of going home, being with my parents, seeing the beach, playing with my dogs, eating and drinking till my holiday heart's content - I can taste it. [Quite literally as I'm expecting to gain some serious pounds during Christmas - I'm planning on near double figures (ha, pun apparently intended).] Only 24 days until I'm free to be me. For three weeks at least.

Honestly, I don't attribute this case of cabin fever solely due to being a PCV. Being anywhere for 15 months, with only 4 days of taken vacation, will drive anyone stir crazy. As lovely a place as St Andrews was for Uni, I was itching to go home both at Christmas and summer alike. Never mind the fact Scots speak English, that I had a Starbucks in town and that some of my closest friends were at hand - I still needed out. And obviously a girl who went to Uni abroad and swiftly joined up with the Peace Corps soon after gets sick of home just the same... this roller coaster of emotion Peace Corps warns you about apparently applies to my entire life, not merely my two year stint in Morocco.

However, during a rather testing bus ride this past week - one that included a near-eighty people in a fourty-something capacity, two drunks, one crazy, ticket checkers, two fights between ticket checkers and said drunks, crying children, livestock, and an hour late, two-hour time-span on a usually one hour bus - I was truly about to lose it as homeboy in front of me would not stop turning around and unsubtly staring. Luckily, Branden Boyd and Co. came to the rescue on the good old ipod random shuffle (a serious life saver future PCVs readers) and reassured me that I shouldn't let crap like this get me down and I should, indeed, remember why I came and enjoy the warmth around me while I'm here. There are so many here who have showed me so much love and care and who are more than worth the sacrifice. I just need to recharge my batteries at home it seems and return refreshed and anew. [Shaking it off.]

Chilling Challenge

''Consider this dismaying observation: this chamber has no windows, and no doors. Which offers you this chilling challenge: to find, a way out!'' - Ghost Host, Haunted Mansion

This week is not my favourite. I'm in the midst of a pretty relentless cold, temperatures have taken a serious nose-dive, and my favourite PCV & fellow Sedona-miz-ian has abandoned me. And by abandoned I mean successfully completed his two-year service and is moving on with his life to San Francisco via Paris and Copenhagen. Jerk.

Night before last was his last in town, so we celebrated with Risotto and Key Lime pie. I made the mistake of over-pushing dessert when the poor kid had been making the rounds and stuffing his face with sweets all day. Nothing like a cavity or two as a souvenir of his stay. Any-who, in order to combat any potential waterworks, I attempted to remain devoid of any emotion. Assertively telling (aggressively yelling at) him to avoid any mention of 'I'll miss you'. I think I leaned too far that direction, as upon reflection, I think I came off pretty nonchalant about his leaving... oops. Either way, I'll miss you dude! Officially the best sitemate ever. Not that the replacement has big shoes to fill or anything...

Speaking of new guy! I got to have him, Nathaniel, & Heather (wonderful friend visiting from Scotland) over last Sunday, which also happened to be Halloween night. We had curry pumpkin soup, some pumpkin seeds, and a spectacularly carved Jack-o-Lantern by Nathaniel. It was a perfectly misty night and lots of candles, my meowing cat, and the soundtrack to the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland (don't judge me) helped set the mood. The evening was brought to a close with a group viewing of Shutter Island. Not too shabby, Halloween 2010, not too shabby at all.

Nathaniel & I

Halloween Feast

AHHHHHHHHHHHH.

Carving in Action

So after two years of hard work, it seems he did, indeed, find a way out. Well done & good luck!

That one story about my cat...

So a few of you may have heard through the grapevine that while I was up North helping out with the new staj's training, a bit of baiting and switching occurred here in Sedona-miz. It went a little something like this:

I was happily up north, in a gorgeous mountain town near Fes, enjoying my time with five bright-eyed PCTs when I get a text from the sitemate.

'So, I went to your house to borrow some butcher paper [to wrap his backpack and ship it home] and there's no sign of Jeter. There is, however, food, water, and shit all over the place. Would your family have taken him? Or should we be worried.'

Panic set in. I was about 11 hours away with only my host-sister's phone number who is currently living in Marrakech... Hmm. I text her anyways asking about my kitty's whereabouts. I text her again the next day. And again the next day. To no response. I get another text from the sitemate maybe three days later stating:

'So I'm 99% sure the cat that is now in your house is not Jeter.'

?!?!?!1alhj92i3d$!35oj3i1?!?

Right. Time to call the host-sister.

'Hey! No evil? Everything good? Thank Allah. You know where my cat might be? Nathaniel is pretty darn sure the one in my house isn't Jeter'

'Nope, it's definitely him. He just gained a lot of weight, he got really fat!'

'Where was he? How did he get out/back in?'

'He was ... at the neighbours... through a window... lots of food... scratching host-brother... I brought him back when I was home this weekend.'

'Okay, I'll trust you! See you next week, Take care of your head'

And so I then called Nathaniel.

'Um so host sis said [insert aforementioned scenario here]'

'[Guffaw] HA there is no way that this cat is Jeter, but let me know what you think when you get home tomorrow'

So I travel back to Sedona-miz, debating any and all possible scenarios of what the heck went down while I was gone. Did Jeter jump out the window in desperation due to loneliness? Due to starvation of host-family innocently forgetting to feed him? Did he scamper out the door when the opened it? Was he hiding/dead inside? Is this even my cat in my house? Why would they have switched him? Do they think it's really him or do they feel guilty for losing/killing mine? Whaaaat happened?

The bus arrives. I drag my belongings up the hill. I put the key in the door and hear a meowing on the other side. After opening the door I was face to face with one BEAST of a feline. Other than mild colour similarities, this most certainly is not my animal. This monstrosity was at least three times the size & weight of my cat, snarling, and following me around the house incessantly. W.T.F. So I called Nathaniel to help a) get rid of this grotesque freak of nature and b) find my poor little kitty. We accomplished goal a relatively quickly, disposing of the vermin just up the street. Part b proved more difficult.

It wasn't until three days later, while getting dressed for work, that I heard a familiar meow outside my window. There, in the garden, was Jeter. I booked it down the stairs, down the street, and around the corner half dressed and in slippers to grab my emaciated and affectionate little kitty.

For the record, I still have no idea what actually happened.

Jeter

The imposter.