Day Two of Captivity...

Hi all,

Totally joking.

The first few days of the semester have actually been pretty good. I mean, I know my classes and we're starting new topics and I feel my creativity is up to snuff. I also didn't forget as many names as I feared...just, maybe, 10 or so?

I have still been fighting some anxiety, although I hear this is not uncommon among other volunteers. But when I have to talk myself into going back to sleep when my body thinks we should get up an hour earlier than needed, it certainly is annoying.

On a more positive note - today I realized I hit my 6 month mark of being in country.

So that's pretty cool. I thought about what I've accomplished, and felt no panic at only having half my time left. I know that this semester will be even more full, and I'm working on breaking it down into manageable chunks. I'm in them midst of planning on being a part of at least 4 trainings, helping to implement an international creative writing initiative, look into getting some free books, and of course grad school and committee work. Plus, hanging out with my Ukrainian friends.

And breathing. Because breathing is good.

Other random things: The free app of the week is Lifeline - and it's basically choose-your-own-adventure on steroids. It works offline, and I just spent a harrowing past 3 days wondering if Cadet Taylor was going to make it off the moon he was stranded on in a freak space accident. If you die, apparently you get to rewind to any one of your past choices. I managed to make it out, but it got...oddly intense? And pretty freaky. Anyhow, I recommend it.

I recently researched water towers - why do we have them and are they obsolete. Short answer: gravity and no! Keeping up with high-volume times, being able to supply during power black-outs, and handy navigation devices for small plane pilots flying over many small towns. Thrilling stuff.

Also, today's younger club theme was "Things that Fly" (that well of creativity...sometimes it's a bit...leaky). It actually went really well and culminated in a paper airplane competition.We obviously had a blast. I'd looked up a pattern for airplanes, but they all decided to just go for it and did their own designs:

Best of all, no one lost an eye!

My older club was a bit of a bust - only one student made it. So after asking what he did on break (read comics on his phone), I then learned an awful lot about Lanterns. As in the Green, Red, Black etc. variety. So that was interesting. And then he worked on trying to make me a better "Durok" (Idiot) card player. To practice, I made him name all the cards and suites. 

Anyhow, full day tomorrow - shopping, planning, and HOPEFULLY starting on my third paper...

Hope all is well,

Steph

PS - bonus picture! Just got this today from the baby baptism party I was invited to by my friend (although the baby was in none of the pictures, because: sleeping infant).

Lila, happy couple, school friend and me