Transitioning from one year into the next

{ 05/09/2010 @ 03:23 } · { Uncategorized }

Any volunteer you talk to will tell you that the second year is very different, and much more productive, than the first. I always listened to these volunteers and believed them, but until I lived through that transition, I could not understand how different one year is from the next! I feel like my first year was marked by crying. Haha. Seriously though, everything seemed to go wrong! I didn’t know the right people. I was constantly beset by communication issues. My service stretched into the future with no foreseeable end.
And then, after I passed the year mark, a very different pattern emerged. I started accomplishing things! I worked at a local school for a time, my girls club is small but highly functional. I am in no way fluent, but my Zulu is at a comfortable place. After a trip in May I also realized how much Xhosa I understand, and I am functional in Swati as well! This is really exciting for me, because it means that I can communicate with a majority of the black population in South Africa!
Psychologically that transition into the 2nd year was massive. Suddenly, problems that seemed insurmountable the day before were manageable; mostly because I suddenly had less than a year! I hardly cry anymore, except when I think about how soon I will have to leave. I have made some great friends in my village, and it makes me so sad to think I might never see some of them again.
In more recent news, the strikes (there should be a post later today, or possibly tomorrow, on the strikes) have allowed me the opportunity to teach some English classes to my girls club. We are now meeting more than once a week, and I am helping them with basic English. As the strike continues into its 3rd week, I am hoping to increase attendance. So far the English club has been fun, and I am enjoying it.
I am mostly shocked at how fast 2010 has come and gone! In less than a week I turn 26 (shudder!!), and soon enough it will be summer break and Christmas holidays! From then I will be in overdrive to wrap things up, and figure out how I am going to get everything back to America! 7-ish months really isn’t that long, especially when it took me so long to get things started up in the first place!
Despite all the problems I have had, and how jaded I am, I really have enjoyed my service, and will be sad to see it come to an end.