Flies, Snails, and Slugs...Oh My!

Well, rain is here with more moments of sun and warmth. With the rain and the warmth, there are more animals to pass on the road every morning and evening. Let me try to paint a picture in words of my morning commute from the farm house to the base. I wake up at 6:10 a.m. and get ready for about 30 minutes. I have already taken a shower the night before - I am not that fast :) Then I begin my walk around 6:40 a.m. The first animals which I meet are the cows eating on the left immediately following the house. Then on my right are two sheep which usually talk to me in their unique way as I pass. Next, as I round the corner I see horses on my left having their breakfast. By the horses, there is a fenced in area with the guinea pigs and chickens. The rooster crows to announce a new day. Then I may pass a snail on the road before I walk down the gravel road leading to the base. On the gravel road, there are often bugs that I think look like slugs. I am not the expert in bugs. There could also be worms on the road after rain. Among these friends I meet along the road, I may have to dodge birds which fly above my head. At least they seem so close I feel like I need to dodge them. Once I reach the base, I have breakfast between 6:45 and 7:15 a.m. During that time, there may be flies which want to join me at the table. I have a break after breakfast until 8 a.m. and at 8 a.m. my day officially begins. Now you know about my morning and the friendly critters I meet thankfully mainly outside :)

This week is the last full week for the schools here. They are preparing to go on outreach to China, Mongolia, Cameroon, Madagascar, and countries in Europe. I am preparing to transition from work in hospitality to staffing the worldview school. Today I cooked lunch for the last time. I realized that after the fact. This afternoon, I looked through the applications for the worldview school. There will be seven nations represented in the school. They are the U.S., Switzerland, England, Norway, Germany, India, and South Korea. Most of the students are around my age. One student is younger than me by a few months. Otherwise, I will be one of the youngest in the school as staff. They may not realize this though unless I tell them. Some staff at the base thought I was 25-27 years old. I realize my age is perceived based on who I am around. In the university, people thought that I was younger.

This week I have had the opportunity to experience the necessity to choose my reaction. I learn, not only in my mind but with experience, the ability to choose to follow my feelings or not. Yesterday, it was raining a lot. I came down from the farm house with my umbrella keeping me dry to a warmer building after it cooled down outside. In the evening, it was still raining, but as I left, I discovered that my umbrella was broken. I pushed the button to open the umbrella, but the button went in and stayed in without opening the umbrella. It was almost funny. My umbrella broke when I needed it, of all times. So I asked a student if I could borrow their umbrella. On my way to my room, I realized that I could easily be upset and frustrated because I now had no umbrella or I could be thankful that I had an umbrella at that moment to keep me dry during my journey. I chose to be thankful.

Well, that is a little about my time at the moment. I will move on Saturday from the farm house to the base for the remainder of my time here. I will miss that room, but I look forward to the people I will live with when the worldview school begins at the beginning of July.

Until next time,

Rebecca