#1

Our one year mark here in Georgia is creeping up on me.  To celebrate, I will write about a Peace Corps Platitude every day to see if I've measured up to the propaganda.

"You'll experience your highest highs and your lowest lows." - I don't agree with this at all.

A case could be made for the highest highs.  Off the top of my head?  The times I've spent laughing with my counterpart-- and the times I've spent with her getting schooled on the things nobody talks about here.  Watching my little host sisters do insane things and having them imitate me in ridiculous ways.  I started quite the trend carrying a water bottle around.  I've never seen a four year old protect a water bottle so fiercely before.  Successfully teaching something mildly challenging on my own.  The look on my partner teacher's face when she found out she was going to America.  And then hearing her complex take on it when she returned to Georgia. 

The lowest lows?  No.  Thankfully, I don't think that this is true.  I've hit a few serious lows here, mostly loneliness in one form or another, but not the lowest I've ever been.  I think you can feel just as lonely when you're surrounded by people in America as you can when you're physically alone in the village halfway across the world.  Sure it's hard to be here sometimes, but loneliness takes a certain commitment to the idea that you're actually alone, as opposed to accepting the fact that human connection is not always easy.

My grade for Platitude #1: 6 (or a 9 if you're living in the village and this platitude is your coworker's nephew)