One of the
basic truths about life as a Peace Corps Volunteer is that no matter how many
activities you take on, you will have an excess of free time. This is due to a
combination of being one of the only Americans in town, being home, alone, for
the night every day by 7pm at the latest, and the need for a increased alone
time to maintain mental health.
Filling this
free time is a big part of a PCV’s service, and we each do it differently. Here’s
a list of all the at-home activities I’ve engaged in so far (but I’m not
telling you how big of a proportion of my time each activity takes. A girl needs
some secrets, after all!):
Reading books
Crocheting
Basket weaving
Watching movies
Watching old TV
shows
Doing
home-decorating projects
Cooking
Playing
freecell with real cards
Playing card
games on my computer
Playing
complete, solo games of bananagrams, adding one at a time until all 144 are
used
Reorganizing
thousands of Kindle books by last name, and then by genre
Drawing (you’ll
never see a single drawing I’ve done here, because every single one looks like
it was done by a 4th grader, but it’s therapeutic nonetheless.)
Designing a
wall-hanging I hope to sew in the near future
Religious study
Dancing around
my room to hip-hop music
Exercising
Painting my
nails and braiding my hair in weird ways
Taking pictures
of the baby cows on the compound – yup, that’s a leisure activity for me!
Writing overly long
emails to my friends and family
Writing in my
journal
Writing these
lovely blog posts
It’s a pretty
good list, huh? I’ve managed to even impress myself, seeing it all listed out
here like that. One thing's for sure: you can’t be a Peace Corps Volunteer and not enjoy your own
company!
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| My food-themed bananagrams creation: a solid two-hours' work. |
