Still Alive, Still in Swaziland

I am officially the worst blogger in the entire world, and for that I apologize.

A lot has happened in the past six months! I don't even know where to begin...

We'll start in April, when I was busy running around making final preparations for GLOW Camps 2016. The last week of April and the first week of May brought some of the most exhausting and rewarding days of my Peace Corps service. Two full weeks of games, talent shows, sexual reproductive health sessions, team building exercises, choreographing and performing a flash mob, making s'mores, singing songs, crowning camp queens, baking cupcakes, and attending PJ parties left my body exhausted and my heart full. I worked with my co-directors and our incredible Swazi counselors for over a year to prepare for these camps, and I couldn't be prouder of what a success they were.

For a lot more photos of GLOW Camps 2016, visit www.facebook.com/glowswaziland

Straight from camp (seriously, like 48 hours later) I was on a plane from Johannesburg to Bali! My friend Hannah and I planned a final vacation together before our 2 years of Peace Corps ended. I absolutely fell in loveeee with Southeast Asia. For ten days we ate allll the food and drank alll the cocktails and soaked up allll the sun on several gorgeous beaches around Indonesia. Highlights from the trip include: getting a fish pedicure, swimming with elephants, avoiding monkey attacks, drinking starbucks on the beach, and running away to a tiny island with no motor vehicles and watching the sun set from a hammock in the ocean. I can truly say I'll remember this trip for the rest of my life, and I'm so grateful to have been able to spend the time with one of my best friends from Peace Corps.

Then, immediately after Bali (seriously, like 48 hours later), I was on a bus to Group 12's Close of Service Conference. Here, the entire group of volunteers that I arrived in Swaziland with was brought together one last time to enjoy each other's company and prepare to finish our service. It was such a gift to have spent two years serving with this group of people, and I know for a fact I wouldn't have had the strength to stay here in the bad times without them. Saying goodbye was bittersweet, because I'm so excited for all the adventures everyone has planned, and so grateful to have 35 people I can truly call family spread out all across the globe, but I have always known that life in Swaziland during my third year extension wouldn't be the same without them. (Oh yeah, have I mentioned on my blog that I decided to extend my service for a third year? Well, if not, I'm still writing to you from Swaziland.. Because I extended!)

Immediately after COS Conference (like, 2 hours later...) we were all on our way to Bushfire Festival. Always a highlight, Bushfire is the one weekend a year when quiet little Swaziland throws a great party. Music, art, and people from all over the world transform Malandela's Farm and House on Fire into a wonderland. Also: Food Trucks! As always, it was a great time. So great that I didn't even remember to take any pictures. Oops!

June and July were slower months, as I made preparations to move out of my favorite little hut and into the capital city for my extension position. I said goodbye to almost all of my best friends here, who are all off in very different wonderful and exciting directions, living their lives after Peace Corps. Saying goodbye to my host family was hard. Even though I am still in the country and am able to visit them, it was difficult to take all my photos of the walls, pack up my stuff, and go. One of the hardest parts was saying goodbye to my best friends in the whole world, Wakhile and Aphiwe, because they are too young to understand. I have plans to visit in the next couple weeks, and I truly can't wait to see everyone again. My host family took such great care of me, and I am forever grateful for their hospitality, understanding, generosity, and love.

And just like that, I was living in a flat in the capital city, in the guesthouse of a compound with a pool, with house help and a washing machine and running water and cable TV. I had culture shock in the same country, just a couple hours down the road from where I had been living for the past two years. I absolutely love my apartment and town life in general, as well as my busier/more demanding schedule in my new job. I am the coordinator for all of Peace Corps' GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) and BRO (Boys Reaching Out) clubs in Swaziland, and I have so many exciting projects in the works! This job is a really nice transition between being a volunteer and having a real-life job, as I still get to transition back and forth between roles sometimes. Its only been a month so far, but I'm enjoying it a lot!

In the near future, I have a trip to Cape Town planned to visit a fellow G12, shop, and eat Mexican food. Beyond that, I'm playing fantasy football and counting down the days (69!) until I'm back on American soil for my first real Thanksgiving and Christmas in two years!

I have more internet access, so I could try to promise I'll be better at updating this blog in the coming year, but we all know how that's going to end.
Love from Swaziland!