An Update with a Twist

For the last two years, I’ve had a lot of expectations about what my last few weeks at site would be like.  I expected I would be teaching my classes as normal, but taking more time to appreciate the time with my coteachers and students.  I expected to take a few more trips to my coffee lady and chat with the ladies in the market.  I expected to slowly start getting rid of all the stuff I’ve acquired over two years (seriously, why have I been hoarding all this paper???).  I expected to savor the delicious meals prepared by my host family and eat as many mangos as humanly possible. 

I certainly did not expect to get sick and be medically evacuated to Thailand. 

Now, before you start writing your get-well cards, I’ll begin by saying that I am totally fine and all is well.  I even debated writing this blog, because it’s not particularly entertaining or exciting, but it is part of the Peace Corps experience, and it’s also a great excuse for why I haven’t been blogging lately.  When you have a 103-degree fever you don’t exactly feel like chronicling your experience for the public to read.

Getting sick is never a pleasant experience.  Getting sick abroad really sucks.  Your mom isn't there to take care of you, you have to speak in another language when your brain feels like it's on fire, and no one will give you fruit because they think it's just going to make you more sick.  And sure, you could just have pneumonia or a viral infection, but you could also have dengue fever or malaria.  Even worse, you could have something more serious that could potentially affect the rest of your life, and it really makes you think.  Was all this worth the possibility that I could be dealing with a strange disease for the rest of my life?  

As I was laid up in Phnom Penh for a week (and I am currently still recovering in Bangkok) I had a lot of time to think about that question.  It turned out to be nothing serious, but for a while, I (and my doctors) very genuinely believed in the possibility that I was going to be very sick, potentially for a very long time. 

It’s a scary thought for a twenty-three year old, on the verge of returning home.  However, after long periods of reflection (in between watching episodes of Orange is the New Black), I came to an answer to my question.  If I had become seriously ill in America, having never done the Peace Corps, I know I would have been sitting there thinking, “Man, I wish I had joined the Peace Corps like I had always wanted to.” 

I’ve met so many people here that I can’t imagine never being in my life.  I’ve had so many experiences I wouldn’t want to do without.  I’ve learned a little bit more about the important things in life, and I like to think that is something I will carry with me for a long while.  

So yeah, this isn’t exactly how I imagined ending my service.  But I’m definitely thankful for the week I should have left at my site by the time I return to Cambodia.  Things might be a little more rushed, but I’m looking forward to wrapping things up and starting a new chapter in my life. 

And hey, a few weeks with McDonalds (they have one INSIDE the hospital!) and air conditioning is never anything a Peace Corps Volunteer should complain about.

So expect a few more catch-up blogs this week since I’ll just be hanging out in Thailand, and I’m not really supposed to be wandering around for more than a few hours a day…and most of those wandering hours are used in search of food.  Today I found a Dominos AND iced green milk tea, so it was pretty much the best day ever.

I’m actually just on a food-cation.  

Reunited with my one true love, Mountain Dew.
Oh, and look!  I'm healthy-looking!