Wednesday, December 17, 2008—compost pile, cooking

Yesterday I dug a compost hole. Dad you would be so proud. I think, actually, this is one of the first things a lot of Peace Corps volunteers do when they first get to post, at least the agros. What to do now that I’ve gotten to post? Hmmm. Dig a compost hole. I do feel like I have so much to do though, so much to do, so little time. I know that this will be balanced by times where I have so much time and feel like I have little to do, but at least these first few weeks I’ve felt very busy and very divided, not knowing what to do…work on stuff in the house? Go shopping for stuff for the house? Write? Read and research agroforestry? Study language? Go walking and exploring the community? Go meet people. I’m trying to stay balanced and doing a bit of all, but the days do seem too short.
Yesterday, I made my own lunch, finally. Beautiful. How wonderful to cook for myself, to eat vegetables and lots of them. To cook with butter and not oil. To be able to control what I eat. I have been looking forward to that for a very long time, and I can’t wait to continue stocking my kitchen. I made fried okra with onions and garlic. In about a month, hopefully I’ll have some chickens too…mmm eggs.
It has been good to be able to help with the construction of my house though, especially the first few days. It was really good to 1) have something tangible to do instead of sitting around feeling like I’m in limbo, floating, waiting and 2) to be able to contribute to the house and help move it along, so that hopefully it get’s finished soon. So I helped with hours of painting, and putting in screens in windows, digging holes, etc.