The Best Intentions

It was with the best intentions that I started this blog, but the thing about blogging is that you need content - new and interesting content. The thing about the Peace Corps, is that aside from the beginning and interspersed travels, it's usually the furthest thing from "new and interesting"...more like Groundhog Day in the middle of nowhere, without Rita, Larry or Punxsutawney Phil. Not that I'm saying it's bad, it's just not blog-worthy.

That said, the past 3 months since my last post have been pretty relaxing. I've had the typical tribulations - I broke my front tooth and have yet to get it fixed, but hey, it's Europe. My old iPhone died, that was severely traumatizing - but there have also been a few interesting moments. I've taken a few trips to Greece, these have been working trips with my municipal colleagues and they have been far off the beaten tourist paths. For all of Greece's troubles, it still has amazing natural beauty. I went to the Fourth of July picnic at the U.S. Embassy in Skopje. It was open to all Americans living in Macedonia, so it was quite interesting to meet the various characters. Unfortunately, we were not allowed inside the Embassy at all, and even more unfortunate, a storm rolled in and shut things down right quick ~2 hours early - but the grilled hamburger I enjoyed made the whole excursion worthwhile. Finally, about a week ago I visited the tallest continuous waterfall in Macedonia, the Smolare waterfall. The good and terrible thing about the Smolare waterfall is that it is in the BFE corner of Macedonia, meaning that very few people visit the waterfall, but it also means that it's near impossible to easily get to. "Luckily" for me, it's only ~17 miles from Strumica, so I got my happy (stupid) ass up at 6 am on a Saturday and set off running....

-The location of the Smolare Waterfall:

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-I paused in a village I was running through on the way there for some water and to check out this crazy wedding party that was going on ~7:30am (notice the local babas are checking out the scene too - you can't tell, but the people in the distance are dancing, drinking and blaring music):

-The waterfall - finally:

-Me and Smolare, with the slight shadow of shock and death after footin' it 17 miles under the August sun (I reached a good 5:00 shadow of death on the way back):

Looking ahead, the end of this odyssey is actually in sight. This coming week we (my group of PC volunteers) have our COS (Close of Service) conference, that is where we will find out our specific last day of service. PC stagers the dates so that there isn't one mad rush of all the volunteers leaving at once. My host community/work site is hoping for another volunteer to replace me, and I've promised that I'll stick around long enough to show them the ropes when they visit the site for the first time, so that should put my exit date sometime in mid-November.

So, between now and november I'll be wrapping up some projects here, taking one last trip to Germany in September, and trying to figure out what the hell I'll be doing when I set foot back on home soil.
That dilemma has been leading me to ponder, what's more stressful - preparing to leave for the Peace Corps or preparing to return from it?