I will probably cave soon and start taking my ipod to the charging guy. I know I was talking about trying to ration my various batteries, but I have started exercising a little every day, and I like to listen to music when I exercise, so that is adding to the drain. Plus I forgot that I can charge my ipod by plugging in directly to a socket because I have one of those adapters, so I don’t have to use my computer. And I am not really worried about anything being stolen, so it seems like a good idea. Then also I can conserve my computer battery for when I am ready to write a post, and I won’t be siphoning off energy to recharge peripherals at the same time, so I might get several posts written without losing all my charge. All that is likely to become moot in a couple of weeks when IST starts and I will have electricity more or less constantly.

Birthday plans include going to another volunteer’s site on the day of my birthday to see their market and make cake. Several other volunteers are coming also. Then the day after some of us will head to my site, where we will kill some chickens and eat food with some of my friends from the village. It should be lots of fun. The week after that I head to IST, so there isn’t much time left in my village before it will be IST and then my one year of service mark will be up, and that seems like a big milestone for me.

There are a lot of things bubbling under the surface, but nothing really new to report since my last writing. This morning I was listening to the BBC describe an art exhibit in which the artist has done a little pencil drawing of each service person who has died in Iraq or Afghanistan. It was very sad, there are over 5,000 now. I don’t think I used to be a very patriotic person, and I would still hesitate to say I am patriotic in the sense of believing that the U.S. has the right to be the biggest and baddest country, but I am increasingly feeling more invested in the United States as a community; My community and a community that I want to contribute to making better. It is interesting to me that it took me living in a foreign country to discover that. And it isn’t about missing things that we have in the states, its about being apart from family and friends and being aware of how important they are. Friends here are also important, and people are wonderfully open, but no matter how long I am here, I will always be an anasara (stranger and white person, which is what I get called walking down the street). Of course my reaction to the BBC piece could be part of the more intense emotions that have accompanied Peace Corps in general. It is funny how emotions can be affected so much by a geographical setting or a cultural position.