5 years ago
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Preparing to Say Goodbye to Georgia

by Rawan / Her

I only have three months left of service and I’m beginning to realize that means I have to say goodbye. I’m beginning to mentally prepare myself to leave.

I have a little over three months left of Peace Corps service and I’m beginning to mentally prepare myself to leave. Since my arrival in Georgia, I welcomed this new country as my home. I knew that I was going to stay for a couple of years, so I mentally got used to living here quickly. When we decided to extend, it was about nine months before we were originally set to leave. Therefore, as everyone else in my cohort was mentally preparing to leave around the Spring of 2018, Justin and I continued as normal.

As I am thinking of returning to the United States, I started thinking of the meaning of home. When people leave their homes, they expect things to be the same when they return. However, I’ve been gone from the U.S. for three years. I haven’t even lived in my so-called hometown for longer than that- about seven years. When I return to the U.S., my heart needs my home to be the same. But my head is nervously calculating how much it actually changed.

Despite the changes in my small world, such as friends getting married or pregnant, there are changes on a national scale. When I left the United States, Obama was still president. When I return, Trump will be more than halfway done with his current term. Since then, national and global movements started that have changed the national discourse on multiple fonts.  The Women’s March started while I was gone. The Time’s Up and the #MeToo movement also started when I was gone. Colin Kaepernick took his first knee months after we arrived in Georgia. Conversations regarding sexual violence, sexism, racism, and gun violence are now occupying more pages in newspapers.

America is no longer the same. Some could make the argument it is for the worst and some could make the argument for the better. I’m going to leave my opinions out of it for this blog post. The whole point for me to write this down is to highlight how different America is now than when I left it three years ago. When I left my parents’ house at 5 something in the morning in April 2016, I honestly did not anticipate this much change in this amount of time. Because of all these nations, I am wondering how much reculture shock am I going to experience. I know that I’m not the first Peace Corps Volunteer to think this because here is an article about a Returned Peace Corps detailing his thoughts returning home.

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Took a beautiful walk with other Peace Corps to capture the beauty of this city. Imereti (region), Georgia

 

Things in Georgia also dramatically changed while I’ve been here. My town for instance now has multiple fast food chains! For two years, I needed to go to the capital if I wanted to get my hands on a real hamburger (that isn’t McDonald’s). But now, a mom-and-pop shop, ironically called White Castle Burger, has opened in my area! One of my Georgian friends was engaged when I met her. Now, she is married and has two daughters! And no, she did not have twins. One amazing change that happened in Georgia on a national level has also been the smoking ban in enclosed public spaces. For instance, when I would go out to a restaurant, my clothes reeked of cigarettes when I came home. Now, it is illegal to smoke in restaurants. My clothes and lungs couldn’t be any happier.

Leaving home does a funny thing to you. Everyone around you changes little by little, so they don’t notice their own changes. I change little by little while I’m over here, but I don’t notice it. I know that I have changed gradually, but could I pinpoint the exact moments, no, I cannot. Then both our worlds will collide when I return and I have to make sense of it and analyze how my personal puzzle pieces fit into everyone’s lives.

I’ve heard multiple Peace Corps Volunteers tell me that when they returned home, that they felt out of place. Home is supposed to feel comforting and fits right into place. I’ve been told that this might not be the case. Before I departed for service, I asked a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer who served in South America how long it took her for home to feel like home again. Her response: THREE YEARS. She said that the first six months were the most difficult and then she gradually started getting used to it. But the first three years, she felt a tug or a pull towards her country of service.

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I didn’t do the best job of capturing the city’s night lights. Tbilisi, Georgia.

I have a sense that I will feel this way about Georgia. I extended because this place is already occupying a permanent place in my heart. Now that I’m here for the third year, the roots are even deeper. To help with my readjustment, I’m beginning to look forward to what I have in the United States. In the next several months, Justin and I will begin a new chapter of our lives. Peace Corps will become something that we did, rather something that we are.

My friends back home have been also patiently awaiting my return. One of my oldest friends, Nikki, who I basically consider family at this point, got engaged while I was gone (read a related blog post here). The day after I return to the U.S., we are going bridesmaids dress shopping. Nikki patiently waited until I got back so I can shop with the rest of the crew. I also happened to convince my baby sister (well, she is actually almost 24 years old) to take some time off work to help me set up my new home by unpacking some boxes and buying new furniture.

Therefore, I am excited for the next chapter of my life to begin. These past three years in Georgia have been such an amazing chapter. It feels bittersweet to close this chapter of my life, but it is coming to a close whether I am prepared or not.

 

 

 

 

5 years ago

An Ode to Minny, our Cat

by Rawan / Her

This short tale is about our small, friendly kitten named Minny.

Some animals come and go, but Minny is here to stay forever. As previously detailed in this blog post, we have had many animals just live in our yard. Justin and I have literally had a rooster, rabbits, cats, dogs, and even mice. The mice were the least welcome. Our neighbor even keeps bees- but don’t even get me started on Achiko, our neighbor. One of our top favorites has been Spot, our dog for just a couple of months. I still maintain my opinion that he was the sweetest puppy that ever lived- wherever he is now.

However, my heart has opened its doors to my newest love- Minny. She was born in our yard probably sometime in the late summer of 2018. The mother cat has always perused in our yard, with her husband and possibly her father-in-law in-toe. The litter, to our knowledge, was small. Three beautiful kittens huddled around, being nursed by mama cat for what seemed like weeks on end. Two kittens looked identical and the other one looked oddly very different. The whitewashed kitten was the strangest of them all, and sadly, was probably born blind. Our best guess is that she had joined her yard siblings in animal heaven. The other black kitten vanished and was never to be seen again. And then, only one remained.

The one that did not bite the dust was, thereafter, named Minny. At first, Minny was shy and very much a wallflower. She would hide in bushes whenever she would see the tips of my or Justin’s shoe exit the front door. She would scatter like the wind under some leaves behind the wooden bench in our yard. Minny, as she would have it, wanted to avoid human contact or interaction, as much as cat-ly possible. In her tiny strong-willed kitty heart, she would not be petted.

Justin, a lover of animals, wanted to provide his humanly love and compassion towards this scaredy-cat. The mother cat could not be bothered and daddy cat and grumpy cat grampa were they “leave me alone and don’t step on my yard” type of kitties. But Justin thought to himself, “this one will be hugged and loved.” So each day, Justin would tip-toe to the little, future-lovable kitten. Little by little, tiny Minny would ruffle some the leaves and have herself some sneak peeks to learn more about approachable Justin.

After a month of courtship, Minny began to approach Justin and then me. You see, I had taken a little vacation, so I was not around for this kitty-courtship. When I had returned, I saw Minny in Justin’s arms and I was surprised to see another love embrace my husband’s arms to warmly. Minny looked up with her bright olive-green eyes and purred the softest “meow” that has touched my ears. I was in love.

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However, like Romeo and Juliet, my love is forbidden. Bound by different circumstances, my love is limited due something doctors like to call “allergies.” Minny’s dander, harmless to Justin, steeps deep down to my chest and causes a rash when I’m exposed for long periods of time. Unoriginally, I sneeze and become stuffy. Minny’s adventures stop at our front door. She is not allowed to step beyond the threshold of my front door.

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I pay the price from time to time, I give her little kitten massages. I immediately scrub my hands with water and soap and remove any evidence so my lungs would be none the wiser. Minny purrs unknowingly and how I can explain to such a cute kitten that she cannot zig-zag around my feet and touch my pant legs continuously? I literally have no sense of discipline and so I call out to Justin, “Can you pick up Minny and make sure she doesn’t get inside?”

Despite what might seem like a hot-and-cold relationship between Minny and me, rest assured, there is real love. When we go away to Tbilisi for a couple of days, I wonder how Minny is doing. I wonder how long her filtered water bowl will last. I speculate if she ate the buckwheat that we left out. Have no fear, if the buckwheat is done, our yard neighbor, Zurab, also puts out food. Minny and her cat family will have full bellies full of food.

Minny has gotten used to us and now seeks out the attention. When we come home from work, Minny is the first to greet me. She plunges down the mandarine tree bark and walks with me to the front steps of my 3-foot-wide porch. When we leave, Minny hurdles to ensure that we hear her meow goodbye. When we call her by her name, she runs up from the basement to our feet. Minny knows that she is loved. Minny loves us back too and stands on our porch’s railing to meow a “wonderful good morning Rawan and Justin” each day by making eye contact through our kitchen window.

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To the end of my service, I hope to see Minny’s face rain or shine. I hope to continue hearing her soft paw knocks on our front door for hugs and kisses. I hope this because to me, Minny is the sweetest and best kitten in the whole-wide-world.