Weeks 59 – 62: October 2024

Good morning everyone!

I hope you are all doing well. 

I want to thank you all for your support the last couple of months. 

I was going through a rough patch and I really wasn't sure what I was going to do to make things better. 

Well, I'm happy to announce that after a good month and a half or so of feeling like I maybe couldn't get through my second year of service, I am now feeling good about life and am optimistic that I will make it through to the end of my two years.

My completion of service (COS) date will be October 10, 2025—less than 1 year from now! I am very excited to know that there is an end point in sight, and I am equally (if not more) excited to see what kind of work I can accomplish in the year that I have left.  (I've also picked up some new hobbies (see coloring below) to keep myself entertained).

And now for some updates:

The week of October 7, I took a trip to Querétaro to give a couple of presentations at the new trainees' pre-service training (PST). 

I arrived on Wednesday, had lunch at a café, checked into my Airbnb, and met up with my friend Rachel to have some wine and cheese at a restaurant near the plaza of the Templo de la Cruz. At that point, I honestly still think I was leaning towards leaving service rather than staying, but Rachel and I had a wonderful conversation and I began thinking about ways that I could make my life easier to get through my second year. 

The next day, I woke up at a nice hour, got myself a bagel at one of my favorite cafés in the Centro and then headed over to the Peace Corps office to talk to Kevin, Peace Corps Mexico's training manager. 

Kevin was a Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) in Guatemala 10ish years ago. I thought I would have a conversation with him about his time in the Peace Corps to pick his brain about any advice or inspiration that he may have for me. We had a great conversation about how I have been feeling about service and his opinion about the value of service as well as his own experience as a PCV. 

While chatting, Kevin shared that while he was able to deliver projects in his community, Peace Corps was more than anything a time for him to learn how to be completely comfortable with his own company. He had to find ways to keep himself occupied in his small, rural town, and by the end, he said being on his own was almost a meditative experience. He said learning this skill has made him a more confident and secure person, and he says in the end, I will be grateful for having learned to sit with myself and my feelings and not feel the urgency to be always running around doing something.

Kevin also brought up the point that I will likely never again in my career get to work as closely as I do now with a community, implementing real solutions and being almost completely in charge of my every decision. While I may continue working for NGOs and non-profits, I will likely be in a supervisory position, directing people, but not actually doing the on-the-ground work myself. 

Another thing I took away from our conversation is that the community of Neblinas may never have Peace Corps volunteers living and working here again. Rayanne and I may very well be the only individuals who will have the chance to experience living in Neblinas and the only extranjeros Neblinas will have the chance to experience living with for a consistent period of time.

With all this in mind, it has become even more important to me to deliver on my projects and leave here feeling like I was able to make a lasting impact on the community. I have also started to change my focus and my perspective about service. Yes, I want to finish my current project and hopefully start a second one in the new year, but I also want to enjoy the slowness of life. I want to read and color and spend time with my children and just take life a little slower. I'm still learning how to sit and be still, but hopefully by the end of this next year, I will be a pro. 

On Friday the 11th, I spent the day in the Peace Corps office, presenting to and further getting to know the trainees who now only have a few days of training left before swearing in as official volunteers. In the morning, the PSN and I started the day off with the trainees by talking about self advocacy and problem solving while in service. And later in the day, I met with a group of volunteers who are going to go to site with a site partner in order to give them space to air any concerns and ask about my and another volunteer's experience sharing our site with another volunteer. 

I also had a meeting with Majo, the grants coordinator at Peace Corps, to talk about my cistern project, which is actually coming along nicely! When I chatted with Majo, I was worried that I wasn't going to get permission from the municipality to construct the cisterns at the high school like I wanted to. Luckily, the municipal government sent out a couple of engineers to check the land, and we were given approval to construct in four different locations, which means things are moving along smoothly. Now that we have the permission, we can get started on the construction, which we will be starting this coming Monday!!

While in Querétaro, I spent time with various friends who were in Querétaro for different reasons: some for sessions during PST, others who live in the city because their universities are located there, and others who came in just to spend time with me. On Friday night, I went out dancing with my friends Veronica and Celina, both who were in Querétaro for training sessions and for some medical appointments. Saturday, my friend Jordan came into the city and we spent the day together. And Sunday, I had brunch with my friends Rachel and Kay and Lili, one of the Spanish teachers from training last year. It was a nice reset to spend time in the city and see my friends and fellow volunteers who have all been extremely supportive of me and helped encourage me to stay in service for the next year. 

Since my trip to Querétaro, things have been going really well for me here at site. Things have been moving along smoothly with my cistern project. The materials were delivered on Wednesday and on Monday we are officially going to break ground on the project! I'm very excited and could not be more grateful for the support I have received from members of the community in helping me get this project off the ground. 

But besides working on my project, the last week or so has been focused on preparations and celebrations for Día de los Muertos, which is a big deal in all of Mexico, but seems to be an especially important celebration for the community of Neblinas. 

All three of the schools organized events to celebrate Día de los Muertos filled with contests to find the best catrinas, the best altares, and the best tamales. 

Throughout the week, community members were busy preparing their altares and ofrendas to honor their ancestors and have yummy treats to eat throughout the week. All week, I have been eating tamales, bread, and gorditas de maiz — cookies made out of corn flower. And while I do like tamales, after a week of eating them, I think I am going to need a break until Christmas.

What else can I tell you about the happenings of this past month?

Oh yes, Margarita (my host mom) came back to Neblinas after a month of being away. Upon her arrival, the whole family came to the house to celebrate both her return home and her birthday, which occurred a few days before she returned. It was a nice moment to celebrate Margarita and to see the whole family together. While I had mostly gotten used to having the house to myself, I am happy that Margarita is back home and that things are back to the way they are meant to be. 

Overall, October was a good month. I feel good about how things are progressing with my work, I've been enjoying spending time with community members and celebrating important moments with them, and I generally feel more at peace with the way my life is going right now. 

Living in a rural community in Mexico was nothing I ever envisaged for my life. Everything from the pace of life to the people to the physical environment I am in are vastly different from anything I've ever known in my life. But I am very grateful to have chosen this path for myself. Every day I am learning so much and growing as a person and I know that once these two years have gone by, I will be eternally grateful for the opportunity and the experience.

Thank you all for reading and for your continued support of me and this journey. 

Love,
Ilana