It’s a bizarre sensation to have someone sign a document and suddenly feel unbound/unburdened/unencumbered/free. While I do not mean to suggest that during my Peace Corps Service I ever felt like my job was the antonym to any of these things, the absence of it most certainly is all of these adjectives. It has been a long time since I have felt that I literally have nothing that I have to do. No lessons to plan, programs to direct, grant money to get, dole out, and fear the loss of receipts for, field work to demand to help do, or a bag to pack or unpack. Decisions about my future loom large, but surprisingly unobtrusive. Right now, I feel like I am just living, which sounds corny, but feels phenomenal. Poland has proven to be the ideal post-Peace Corps transition country. It is comfortable and friendly, but still Eastern European enough that I feel like I haven’t strayed too far. I can understand some of what goes on around me, but not enough that I don’t still have the option of zoning it all out. It is cold and snowy. Thank god, because what would I do if it were December and anything but frigid and white/grey outside? Thanks to a good friend and his kind roommate, I now have a place to stash my massive luggage, rest my weary head, and continue to enjoy the awesomeness that is Poland. Occasionally, I realize I’m not thinking much about Ukraine or America, just today, and maybe a bit about tomorrow.
