Getting Over It

I can't believe that I have been home for almost 8 months. Soon it will be a year. I have stopped saying things to new people about Peace Corps. If they ask what I did before I was here, I say that I was abroad, or that I taught, or something vague. This is mostly because I allowed myself some time to deal with the transition by being vocal about it, allowing the "this one time in Ukraine..." stories, or simply by making observations between here and there to people. But typically the responses, while polite, are a glazed kinda look like "here she goes again" and I realize that most people just can't relate to such an experience and most people don't want to. And that's fine. I just can't relate too much to them in return. Rightly or wrongly, I decided what the difference between "me" and "them" was just this experience, so when I meet new people, I omit the Peace Corps experience.

I wonder what other people have done in similiar situations? It was a very important part of my life and even after all these months later, I miss the experience every day, so I feel like I should be able to talk about it, but at the same time, I don't want to alienate people. Or more importantly, myself.

In all actuality, I think that I need to find more fulfilling work that will allow me to have that same sense of purpose, responsibility and challenge that I felt from living and working Ukraine. If you'd talked to me recently, then I've probably mentioned a position in Saudi Arabia. I'm not sure if I've gone off the dead end yet... But it may just be a matter of time! In the meantime, I'll be over in the corner, answering the phone like a robot. :)