A glass 1/4 full or 3/4 empty?
on Colm in Kenya (Kenya), 25/Sep/2009 05:30, 34 days ago
JonBonJovi, the wise old head he is, never sang about being a quarter of the way there. And with good reason. It’s not much to sing about. 6 months into myVSOstint is all…AndyDufranehadn'teven made a dent in the wall atShawshankby this stage for heavens sakes. Yet the Eighteen Months which remain towers over me like a huge Mountain, casting a long dark shadow over almost all my recent thoughts. Its the sinister man in the long coat standing behind the beautiful clerk in the bank in aHitchcockmovie.Jaysus, you’d swear I have it bad out here or something. Or that I’d left some heavenly wonderTirNaOgat home.‘Woooah, we’re a quarter of the way there, get a fucking grip ya biggobshite’ theblondblow-dried blubber lipped yank would cry.I get regular updates from other volunteers who were in mypre-departure training course (keep the coming folks!). Very few peoples’ placements are ideal…mine is closest to attaining such a mark to be honest. I have very few complaints.I live beside theIndianocean in a lovely small village. I’m heading to a white sandytropicalbeach this weekend, and a few more times in October. Going white-river rafting down thesourceof the Nile in November…and don’t even get me started on my plans for Christmas.‘Woooah, we’re a quarter of the way there, you’re a jammyfookinbastard Halley’ the over-playedCalifornianpunk would pelt out.VSOremind us, and I in turn remind myself, of the fact that in the first 6 months, volunteers really are not meant to achieve much– no shit. So now is the time to put the shoulder to the wheel, set the cat amongst the pigeons, put a bit of grease on the axle, pull up thesleeves, send the elves to work, wake-up the worms, send the birds to get the bread… to get things done so to speak.Now is also probably the time to start making up stuff to fill this darned blog!Hope all is good where ever you may be reading this.