#12monthstogo

[mandijmusic]

#Countdown #Begins! #12monthstogo #MandiJmusic #MahJmusic #MandiJ #MahJ #songstress #songwriter #poet #artist #performer #lover #fighter #woman #human #LIGHT! #StayInspired! (#nofilter #nomakeup #nocare)

[peacecorpscaitlin]

12 MONTHS TO GO...

I can’t believe that I just wrote that.  I was sworn - in on July 18th, 2014 and became an official Peace Corps volunteer in the Republic of Georgia.  Here I am now with 12 months to go until I am done with my service.

I want this post to be all about memories and experiences from my first year.  First, I am going to describe how I feel about having 12 months to go first and how I feel about this past year being a Peace Corps Volunteer.  Next I am going to go down memory lane with some of my favorite memories in pictures.  Lastly,  I am going to make a list of all the things I have done for the 1st time this year.

How do I feel about this past year as a Peace Corps volunteer in Georgia?

To be honest, it is not what I expected.  I don’t regret my decision at all to take that risk and join Peace Corps.  I don’t regret accepting my decision to accept the invitation to The Republic of Georgia.  This year has been a year of highs and lows like any other year in my life but I think the lows and the highs have so much more impact in my life because I am in a new country, new culture and really having a once in a life time experience.  I have learned so much about life and myself through this experience so far.  That is why I signed up for the Peace Corps.  To experience life and hardship and challenges and to learn that I can face them head - on and come out on top.  It may take some time and some creative thinking but I have learned that if you don’t give - up and look at it in a different light or a different angle and are creative, you can overcome any obstacle, no matter how big or scary it seems.  Now I am talking like my life in Georgia has been one big hardship and it has not.  I have had a lot of great experiences and created some amazing memories.  I have met people here that I hope *fingers crossed* will be my life long friends after this experience is over.  The Georgian people and culture are so welcoming and beautiful that I have felt welcome here the minute I stepped off the plane.  No, I don’t regret my decision to join Peace Corps because it has taught to appreciate so many things I have taken for granted in the past and also to live in the moment because I only have a short time here in Georgia.

Trip Down Memory Lane in Photos

I wanted to post some of my favorite memories but instead of writing about them, I will allow you to experience those memories with me by posting photos

Of course the first one I will post is when I was sworn - in as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Republic of Georgia.

The First Day of Georgian class all the way back in PST

Getting to know one of my LCFs Maka.  LOVE HER SO MUCH!

Making Khinkali during PST

Going to Tskaltubo for Job Shadowing and seeing the ruins of the turkish baths

My first birthday in The Republic of Georgia

Going camping at Shaori Lake

4th of July in the Republic of Georgia

SELF CAMP 2014 (soon to make another memory in about a month and 1/2 with SELF CAMP 2015)

Halloween in the Republic of Georgia

Summer Camp in Khashuri 2014

Getting to know my host mom (above) and my host sister

All the times I have spent at the American Corner every week...It has been a great organization to work with

Experiencing a Georgian Wedding

Going to my first Rugby Game

Meeting this wonderful woman, Nino.  She was my LCF and I am so grateful to her. She and I have worked together (she is also my counterpart) the past year and I have loved every minute of it. It is one of the things I am most looking forward to this coming year, working with her again.  I can’t imagine my experience in Georgia without her or my other two counterparts Nato and Diana.

So those are just a few of the many memories that I have made the past year.  I have so many of them and I am grateful for each and every one of them.

Lastly, I want to make a list of 1st’s that I have had the past year as a Peace Corps Volunteer:

This past year as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Georgia,  It was the 1st time:

- I flew across the Atlantic

- in Germany

- in the Republic of Georgia

- I ate Georgian food

- I ate a Khinkali and did not mind when juices from the khinkali ran down my face

- I drank from objects that weren’t cups such as bowls, spoons and horns

- living with a host family

- studying a language and not giving - up

- getting the hang of a language

- I kept a blog or a journal for more than a month

-being in one the oldest cities in the world (Mskheta and Kutaisi)

- at SELF CAMP

- swimming the Black Sea

- experiencing a Georgian Supra

- making toast with a skillet

- in Budapest, Hungary

- teaching in a classroom or lesson planning

- having Thanksgiving outside of the United States (let alone other American holidays such as Halloween and 4th of July)

- Living truly on my own, in my own studio apartment

- riding a marshutka (getting free marshutka rides)

- getting stopped on the street by strangers, asking if I had time to help them practice their english with them at that moment

- I fell out of a marshutka

- I got a tattoo overseas

- I used an outhouse for more than 3 days

- I received a care package from overseas

- I ate a rooster testicle and meat jelly

- I have craved vegetables and fruit

- I got lost in a city and did not mind one bit

There...that is a list of some of my firsts...I hope that I have more firsts this next year.

12 MONTHS TO GO....LET THE COUNTDOWN START NOW!