Somalian Pirates or I Like Lists

I have been in country for more than a year now, and Dec 16 marks a year in my village. I am no longer settling in and figuring things out, in fact, most of my free time has been inundated with work! I have clinic three days a week, I teach at two different primary schools four times a week, and I teach at the secondary school once a week, along with all the necessary prep meetings, plus trying to pull together a girls conference and the evil grant process associated with that. This will ramp up with the next year, when I try to focus more on HIV/AIDs education with an orphans group at a school and a People Living with HIV group in my village. Oh, I miss the good old days of having nothing to do all day! Never fear, though, I still do have some free time. This is what I have done the past two weeks:

read Assholes Finish First

read Lolita (now whenever I criticize a guy, my last thought is always, well, he could be worse- he could be a pedophile)

list all 50 states and their state capitals

list all the countries in the world, broken down by continent and then region (central Asia, east and west Europe, etc)

made a bucket list of things I still want to do in Tanzania before I leave (as motivation to stay here)

made a list of the months I have left and what I will do in each month

made a list of all the cool shit I have already done in Tanzania to make me feel better about what I have spent my time dong in the past year

Have I mentioned that I like making lists?

Whilst listing all the countries in the world, standing in my cushy chair in front of my world map with my notebook and pen, my best friend, Cate, calls me with her latest post COS plan. We had already planned on going to Victora Falls in Zambia, a common venture for TZ PCVs, but she has added to this.... From Lusaka, we will go to Libya to visit her friends there, then take a boat from Tripoli to Athens, Greece to meet her parents, then Eurorail it from Athens across Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzhgovina, Hungary (do they have really good food in Hungary, or no food at all? Its got to be one or the other with a name like that), Slovakia, Czech Republic, Germany (my motherland(s)!), Netherlands for Christmas, Belgium (WAFFLES!), France, then England! This is why she is my best friend. She is planning the whole thing basically, and I will be there to keep her company and befuddle her plans with spontaneous side trips! At some point along the way I will find a job.

Outrageous plan you say?! Well, its a lot more feasible than my original plan of joining a traveling circus as a tightrope walker and then becoming a Somalian pirate.