Ultimate

The Ultimate (June 21)

This is the story of yesterday. It’s not that interesting, but in some ways, it’s a micro chasm of how the trip’s going thus far, and all of you keep asking, so here it is.

Yesterday, nothing bad happened. I didn’t have a conflict with anyone, the food wasn’t bad, the homework wasn’t any more difficult or boring that usual, and it wasn’t particularly hot. I wasn’t too tired or too homesick or too sunburned. But it felt like a bad day. I was having a hard time focusing on my work, and I was having a hard time being companionable with my fellow PCTs. I had spent a little time grumbling with another volunteer. I was not in love with the Peace Corps. French class seemed to last an eternity, and once it was over, all I felt like doing was sitting by myself. I was reading an Ian McEwan novel (my fave at the moment), and I just wanted to sit alone and finish it. Unfortunately, when you live with a host family in a small village in West Africa, alone is not always an option. I was walking along with a vague idea of sitting in the huge village church to read when I bumped into several PCTs who invited me to come an play ultimate Frisbee with them. This did not jive with my “alone time” plan, but I’ve been just a little worried about developing a reputation for being that volunteer who doesn’t ever do anything with the other volunteers. Like maybe I think I’m better than other people, maybe I have some deep seeded attachment disorder, maybe I’m a secret sociopath. Probably they wouldn’t have thought that, but you can’t be too careful. I told them maybe I would stop by and watch with the secret plan to sit not too far away and read, essentially still by myself but with the appearance of sociability. At the field, there were five PCTs and my host brother, whom someone had recruited. With the addition of the guy I walked with, the teams were uneven. If I didn’t play, someone else would have to sit out, and I know my host brother would have volunteered. I had to play. I played. It was fantastic. Really, I would be hard pressed to remember the last time I played Ultimate Frisbee, but I think it must have been in high school youth group back in the TSCC days. After about ten minutes, several boys from the village had joined us, and we were explaining the rules in broken French between possessions. We were all filthy, no one was taking the game too seriously, and we all had a blast. We built bridges with people in the village, I got to know my host brother better, and I got to have fun with my colleagues. Just like that, my day was transformed.

Since then, I’ve been thinking a little bit about it, and I’ve taken a couple of things away from the day. The first is you can’t have fun if you don’t play. You have to keep working at being happier. The second is that physical activity really is good for you. I hadn’t thought much about it, but we don’t do a lot physically here, and I think it had been getting to me. The third is that most uncertainties and most moods will pass if I just let them. Right now, everything is new, and a lot of it is uncomfortable for that reason, but I have to be a little slower to make decisions about how things are going or how they will go. I mean, I’ve beenn told I’m a little moody, but this is extreme. When I was in RCIA, I had a really great sponsor, and more than once I went into her office and said, “I just can’t do this.” She always said, “That’s fine. No one will be disappointed, but let’s talk about it tomorrow.” And of course, by the time tomorrow came, it was always better. So I think for a little while at least, that’s going to be my motto. “Let’s see how it is tomorrow. Or ten minutes from now."


FINALLY, A HUGE HAPPY FATHER'S DAY TO MY PADRE!