From five star to five dollar...

Before I joined Peace Corps I used to work for an awesome non-profit in DC. Most of my time was spent doing leftover finance and event planning work for a scholarship program that was building a pretty exciting university in the Middle East. This meant I got to travel a lot. And in style. There were business class and sometimes first class (I somehow managed to get bumped a few times) plane rides, five star hotels, and fancy food. There was also absolutely no sleep, crazy stress from doing my best not to get screamed at by our nutty counterparts, and so many damn boxes that needed lugging across continents. Now I stay at five dollar hotels, pick bugs out of my salad and keep on going, and cram myself into taxis and souk buses (sometimes with cockroaches). But I've also actually had the time to see and enjoy some of the most beautiful sunsets, experience the genuine kindness of people I can barely communicate with, and to truly appreciate all the little things I never did before.

I'm not really sure where I'm going with this, other than it's funny how life can change so drastically and how easily we can adapt to anything. Maybe that's one of the big lessons I'm supposed to learn from this experience.