72. What is 2 years?

Two years is the minimum that I have committed to give to the Peace Corps, Moldova and my village in Moldova. But really, how long is two years?

By the numbers 2 years is: 24 months, 730 days, 1/12 of my life…..

I plan on completing my service sometime after the first week of August, 2012. When I think about 2 years in a US mindset it seems to be a long time. When I get back my youngest brother could be starting his first year of college, my sister will be in college or maybe in Central America as a missionary, my other brother will be doing something cool like college or a rock band or video game tester… I will miss going out with him on his 21st Birthday. I will miss high school graduations. I will and have already missed new children being born to friends and family. I will miss at least one wedding and probably more. My parents will be a little older, but I hope they will not have changed too much. The dogs at my family’s house will be a little older; Charley (a dog) has had some health problems so we will see if I get to see him again.

So, when I think in those terms, I feel like time is almost standing still and I will miss so much at home and in the US. But then again, if I was in the US who knows where I would be working, I might have missed these things even if I was in the US.

That was my thought process when it comes to thinking like someone in the US, but I am in Moldova and am working to think in a different way. So far I have been in country 6 of the 26 months I plan to be here. I have been in my village 4 of the 24 months I signed up for; I have completed 17% of the time I plan on being here…. That is crazy to me! What have I done in these 6 months? I have made some friends, learned an acceptable amount of Romanian, learned about a former Soviet Union country and made some contacts. I hope to accomplish a lot more like fluency in Romanian, projects to better my village and to share some of US culture with Moldavians.

When I look at time in Moldova, it seems to be flying by. I fear that one day, I will wake up, the two years will be over and I will not have accomplished much. But I think that is a healthy fear and will hopefully keep me motivated to make a difference. But who knows, maybe the only difference I will make is the way some Moldavians view American and to better understand who I am as a person… I think I will be happy with that.

It is amazing how the “speed of time” is in direct correlation with one’s mindset.