In Between Days

My return from the European continent--a journey in itself--was a long awaited one. Between the annoyances of stuffing a sleeping bag and giant purse magically into one bag on super-budget airline flights, of intercity buses and traffic jams, of utter confusion and disorientation, of the sound of the German language (sorry, it's just nails on a chalkboard to me) I had seen and experienced a lot, but had really had quite enough of the Euro-steez. The entirety of my flight from Prague was spent staring at the route map, celebrating landmark progress over London and (finally North America!) Nova Scotia. Sad, I know.

Never thought I'd be saying this, but THANK YOU GOD.

But throughout this journey, those quiet moments spent after the rush to the local transportation hub on whatever mode of transport I happened to be on were spent reflecting upon my time in the camp... and sleeping. (Mostly sleeping) But, looking back, of course I felt I could have done more, perhaps should have done more. I had second thoughts about my indulgences in personal travel that cut short my time in the camp, regretted not taking more chances and making a more concerted effort to actually get things done. I can safely say that my experience there was not what I had expected. But, all said and done, I learned a great deal, dealt with setbacks, and enjoyed some incredible moments. I suppose that's all I could hope for.

Now I find myself in a transitory period that is simultaneously both stagnant and hectic. I'm scrambling to find affordable housing, filling out paperwork, researching obnoxious federal things like just the the fuck I'm going to make a dent in my larger-than-expected student debt and how to apply for food stamps, not to mention questioning my decision to accept this position in the first place. Yet I've been waking up no earlier than 11 o'clock every day, have perhaps left the house three times in the past week (two of those times to merely drop my dad off at the train station), and littered the floor of my basement with virtually my entire wardrobe (it's at least 2 feet deep). At this point I've probably seen every episode of Wife Swap, with the occasional Jersey Shore/Teen Mom 2 combo thrown in.

Oh, how I've missed you, utterly dysfunctional Americans. 

For those of you unaware, the official countdown starts now (or yesterday?): in 10 days I will be lying poolside at the LAX Crowne Plaza. Ok, maybe not poolside and more like immersed in discussion about public service and poverty alleviation, but one can dream, right? Anyway, I've committed myself to a 12-month AmeriCorps service term in Oakland, CA. My almost-official position is a Regional Evaluation Associate with Women's Initiative. You can read their blurb here--I'm crap at explaining it, and frankly a bit tired of trying to:

Women's Initiative is seeking an individual passionate about and dedicated to the mission of building women's entrepreneurial capacity to achieve the following major goals: Goal 1: Support the research department by conducting first person data collection interviews with clients. Goal 2: Evaluate the current outreach strategies and document best practices and recommendations for individual regions to increase the response rate, maximize the time spent on this project, and better serve clients by addressing regionally-specific needs. Goal 3: Develop and implement a pilot strategy in individual regions to test the recommendations of regionally-specific outreach, create a report evaluating the pilot, and make final recommendations to Research Department.

So in celebration(?) of my newest adventure, I've decided to post one song somehow related to California each day I have left remaining safely on the east coast. Maybe these songs can shed new light on my future home, help me channel my feelings on moving there, or just be a fun excuse to indulge in some cheese-tastic west coast stereotyping. Regardless, Day 10 starts now. Or yesterday... whatever.