Four laps to a mile

On a standard, 400 meter track, there are four laps to a mile. Four equal lengths with the wind at your back, and four with the wind in your face. The first lap is always the hardest, you have to get the rhythm flowing. You have to find your breath, and you have to get the form right before settling into a pace.

Next week, I will finish my first lap and pass the stopwatch at an even six months. That's how long I've been at site. That's how long I've lived in my host mom's house. That's how long I've worked with my partner. That's how long I've tried to make Moldovan friends. That's how long it takes to finish one-quarter of your Peace Corps service. But this is where the metaphor breaks down. This does not, in any way, mark one-quarter of my productivity in Moldova. I fully anticipate that the bulk of my productivity will take place on the second and third laps, because by the fourth, I'll be preparing for a sprint to the finish like never before.

Our country director loves to share tidbits of information from close of service interviews he does with Volunteers preparing to get one last exit stamp at the vama. His favorite question, we all know, is "what are you most proud of?" Let's pretend this is the close of the lap interview. Humor me people.

My response is different this week than I think it would have been last week. I spent the last working days of January at a Project Design and Management training with my partner, my fellow PCVs, and their partners. Compared to the other conferences I have attended with my partner, this time for collaboration clearly conveyed the change I helped make in one person's capacity. This is what I am most proud of at the end of lap one.

My partner now uses Microsoft Office (including Excel!), asks questions about methodology, and just yesterday discussed "indicators of success" in a manner that strove for excellence, not just putting words on the page.

Sure, there are still plenty of places where I trip over my own feet (or more literally, LANGUAGE!), where other runners cut me off, or try to distract me from my goal, asa e viata. I don't even pretend that I am not faced with those challenges each and every day. But it makes the successes all that more important, all that more valuable.

One lap down, three to go.