Am I Doing This Right?
By Evan Brengle
We were all warned about the inevitable stages of the emotional rollercoaster that is Peace Corps service. With that in mind,
I’ve been keeping a close watch on my morale and working
hard to keep it high. While I am still happy to be here, I must
confess that I have moments where I wonder if am working
hard enough, if I am learning the language fast enough, if I am
immersing myself in the culture successfully enough. Essentially, I ask myself, “am I doing this right?” As we all know,
this is a tricky question to answer. I’ve come to the conclusion
myself, that sometimes it does more harm to struggle with answering it than it does to just let it go.
Wanting to take my mind off of this question for awhile,
I decided to take a hike I had been considering since arriving in Kicevo. My friends, neighbors, co-workers and students
all emphatically tell me that there is very little to do or see in
Kicevo, but there are a few places of interest that they always
mention with a slight note of local pride. One such place is the
Monastery of Sveti Precista. The locals suggested that I take a
taxi at least part of the way, but I looked at the map and said to
myself, “no no no, I can walk this.”
How old are you? Are you married? As has been the case with
everyone I’ve met here, they were incredibly welcoming and
generous.
After a half hour, two teenage boys arrived to show me
the way up the mountain. We started across the little wooden
bridge the same way I had gone before, but continued well past
the point where I had turned back. A path was no longer discernable, but the boys knew where they were going. Eventually, we came to a small dirt road. The boys told me to follow
this until I came to asphalt and then to turn left. They left me
here, and I continued on my way. After about twenty minutes
I finally arrived at the monastery. I walked in though the open
front door and noticed very quickly that there wasn’t anyone
around aside from a sleeping dog by the entrance. I sat on a
bench to rest for a bit and look at the buildings, then headed
back out.
For my return to Kicevo, I decided to take the easier but
longer route along the road. Just a little ways outside of the
monastery, I came to a field with an amazing view of the valley
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