Flexibility

...is a requirement when being a volunteer in the Peace Corps.

If you are planner and need to know when and where, how and what, then the Peace Corps is not for you.

When my friend was going to visit her site for the first time in Guinea, she had to wait 10 hours for her taxi to leave.

Thursday we spent ALL day doing dental and sitting around the medical office waiting to get medically cleared.

Friday, we tried to leave Mali on Monday. The office closes at 11 am on Fridays. That plan went out the window.

Today, we tried to leave Mali on Tuesday. At 8 am, the coordinator said you are leaving tomorrow by bus. Would you mind leaving on a plane though? I replied, "I am as flexible as you need me to be."

We took the Peace Corps provided shuttle the 30 minute ride into town braving the horrible traffic and the kids selling stuff as they weave in and out of stopped and moving cars. I walked to get passport photos for Visas and then walked to the Mali Peace Corps office where we were told, come back around 3 pm. We will get your Burkina Faso visas and then we will give you money and a bus ticket to leave tomorrow.

We had a lovely lunch of falafels and yummy pita filled meat sandwiches. Then I went and had ice cream.

At 5 pm we learned that we would not be leaving tomorrow, but would be leaving on Wednesday on an 8 am bus. My friends who were looking forward to riding a bus to Niger learned that they would be flying. They were disappointed.

It was a day of waiting, of just being in the moment, of not worrying about plans, over the future, over anything, of just going with the flow of change. Funny how such a day was so stressful yet peaceful.