Updates....Because I Can't Come Up With a Snazzy Title

Re-Connect was a few weeks ago. Our topic was Program Design Management workshop and I traveled to  "my hometown" Okahandja with my counterpart/social worker/boss madam/best friend. Our focus for the workshop is for ALHIV (Adolescents Living with HIV ) support group. We learned a great deal on how to properly plan for such a project and we are using a great deal of what we learned from Tate Bill and JT (fellow PCVs) as well as using the worksheets that were given to begin planning for the ALHIV group. One of our issues would be of disclosure since there are quite a few guardians who have chosen not to fully disclose to the child that they have HIV or have not fully informed the child of what the virus is. We are in the process of having interviews with the guardians as well as the clients to determine whether there is an interest in having the support group. We want to have a separate meeting with the guardians to determine how much the child is informed of the virus and how much information we can give to them with the permission of the guardians. I'm really looking forward to these interviews to get started and get the ball rolling with this support group. Progress is slow, however, mostly because planning and interviewing needs to be completed with a nurse who works closely with these clients and their guardians. The nurses at Mariental Hospital are incredibly busy and have very tight schedules. I'm going to do whatever it takes to start this group up in the coming months, It has already been on the back burner for far too long.

Chai tea at the Garden Cafe in Okahandja made with love by owner, Rose

We got our Peace Corps Namibia 39 polos. We are too legit! This is our normal photo because we are insane...in a hot, sexy way of course.

This one took effort. The most uncomfortable photo for our group ;)

From left to right: Soini my neighbour and nurse in pediatrics, Julia my closest PCV, Justine my neighbour and ART nurse, me, and Rebecca my fabulous counterpart

Secondly, I've been working to continue with the TADAH (Teenagers Against Drugs, Alcohol, and HIV) program for third term, starting up on the 2nd of September. The learners enjoyed our lessons this past school term, and were literally pleading for more. I'm going to demand my counterpart Allan takes some damn pictures this time around...still super salty he was too lazy to the first time. Bringing my sass game for third term. Whenever I see the learners who experienced our first TADAH lessons I hear "Miss. Sinthu, Miss. Sinthu, when are you coming back to teach us?" I get so freaking excited for the upcoming term. Updates to come once lessons begin!

Me, Allan my lame counterpart ;) and Joey my supervisor. She isn't that tall, folks

Allan trying his charm. It doesn't 'work on me.

Lastly, let me shed some light on the family I was able to visit in Okahandja. I was able to meet up with my host family Alex, Anna, and Shai my other siblings Tyrone and Rashida were sent off to the farm so my host parents could have some peace and quiet haha. So awesome that I can still keep in touch with the family even after 4 months of being in another region. Even my baby sister Shai was excited to see me. The new volunteer even said she was screaming my name into her ear and crying the entire car ride home. Good to know I'm loved though I do feel bad for the trainee's ears haha. I was able to kick it with my sister from another mother while in OKJ too which was much needed because I missed her like crazy. I also spend loads of time with my Afrikaans teacher Aunty Martha, what a superb woman!

Best Friends, My honey boo boo!

My adorable host siblings Rashid and baby Shai

My host brother, Tyrone. The only chill child in the family haha

Surprise visit from Rebecca and I. Shai was an only child temporarily =) Crazy small world, my counterpart Rebecca grew up with my host parents

Sibling love with baby Shai

Tany (Aunty) Martha looking adorable as ever. I crochet a red scarf for her that sadly fell too short (I'm a beginner, okay), but instead of judging me she made it into a fabulous Damara hat <3

 Tany Martha showing off our Group 39 t-shirt! Designed by the fabulous 39er, Julia Gordon!

 Last week was a pretty chill week. I'm getting back into the swing of things post Re-connect. A lot of the time spent at work is on planning for upcoming project, though I'm mainly focusing on the ALHIV group. I recently went to a forum on alcohol abuse in Kalkrand, which is 75 north of Mariental. I went with my counterpart Rebecca and the environmental officer and had an informal talk with the owners of the shebeens (house bars) on responsible business practices within the shebeen and the importance of feeling a sense of responsibility to the clients they serve. I was thoroughly pleased to hear the shebeen owners hold support meetings for problems that occur in shebeens to be supportive to one another. Hoping to have a follow-up meeting with this group in the coming month or two to see how progress is coming along. After leaving the forum we visited a game lodge that was on the way to Mariental. the environmental officer had some follow-ups with the lodge management. While the environmental officer was taking care of business Rebecca and I had a relaxing time with fresh tea and cake ;) The good life!!! I can't wait to come back and relax some more, maybe even use the pool!!

Fake birds and they laid eggs? impressive

They had real Chai Tea, 'twas delectable! The chef even gave us some extras!

Fresh, warm mediera cake yum yum yum <3

That Health Volunteer Workflow

Due to pressure from the old man (My brother) I figured I would let everyone know what I have been up to for this past month! We had been instructed post pre-service training to focus mostly on observation and integration, which I had been doing and know I will be for the entire two years that I’ll be a volunteer here in Mariental. We were also to complete a community needs assessment prior to Re-connect to help us in determining what projects to start up and follow through on. My Needs assessment is almost done (thank the Gods) and has helped me a little more to understand stakeholders around Mariental that will be able to assist me in my projects. I feel like I’ve got a few health workers in the Ministry of Youth to assist me in activities for learners in Life Skills classes with a focus on HIV/AIDS awareness. I‘ve been chatting with the social worker for Ministry of Gender in possible project he would like to include me in as well as the current issues facing the clients he has. Mostly thought I have been working with the two social workers that are at the hospital here in Mariental. So far, I have co-facilitated (Teenagers Against Drugs, Alcohol, and HIV) TADAH sessions at two secondary schools and one combined school, travelled to the nearby town of Maltahohe to help my counterpart with a Substance Abuse and Prevention Awareness Campaign.

TADAH has been the most fun to teach to learners at the secondary schools! I never thought I would enjoy teaching or even being a guest speaker in class, but the times I was able to teach in the Life Skill classes have been nothing but enjoyable! The first week of TADAH lessons were at Mariental High school and the lesson was HIV/AIDS Awareness. We were only able to teach the grade 8-10 learners once and the 11^th and 12^th graders twice. For the first lesson my counterpart went through a PowerPoint on HIV/AIDS and lectured on the basics of the virus/syndrome. I followed up that portion of the lesson with an activity for the learners to review the modes of transmission. I made 4 doors with the four liquids in the body that can contain HIV: Blood, Semen, Vaginal Secretions, and Breast Milk. I also made numerous keys of modes of transmission: Accidents, Rough Dry Sex, Oral Sex, Breast Feeding, Anal Sex, Vaginal Sex. Learners were separated into 6 groups and each group was given a key. They were instructed to discuss which door(s) their key would unlock and were also instructed to choose one learner from the group to present a summary of their discussion. After discussion, learners were told to decide which key was considered to be high risk or low risk. The third portion to the lesson was a lecture on STIs, which also included photos of people with different STIs. Although these were slides were super graphic I felt like these learners needed to see what could happen if they don’t practice safe sex and if they happen to get an STI to understand the importance of getting checked immediately so they don’t have the same fate that those on the pictures had. For the learners in 11^th and 12^th grade we had them perform a skit about a intergenerational sexual relationship and had post discussion with them on the dangers of intergenerational sex, condom negotiation, and the importance of providing peer support to fellow learners who may have gotten involved with an older man/woman. I plan on having more lessons with Mariental High School in the third term.

In the town of Maltahohe my counterpart and I travelled and stayed for an entire week. On the first Monday we were there, we met with many workplaces including Ministry of Works, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Grounds and Transportation, Hotels around Maltahohe, and the Health Center. In all of these workplaces we informed staff of the upcoming detoxification program and how to get help through Ministry of Health and Social Services. We also shared resources on how to help work peers who are abusing alcohol and/or other substances. On Tuesday we had a road show in front of one of the general stores in Maltahohe to talk to passers-by on substance abuse and prevention. We also had a lot of reading material on substance abuse prevention and contact information for detoxification in the capital of Windhoek at the rehabilitation clinics there. Wednesday we visited the shabeens (Bars) to talk to the shabeen owners on cutting business hours so that customers are not drinking from 7:00am-7:00pm everyday. The customers that we spoke to talked to us about how the home brews are only 1 Namibian dollar (equivalent of $0.10) per jar. Although the homebrew only contains about 3% alcohol, drinking it for 12 hours gets the locals really drunk. There was also discussion from the shabeen owners on the issue of having mothers bringing their children to these shabeens or even having their children purchase the home brews for them. Many shabeen owners have had to scold these mothers out. On Thursday we had a community commemoration where the community nurses, commanding officer, district social worker, and chief social worker spoke on the issue of Substance abuse in Maltahohe and the Hardap Region. Friday was our presentation with the learners in Maltahohe. We presented in two schools on underage substance abuse and prevention. We were able to have the head community worker at Ministry of Youth to come and present to the learners. He is well known in the Maltahohe school system because he used to teach there. It was a successful week in Maltahohe and we plan on going back for a follow-up. I enjoyed talking to so many locals during the road show and get a better idea of the reasons that alcohol abuse is such an issue in Namibia. Most of the people that I spoke with were unemployed and felt that alcohol helped them to deal with the disappointment they feel of not having a job. We made sure to get the contact information of everyone we spoke with to touch base with them to make sure they take advantage of the services available for them.

Chit-Chatting at the road show

Counterpart workin' it at road show

Our awesome display at the road show

Home Brew first on left is wit bier (white beer) and second on right is tombo

One of the shabeen owners

Meeting with community in location during shabeen visit

Frontal view of one of the shabeens

Honorable speakers during our community commemoration

The audience during the start of our commemoration 

The Maltahohe dance crew were awesome, such talented learners!

Lecture with the learners

Re-Connect is coming up in two weeks and I’ll be meeting up with my group in Okahandja (where this journey began) for a workshop on Project Design and Management. I’ll be attending the workshop with one of my counterparts to plan out one of the projects that I will be doing! Excited for the coming months because I will really be able to get into planning for my next two years!!  Along with the workshop we are reporting our findings from the Community Needs Assessment and everything else we have been up to at site. Yay for reunions!

Settling in

I’m thousands of miles from home, and yet I feel at home…. This is perplexing to say the least. Before coming to Namibia, I felt excited for this new adventure and realization that my ultimate childhood dream of joining the Peace Corps was finally a reality. Though I was excited I also felt that it’d be a very difficult transition into life in Namibia. I assumed I would cry everyday at the thought of my family back in Ohio, feel weak at the knees every time I saw a photo of my pupstar Franklin… but I didn’t. This is not to say that I don’t miss my family and friends everyday, I definitely do! I just could not imagine the relative ease of getting to know my community, not only in Mariental where I currently am, but also in Okahandja. I feel comfortable kickin’ it with my friends here. They’ve become my non-blood blood brothers and sisters and I am amazed at how quickly this had happened. I have only been here for a little under three months!

I’m not going to lie, the past week or two I have had my moments where I felt lonely in a flat, watching shows and movies from my external and wishing that I was back in Okahandja at PST (I know, weird… at least for those of you who dealt with PST with me). But just as the loneliness was getting annoying I had quite a few friends from Mariental hit me up to hang out. It was almost as if they reached out just at the moment I needed them most. I figured it’d be challenging coming into a small town and being raised in a big city, and I do believe this assumption was the reason I had forced myself to be isolated. In Columbus, the social life surrounded me, I did not have to work at it and I had hung out with friends I had known for years. Going out was easier to do; there were countless bars, theaters, and solid restaurants as well as loads of other bits to be entertained with. In Mariental, however, there is not much to work with ;) And I mean that with all the love in the world. For starters we easily have the most divine fried chicken in the universe… Jenny’s Chicken is the holy grail of fried chicken (this is not a biased opinion).  And best of all I’m learning how to cook… There have been many fails in Sinthu’s Kitchen… this is a temporary shortcoming. Visit me in a year and I’ll show you, I’ll show you all!

The people though are my main reason for hanging around for 2 (hopefully more) years. My two neighbors for instance are full time nurses who work their butts off and still have time to check on me at least once a week to make sure I have adequate food and invite me to their place at any hour just to kick it for a while. To top it all off they ask me if I need money for toiletries or anything else. All this hospitality and kindness and they are around my age! My neighbor downstairs is practically family; I don’t know what I would do without her support and motherly tendencies. Lastly, my best work friend who can some how stand to hang out with me more than three days a week! We have got the same thoughts running through our heads a good 80% of the time, and I’d go absolutely MAD if she was not around. Friends that have become family in a period of ~three months… UNREAL. Most of those around Mariental bid each other a good morning, afternoon, and evening everyday. I can comfortably look people straight in their eyes and converse with them… That would not be normal in C-bus and I love this sense of community! I was bumming around waiting for a friend at the corner of a closed shopping center (awkward moment, whatever) and seven girls came up to me and started chatting me up for no real reason, AWESOME…This is my kind of place, the kind where I can have random conversations with strangers and feel…safe.

 I do pinch myself every once in a while to make sure this is reality.  

            Question 1. Am I really in Namibia assisting in community outreach projects?

            Question 2. Am I really living in this smaller town in my own flat for two solid years? FREEEEDOM!

            Question 3. Am I really ~8,000 miles way from friends, family, pupstar, and all that I’ve known for 24+ years?

            Question 4 and (most importantly). Am I making a difference?

I don’t know about the fourth question yet (Gimmie a break, I’ve only been here since March), but I am optimistic in what I can accomplish. It is going to take a lot of patience on my part (and failures…duh), but I know I have the people mentioned above and so many more that I will meet in these two short years who are going to support me in this journey. Together, I will be able to assist the people of my town in expanding support services, both social and health and I am ecstatic for what the future will bring not only to me but more importantly to my community, my new home! Sustainability is the key; this beautiful town has to keep growing even after I have travelled back to my hometown and that is why my focus is on peer education, so that someone who is a local to my town can carry on what I have only played a minuscule part to help form!

"Namibia our Country, Namibia Motherland, We love thee." ~Namibia, Land of the Brave~

To say I’m a horrible blogger is an understatement. So it’s been a month and goodness me I’ve no idea how to sum up what has been going on. Pre-Service training ended on the 14^th of May and it was bitter sweet to say the least. I know I will make it a point to visit at least some of the trainers/staff I was able to connect with before my service is over. The beautiful thing about Namibia is that you can easily be adopted into a family….and I may be a bit biased because let’s be honest, who wouldn’t want me in their house? ;) I  felt that the entire training staff for PST as well as my fellow 39ers was just a massive family. One that I hope will remain close even if there isn’t’ constant communication throughout my service. Transition was easy because we were situated in Okahandja that seemed to be so similar to a weird college town that I reminisced quite a bit on my college days =) I was so comfortable with my host family that I find myself missing them on the daily whilst adjusting to life in Mariental. My host mother checks on me as my real mother did back in Ohio, and it makes me feel loved. They even said they would make a trip out to Mariental to visit me once I’m settled in. It’s difficult to believe that my family back in Okahandja cares for me so much after only getting to know me for a mere two months. I was welcomed into Namibia with open arms, and I know that even on my lowest days, the positive people I met in Okahandja can lift my spirits up.

I’ve been living in Mariental for about 6 days now and I believe I’m adjusting relatively well. Mariental is such a small town compared to Columbus, Ohio, which is where I’ve spent the majority of my life and I already foresee challenges of a city woman living in a small town. For now though I am quite content with Mariental. I have an entire flat to myself with an amazing view of Mariental from the second floor and to top it all off I have a balcony that’s big enough to lounge with some green tea and a neat book! As much as I want to decorate my place, I’m living off of a volunteer’s salary and I have more important things to purchase such as food, toiletries, and more food. I am lucky enough to have two supermarkets within walking distance and a yarn store within walking distance. I know, what have I become….and the answer is an old woman who can crochet the heck out of a scarf (that statement is not true, just look at my lopsided infinity scarf). My neighbors are around my age, which is an added bonus! The only downside is that I blew out the fuse for the entire second floor by turning on one hotplate and now my neighbor and I are without a working stove. It’ll take a few days to replace, but for the time being my neighbor downstairs has been more than generous in letting me use her stove, she is the BEST!

View of the kitchen and a fraction of the living room, pardon the mess, I just moved in.

View of a fraction of the living room/guest bed entrance to balcony

This picture doesn't do justice to the view, the farthest point is the oldest church in Mariental.

Though I have not met the communities I will be working with yet, I am really busy getting to know my counterparts (I have three) and others within the hospital. I was also able to have a meeting with my supervisor and I am quite anxious for the coming events I will be a part of. I will specify more once I have definitive information regarding my responsibilities, but let’s just say it’s going to be a busy few months! It’s comforting to know that I have three counterparts and one supervisor who are optimistic in their occupations and are excited for my inclusion to their group of do-gooders. Together we are going to expand support services throughout Mariental and I feel quite confident in the staff I will be working with =) 

Peace Corps Trainee → Peace Corps Volunteer

One month is all I have until I can officially refer to myself as a Peace Corps Volunteer and my oh my this title couldn’t come soon enough. I did recently find out my placement for the next two years, or should I say my new home, my new family, my new community, and my new life. Mariental State Hospital, here I come!  I’ll be living on the health centre compound, in either a shared dormitory with shared bathrooms and kitchen or if I’m lucky I’ll have my own flat (fingers crossed)! I’m not sure of the specificities of what is needed of me as a health volunteer at Mariental, but I am not worried. The first three months at sight will be dedicated to integration and gaining an understanding for what the community’s needs are.

We learned of our site placements in such an awesome way. Trainers and other PST staff created a massive map of Namibia and labeled each of the cities that each volunteer is placed. Then one by one our names were called up  (very reminiscent of dodge ball pickings) and we were escorted to our “destination” on said map. Of course this loser was last up, and goodness I couldn’t believe it was where I guessed I’d go earlier that day.

(The Afrikaans Crew. Most of us are within 3-4 hours away from one another. Oh, and the momma bear who is sitting down is our glorious Afrikaans teacher, Aunty Martha!)

From what I have heard Mariental is the administrative capital of the Hardap region so I’ll hopefully be in contact with officials of the Ministry of Health in Hardap region (lucked out) and the regional office is right next to Mariental State Hospital.  Travelers on their way to Windhoek often frequent Mariental. Although I will be living in town, I will be able to do outreach to villages outside of town. I know the volunteer whose place I will be taking in Mariental and she has got me covered for real! I have two extremely dedicated counterparts that she found herself during her Peace Corps service and they have agreed to take me under their wing. I have already met one and I can tell I’m in good hands, oh, and best of all they are both Social Workers!

(Mariental)

I do know that my supervisor will be expecting that I come up with income generating projects for clients during my service, which I worry about, but I’m sure I will be successful in my projects, even if there will be quite a few that don’t end up working. I’m confident that all will be well.

That’s all for site placement…. Only because I really know nothing else =) I’ll update as  I get more information!

This weekend was A-m-a-zing! Friday started out with language, which was more open conversations than structured class and thereafter we traveled to the Dam! We expected a dirty swamp only because none of our trainers were going to swim and what we got instead was a gloriously clean and massive dam that was difficult to part with in the end.  We swam and had a braai (BBQ) and all was well with the world! The only reason the trainers did not swim was because they did not know how to, and most had the same story of almost drowning when they tried at a young age. These stories were perfect for a newb like me who had only been swimming for two years and I’ll be happy to tell you folks, I did NOT drown or even come close to =) The braai and dam day reiterates just how thankful I am to be surrounded by a kick ass group of fellow trainees (soon to be volunteers) as well as trainers and other staff at PST. Though it will be hella difficult to part ways with these fine people I find comfort in knowing we will all meet again! All of them are in my hearts always and only a phone call/sms away when I need a set of ears! 

(Most of Group 39 and PST staff! Mad love for these guys)

The Learners of Tomorrow are Winning Today!

Today was exactly what I needed after countless hours in a classroom and everything worked out perfectly. This week has been a bit of a test drive for group 39 as we split up into groups of 3-4 trainees and were instructed to be co-facilitators on different topics that were important to the youth. The topics that were chosen dealt with HIV and other STDs and how quickly they can be transmitted to key elements of sexuality ranging from intimacy and body image to puberty and respect for culture. I was part of the group that presented today and our topic of discussion was quite broad and we did not have much time to plan how our activity would go today. I would have been worried, but I had two incredibly supportive co-facilitators with me. We planned our activity during the 10 minute drive over to KAYEC learning center and boy were we excited to get on with it!

To our luck we were the second group to teach the learners at KAYEC because two other groups had gone yesterday and discussed HIV and picture-grams and we felt a bit more comfortable with the same group of learners. We began our activity with a solid icebreaker titled THE PENIS GAME. The title itself deserves all caps because the first person in the activity whispers the word penis and each person thereafter says penis a bit louder until the last person is screaming as loud as possible. Next we lectured for about twenty minutes on defining youth and asking why we work with youth as well as the key elements of sexuality (Sexuality, Relationships, Intimacy, Body Image, Respect for Culture, Puberty, Reproductive Health). I would say that this part was a drag if I had to present all of this information, but let me tell you I barely said anything because these learners HAD IT ALL. To have been present during such a lecture was an honour because I was able to witness first hand what these learners are capable of and I hope I’m alive to see it! They will be the masters of the universe for sure! This moment gave me such a jilt of energy as well as hope and helped me to realize that I’ve got a hell of a lot to compete with ;). I was blown away to say the least! The eagerness to learn and understand what topics are being discussed and also contribute to open discussion was a sight to see and I was blessed to be one of them!  After our discussion/lecture we played the “Pat on the Back game” This game is an awesome game to boost self-esteem and is quite simple to play. We cut out sheets of paper and stuck them on the back of each learner. The learners were instructed to write a positive comment on each paper.  Thanks to another trainee’s brilliant idea we had each learner take the paper of their friend and read out what compliments their friend got as well as introduce the person. The learners seriously enjoyed this game and some placed their positive comments card on their chest. Lastly, our main activity was to have the large group of learners break up into three groups and draw a picture of a boy/girl and his/her changing body. We also drew a picture in class earlier during our session and it was a sad excuse for a stick figure. Whereas each of the pictures that were drawn by the learners looked quite close to the human body… I mean WOW these learners not only had extensive knowledge on the elements of sexuality that were discussed earlier but they also had the artistic eye of a painter… I should have grown up in Namibia for real…  Lastly, they worked as a phenomenal team when they were in groups drawing the changing body and listened to one another to agree on a decision of what to add together. I had to pinch myself a few times to make sure today was real!

Also, my new name is Sandy according to most of the learners I spoke with at Kayec, which is totally fine by me. Now the serious challenge for me is to learn everyone’s names… They’ve got one foreigner’s name to learn and I have at least 25 learners to remember in one day… To prove that I will fail I don’t remember what I had for breakfast this morning. Dag nabbit! 

I'll post pictures if I get some tomorrow... If not I will hate myself FOREVER. 

Hold the phone, but I’m an independent woman…

Today’s topic was a bit of a difficult one for me, gender roles in Namibia. I’m proud of myself for not leaving the room and taking a breather. I’m not upset that we were given the information, but rather that I literally have to watch everything that I do in order to not bring attention to myself and have men think that I am making advances at them. A simple smile for instance cannot show any teeth to people you do not know (in Damara Nama culture), or it may look like an advance. I cannot wave and say hello to people I pass on the street if I am in a larger town. I cannot stare for a long period of time at men, which yes, sounds a bit odd, but to be honest I tend to drift off and stare at people at random when in thought. I say no fair! I am aware that I tend to be extra friendly when coming into a new community, and have taken pride in this attitude towards new faces, but now I feel like I cannot be myself. Just as any serious Namibia issue I went to the support of fellow Peace Corps Volunteers from past groups that could shed some more light on gender roles and how to alter that “Friendly New American” vibe to a more “Culturally Competent American” vibe. I’m a bit more at ease after speaking to other volunteers who have at least immersed in their community for about 1 or more years.  I’m somewhat confident that in time I too will be able to alter the way I act in my community and not take offense to the changes.

 Also, we were informed that there are passion killings happening within the past few months to a year, which are completely sickening. Furthermore, the title “passion killing” is unfit and sounds as though the killer had so much passion for the victim he had to kill her. I do apologize for this rather emotional post, but goodness it was quite a bit to handle. I asked whether a woman who is fully aware her man is cheating can leave him and feel safe, the answer is no, especially with this wave of “passion killings”. Men are also able to have multiple women throughout Namibia or secret girlfriends as well as have children with other women if his wife is not able to. Can someone say UGH! This is not to assume that all men do this, but the fact that it seems to be an accepted norm really bothers me.

Yes, this was more of a rant post… but I had to do it somewhere.

We did a series of acts that included realistic scenarios that could happen when dealing with opposite gender interactions and had post-discussion in terms of how best to handle the situation as well as what could go wrong.  This activity was helpful, because it visually showed me how quickly an assumed favor can turn into one of those “you scratch my back, I scratch your back” deals that are really a sticky situation to be in…

I am really hoping to deliver a more optimistic post next time….

Has the roller coaster of emotions already begun? Dang, I expected these to start post Pre-Service Training.