Despedidas
As time passes here, despedidas (good byes) are becoming a
bigger and bigger part of this experience. It’s a very transitory time- both as
volunteers or as ex-pats and we come into a lot of this work with a set timeframe. About two weeks ago I despedir’ed (eng + port slang for- said goodbye to) my site mate Shane. Chimoio is
definitely a much different place without him and I remember him daily. Shane
was the other health volunteer here in Chimoio and he was here upon my arrival.
At first, he and I clashed a lot. We are two different people with very
different political and ideological views. Actually, when I first found out I
was coming to Chimoio, another volunteer kind of laughed as if he had some
secret he was holding back from me… “what?!” I asked him. He said, “your sitemate
is Shane Meckler… the republican of Peace Corps.” LOL. This was the first thing
everyone told me about Shane and I admit- it made me nervous. I was
apprehensive and I expected that perhaps this Shane personality and I were not
gonna mesh well.
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| The usual dynamic- Shane rolling deep with a gizillion girls. tough life, eh? |
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| "Broanna," "Wendel," Shaney/Shana," & "Helga" |
When I arrived at site, my suspicions realized and I must
admit, I did not have the best first impression of Shane. He came off as a
douchy republican frat boy from the south. He played terrible country music and
from time to time- would say such inflammatory and offensive things. It took
some time for me to warm up to Shane (and I’m sure the other way around) but
eventually, we learned to be friends and rely on each other’s company. When I
saw past his frat boy exterior and learned to tune out some of his republican
rants, I realized that Shane was a good guy with noble intentions. Shane and I
spent half of our time bickering and down each other’s throats, and the other
half day drinking at rainforest café or other Chimoio bars with whichever other volunteers were in
town. The republican douche-bag from the south* ended up becoming one
of my best friends during my first year of service. Shane was (and is) like a
brother to me … we fought A LOT, but at the end of the day- he had my back. He
would defend me from douchy passerby’s on the street (and the drunk fool that
robbed me that one time, ha!), would check up on me when I had too much to
drink (ehhh, sorry Ma. LOL!), and he was my shoulder to lean on through some of the tougher times of
my service… Shane is probably not someone I would have befriended in the
states, but there is something to be said about the friendships formed during
this crazy roller coaster of a ride we call Peace Corps service.
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