Introduction

 Salut (Hi) Mihica,

I remember my first attempt to make a website; I can scarcely remember the domain name, but I definitely used my handy weebly subdomain. It was a book review website back around 2016 or so.

I should probably provide some context. Mihica is my BFF, and we've known each other for about eleven, almost twelve, years. Since 2015, we've been writing (typing lol) emails back and forth to each other. I have my own sort of rambling when I write, but I often prefer it. I think it's the best way I'm able to communicate over writing and my best practiced form. As such, here we are. Those who know me are rolling their eyes. A blog, how Grace!

Anyway, that leads us to the purpose of this. I am heading off to the Peace Corps, as one does, to the beautiful country of the Kyrgyz Republic. For the uninitiated, it is a mountainous country in Central Asia, a -stan if you will, bordering China.

I switched into the program rather late. Due to unforeseen circumstances, I changed from my original cohort in Malawi to the Kyrgyz Republic during the last week of April with a departure date of June 9. It all really was a whirlwind.

But that brings me back to this. For forever, Mihica and I have written letters to each other. Wondering about life. Contemplating the meaning of art, our place in the universe, the appropriate baking recipes to make good red velvet cupcakes, amongst other things. I started my letters when I moved back from Nigeria, a young girl alone in Houston, wishing and yearning for a friend's connection. My letters have always been forged with love, and now, so many years later, I have so many more people I love who want to hear about my time in Kyrgyzstan. In the interest of not copying paragraphs explaining my thoughts to people over WhatsApp and allowing Instagram acquaintances to know what I'm up to, it led me to these letters. A blog.

Why does it say Salut? Mihica learned French in middle and high school, and during that time, I attempted to self-study. In our letters, we wrote "Salut" and "à bientôt" as openers and closers. As I wrote in my Common Application for college, à bientôt is not goodbye, it is see you soon. After I graduated, I had a sense of trepidation. I was scared and had always assumed that relationships cut off, that they ended and you moved on with your life. Transitions are harder than that. People remain and stick around, go to graduate, med, or law school. They work in your city, they pack up and move, they return for your weddings. There's never a real goodbye (unless it's death but that's too much of a downer for an introduction to a blog); there are only ever see you soons. When that "soon" is is anyone's game.

For those of you who have no idea who I am, congratulations for ending up in the back cobwebs of the internet, I'm glad to have you! My name is Grace Baldwin, and I recently graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with my BA in International Relations, a minor in Chinese, and my certificate in Core Texts and Ideas. Lots of people have detailed their lives with the Peace Corps, heck, I read some of them in preparation. Unfortunately, this will not include packing lists or tour itineraries, instead, an honest reflection and introspection as I chug along. I'm also not a professional editor, however, I did work at my University Writing Center, so I'm hoping that proves enough to not embarrass myself.

Most people when they travel, do Peace Corps, study abroad, or anything of that sort, mainly stay connected on Facebook or Instagram, posting filtered photos to showcase their best life. I want to reflect a little more openly, if you will allow me to, on the challenges, whether those are physical, financial, mental, on the job. Before, during, and after. I have a friend who made a separate instagram to relay his journeys in Tanzania this summer. Unfortunately for all of you, I really like to write, and I have a habit of rambling, so that is how you get to hear about my time. I simply will not have my entire experience relayed over instagram captions and comments. There's so much, and I think long forums work for me.

It does feel incongruous that I opened with Salut, a French word, when I am about to head to Kyrgyzstan. Oop, sorry about that. Once I figure out how to install the Kyrgyz keyboard on my computer and not just my phone, I will switch occasionally to Kyrgyz. But, oh well, that's the title of the blog, and here we are.

Thanks in advance Mihica for following me on this journey, and thank you to everyone else who has supported me in my last year of college. I am forever grateful, and I hope you also follow me along as I wander the world. I'll text you later Mihica.

à bientôt,
​Grace