WARNING: Reading any further may expose you to cliche & Jess-style angst. Watch out.

So I suppose it would be strange if it were otherwise, but in the past few weeks I’ve really noticed how being here makes me thankful 100x over each day for things I used to take for granted: to have an amazing education, to travel, to have brilliant friends who do amazing things, to be financially independent, to feel like I have the same opportunities as a woman as I would as a man, and to live somewhere where it’s considered culturally acceptable (in our circles at least) to live with a significant other before marriage.

Recently, I’ve felt embarrassed about all the choices that I have available to me. More specifically it’s difficult to explain to people here that I had the security and financial means that allowed me to choose to give up a comfortable (relatively well-paying) job and life to travel and do something simply because it moved me… because I was interested in learning about something and somewhere new… because I wanted to be challenged… because I thought I might be useful here… because I had an itch to travel.

This isn’t something that people here totally get. Though people at the office are a bit more accustomed to foreigners coming to work (mostly volunteers), more often than not other folks want to know right off the bat: “why are you here?” To many, my title, “Technical Advisor,” means “high-paid” and “important,” and so many assume that I’m here for the money and it’s commonplace for someone to ask how much I make. Foreign advisors make magnitudes more than their local counterparts, so relatively speaking, this job makes me a rich woman. From my perspective, of course, this job makes me no such thing. I haven’t quite settled on an explanation that can satisfy.

Anyway, I have more thoughts but I’ll spare you all for now.