Merzit means- bored, annoyed, angry, or upset.
I want some work. Give me something to do. Friends, family, acquaintances, even random people that stumble upon this.. send me an email with something to do. I can proofread a bit or give suggestions on writing in general, would love to see some unique art, or maybe you want to suggest some very long tedious task that I could dedicate my free time too. Anything at all. Please.
What am I doing? I'm reading, writing, trying to cook, facebooking, going to the beach.... Really I have done a few things in the office. I created a survey and translated it to German and Shqip. I've researched designs to create a website. I created a database for business information. I started taking this business information to create the html for a wikitravel page. The times we have gone out to businesses I have taken photos for the website. We also made up a list of possible business improvement courses that we could give in the komuna and have been taking it around to the businesses to see what is possible.
This is in 3 months of being here, with about a month and a half of waiting for the elections to be over, losing a counterpart, and getting another.
But I'm at a stand still today. We've taken the surveys to some businesses and a travel agency. I don't wish to proceed with the website development without working with someone in my office. What is the point of me doing this without someone to continue it once I am gone? The purpose of my being here is to build capacity with the people I work with. However, my office is made up of my counterpart an Albanian American that will eventually be returning to the US, a girl that is my age and a lawyer, a police officer, and a brand new person that is supposed to work on culture development in the school. That all sounds lovely right? Well no one wants to work on what I have to offer really, besides my counterpart. I feel that doing so with him isn't sustainable, however.
Let me explain my counterpart a bit more as well, he is what would be termed a connector. He meets with people continuously all day for several coffees and fields their complaints about issues of the area and the komuna. He knows everyone in town, probably. This is just some peoples' work ethic, it's not a negative aspect. In other ways, he reminds me of my past boss incredibly, to the point of being slightly uncomfortable. I can elaborate with those that wish to understand further, in a more personal, nongovernment reviewed blog.
So I go with him on his coffees as they are important in building relations, but in a different language and topics that do not pertain to my abilities to accomplish anything, and I get a little merzitem. (bored)
So back to the problem, I've been researching grants but I need the connections to make these things happen and I need people willing to considering doing projects, which is about no one. Do I keep going and just rely on my counterpart? Currently our research and collection of data for the website is not complete because this is what I'm doing, waiting for him.
I'm a worker bee. I like to be set to a task and work my god damned ass off until it's done. I like to find new ideas, organize it all on my own, and pull it off. But that's not the system of Peace Corps, that doesn't build capacity. So what I really need to do is find something that me, that I can accomplish on my own completely. But something worthwhile that isn't just to fill time.
I want some work. Give me something to do. Friends, family, acquaintances, even random people that stumble upon this.. send me an email with something to do. I can proofread a bit or give suggestions on writing in general, would love to see some unique art, or maybe you want to suggest some very long tedious task that I could dedicate my free time too. Anything at all. Please.
What am I doing? I'm reading, writing, trying to cook, facebooking, going to the beach.... Really I have done a few things in the office. I created a survey and translated it to German and Shqip. I've researched designs to create a website. I created a database for business information. I started taking this business information to create the html for a wikitravel page. The times we have gone out to businesses I have taken photos for the website. We also made up a list of possible business improvement courses that we could give in the komuna and have been taking it around to the businesses to see what is possible.
This is in 3 months of being here, with about a month and a half of waiting for the elections to be over, losing a counterpart, and getting another.
 |
| Working in the office. |
But I'm at a stand still today. We've taken the surveys to some businesses and a travel agency. I don't wish to proceed with the website development without working with someone in my office. What is the point of me doing this without someone to continue it once I am gone? The purpose of my being here is to build capacity with the people I work with. However, my office is made up of my counterpart an Albanian American that will eventually be returning to the US, a girl that is my age and a lawyer, a police officer, and a brand new person that is supposed to work on culture development in the school. That all sounds lovely right? Well no one wants to work on what I have to offer really, besides my counterpart. I feel that doing so with him isn't sustainable, however.
Let me explain my counterpart a bit more as well, he is what would be termed a connector. He meets with people continuously all day for several coffees and fields their complaints about issues of the area and the komuna. He knows everyone in town, probably. This is just some peoples' work ethic, it's not a negative aspect. In other ways, he reminds me of my past boss incredibly, to the point of being slightly uncomfortable. I can elaborate with those that wish to understand further, in a more personal, nongovernment reviewed blog.
 |
| This is the going to the businesses and having a coffee. A very regular activity. |
So back to the problem, I've been researching grants but I need the connections to make these things happen and I need people willing to considering doing projects, which is about no one. Do I keep going and just rely on my counterpart? Currently our research and collection of data for the website is not complete because this is what I'm doing, waiting for him.
I'm a worker bee. I like to be set to a task and work my god damned ass off until it's done. I like to find new ideas, organize it all on my own, and pull it off. But that's not the system of Peace Corps, that doesn't build capacity. So what I really need to do is find something that me, that I can accomplish on my own completely. But something worthwhile that isn't just to fill time.
