One Second[s] in the life of a Peace Corps Volunteer.

"In February 2011, when Cesar Kuriyama turned 30, after saving money, he quit his job in an advertising firm and took a year off to travel. During this time, he started working on a project he called 1 Second Everyday. As part of the project, every day he recorded one second of video – something that was supposed to help him remember that day. He started the project because he was frustrated with his memory. He planned to stockpile the 365 one-second clips into one film to serve as a memento of his year. While working on the project Kuriyama realized that recording one second every day impacted the decisions he made in a positive way."

"There are so many, beautiful, funny, tragic moments in your life — how are you going to remember them all?" -TED

Well, thanks to Cesar Kuriyama, developer of the app "1 Second Everyday," maybe we can....

Every day over the past several months I have been pulling out my phone and videoing seconds, here and there, throughout my day. Then after going through and selecting my favorites, I use the 1 Second Everyday app to compile these short one second clips into a video every month. I have been sharing these short monthly videos on other mediums of social media [Instagram, Facebook], however I thought it might also be fun to post them on my blog with short lists of how exactly I've been spending my seconds as a Peace Corps Volunteer over the past 5 months.

I wanted to share these videos because sometimes I wonder if there is an incorrect perception of PCVs to the outside community of how we live such crazy lives, never leave our villages, and are in such hardship, living in poverty. I don't want to down play any PCV's personal experience, or the famous Peace Corps quote, "the toughest job you'll ever love," but I do want to make sure I'm not displaying a life differently than I am actually living (which is comfortable and privileged, even in one of the poorest countries in the world).

Below you can watch 5 short videos that I hope allow you to experience my life here in Malawi through my eyes.

November [hand washing clothes, fried potatoes in the market (chippies), breakfast at Korean Garden Lodge, night of Karaoke in Lilongwe, tuk tuk rides, bike taxis, camping on Zomba Plateau, hiking with Alisha, sweating miserably in Rachel's village, beautiful beaches of Cape Maclear, chichlids everywhere, eating smoked catfish, church, school, tea rooms and babies, Grey's Anatomy, farewell Alisha, Veg Delight Indian food, more good food with good friends in town, more church, swimming with iwes, hammock chilling, Zen kitty, Turkey Day with PCVs and delicious home cooked thanksgiving food, Alexander, HIV murals, passing by minibuses]

December [walking through the city, dancing in my undies, Dad and Mom are here, eating nsima, carrying water on dad's head, preparing chicken in the village, rain, beautiful Mayoka Village Lodge, lunch at Joys Place with David, Zambian chickens, South Luangwa Safari, elephants, chitenje market shopping, IUD prep with friends, jamming, gingerbread houses, Zen kittens, more rain, kitty naps, checking for mail, making bunting flags, SOLID group graduation lunch, minibus views, loading up the boat, waterfalls in Ruarwe, jumping off cliffs, hiking from Ruarwe to Usisya, rides in matolas, so many iwes, NEW GLARUS, spilling the expensive champagne]

January [flower trees on Likoma Island, hammock fun, Charles on a boat, boarding the Chambo, Chipati lady in Mzuzu, Rumphi market, bike taxi home, Tom, tea room, cooking dinner, biking to work, soap making demonstration with the form 4 students, playing in the dirt, planting the permagarden, my dishes being washed by the rain, crossing the flowing river, HIV testing and counseling, bike maintenance, Kathryn in the maize field, Land and Lake quesadilla, women's march in Lilongwe, tuk tuk rides, sweeping out my flooded house, putting away the goats, glow girls glowing, minibus rides, chameleons, South Luangwa beautiful sunset, elephants, we ran out of gas on the way to Livingstone, amazing Victoria Falls]

February [hanging out with rhinos, lily pads at Chobe National Park in Botswana, street art in Zambia, climbing down ladders, pet monkeys, yellow daisies, Fexony teaching us about the "moving process" at Close of Service Conference, jumping Obama shirts on the beaches of Salima, murder mystery singing, Lake Malawi sunsets, camp check-out closet, open windows, gender handover meeting, Valentine's Day roses, singing with the primary school kids, grassroots soccer practice, field trip to Mua Cultural Center, fixing bike punctures, Sunday church service, biking to work, writing songs, rehearsing songs, unlocking my door, minibus rides, walking with Tom, more practicing songs, "We Can Do" campfire, Northern Lights Ambassadors concert at our secondary school]

March [gender workshop, signing certificates, Malawi roads, being serenaded, rice and beens with Rachel, reading "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo", facilitation lessons with my GLOW girls, taking a bucket bath, letters from America, bare feet, more rain, washing my bed sheets, girls club practicing facilitation, correcting letters to be sent to Wisconsin, chatting with neighbors, hammock time, Blantyre porches, Kwa Haraba cafe, tiny elephant statues, outdoor diner, making gnocchi, futbol games, mailing letters at the post office, RIP Cami Burton, Round and Square crepe cake, eating grasshoppers, cows munching green grass, chatting in the school staff room, Chipoka skies, Chipoka primary school, Dougras in the maize]

#peacecorps