Show Up

There's a saying I have heard more times than I can count: "Showing up is half the battle." I felt that this week for sure. It was my first week in my town, and it's the end of summer. Next week there are two Moldovan national holidays where people get the day off (and the library will be closed), and then school starts on Friday. My partner has also been on vacation this week. Needless to say, it has been pretty slow around the library. Most days this week I found it difficult to muster the energy to go in. But I did it anyway, because you never know what might happen when you just show up.

I spent some time reading through the mountain of papers that I acquired during training. I studied Romanian language. I made Pinterest boards and researched ideas for English Clubs and American holiday celebrations for the American Resource Center (ARC). I tried to speak in my limited Romanian with the staff who were at library. I wrote out a list of questions to discuss with my partner when she returns. I researched Novateca, Diamond Challenge, and Technovation; programs that my library is involved with or might want to be. I found things to do that were useful, but most of them didn't require me to physically be in the library. I was feeling a bit guilty that I wasn't doing anything exceptionally useful yet.

But I reminded myself that it was important for people to see me there and get used to me being there. When people know you are available, they are more likely to feel like they can approach you and involve you in things. A few days ago, a man walked in while I was sitting in the ARC and asked when the English classes would be starting! Yesterday and today, I saw a large group of young people (mostly women) in the library. I was sitting in the ARC today, and two of them walked in and introduced themselves. One was an 11th grade student who had just returned from studying in North Carolina, and the other was a 3rd year law student at the university. They told me the event was a project for them to create a website to provide information about events in town. Very neat! In the programs I will help with, young people will be a primary target demographic, so it was exciting to see that they are already participating in this type of activity. Awhile later, a woman walked in and introduced herself as one of the trainers. We had a great conversation, and another woman came in and they explained to me that the organization that was hosting the event is a local NGO that works with young people. The second woman is a volunteer with the NGO and suggested that we could collaborate in the future. Fantastic!

I'm excited to see that there is interest in participating in clubs and activities at the library and the ARC. I'm excited to talk to my partner next week and get started on deciding what kinds of programs and projects the library will focus on this year. And I'm glad for the reminder that it's important to show up, even if it is challenging and you are not sure whether you will be able to speak to or understand the people you may encounter.

The American Resource Center at my library was a project 

of a previous Peace Corps Volunteer and opened in May.