How Laura Has Changed (a post from her big sister)

I am spending the Christmas holiday with my petite soeur (read: little sister) in Paris. She has been in the Peace Corps for over 18 months and I think it's about time we get an outsider's opinion about how this experience has changed her, if at all.

My initial assessment is that Laura is, in essence, the same as always. She has seen things I would have never thought her able to stomach - she has witnessed the slaughtering of many animals and she's has always been one of the biggest lover of animals I've known. How could we forget the passing of our favorite cat, Henry? But she has also now been to several countries I've never been to (and I'm jealous like normal), and seen sights most people will never see. And, now she appreciates her family even more :) But she has also shrunk quite a bit thanks to her sparse diet, and today she is wearing Alice's jeans and needs a belt - for those of you who don't know our littlest sister, she is a tiny string bean of a person and fitting into her jeans would be a miracle for anyone!

I now know that it takes a certain kind of person to be successful in the Peace Corps and Laura is perfect for it. She doesn't seem to mind when things are out of her control and she has no idea what's happening around her, who those strange people are living in her house, what people are saying and thinking about her in Pulaar before she could understand. She's not a control freak - a personality that would probably struggle even more in the harsh climate and radically different society.

We can't wait to have her back home soon - away from those organ eating parasites in the Senegal River, malaria scares, etc. Next Christmas we won't get great gifts from Africa, but we will be together without hauling ourselves halfway around the globe to see her. Merry Christmas Eve!