Look at me, I’m a PCV—Reflections of a former Trainee

So after 10 weeks of training and a few tests, they decided to keep me for another two years. Thinking back to the first week, I remember my first "wow, I'm really doing this moment." It was when we were about to meet our host families for the first time. It was Africa raining, if you can imagine. The Gonde group was the first group to be dropped off at our site by Peace Corps. Our bags were thrown at us while a large truck zoomed by and splashed us with muddy water. Alright the last part was a bit exaggerated, but it was still quite dramatic. I had no idea where I was going and was a bit intimidated by the new scenery. Getting to my host family's house was an uphill muddy mess, which didn't make the process any easier. It was when I fell down in the said mud that I realized that "wow, I was really doing this." I somehow managed to make it though and I found my new host sister standing at the door. She was staring at me and I was staring back, looking like a pathetic  foreigner who can't hold her own in the Africa rains. It honestly took a lot for me not to cry as she was washing off my feet. (Did I mention that I make great first and lasting impressions?) True to the Ethiopian culture, my family immediately embraced me and all my flaws. From that one fateful day on, my host sister taught me basically all the things I know now about how to take care of myself in Ethiopia. It didn't take long to feel like I was part of their world.

The last week of training was packed full of parties, crying, tests, and packing. Our last day of official training we did superlatives. I redeemed my loss in my senior high school superlatives for "best hair." It's the things that matter you know. That same night, my sister and I decided to make coffee. Somehow we ended up sitting on the ground outside in the same place we did the first night we made coffee together. This time though, it was me grinding the beans and she was looking at the stars. I congratulated myself for the progress I had made to avoid getting too caught up in the coincidence of events. I personally cannot believe the time has gone by that fast, but then again 10 weeks is a drop in the bucket comparatively.  The last night in our town we attended a party that consisted of all of our families. They exchanged some words about us and we did the same for them. It was nice to show our appreciation for one another. We ended the night by three generations worth dancing to a mix of traditional music, Sean Paul, and Michael Jackson. Some of these women who are my grandma's age danced like you wouldn't believe. What a great way to conclude my life in Gonde. The next day Peace Corps picked us up just like that first day they dropped us off. This time it was sunny and the streets were full of families and friends saying goodbye. This time I did cry. And it was that awkward crying that I try to avoid. Sometimes I wish I looked at least somewhat cute when I opened the tear ducts, if that is even possible. Imagine someone choking on a whole box of sour patch kids and that is what it is like. Anyways, training is usually one of those things that you forget about after it is over. I don't know how I could forget a whole town that welcomed 9 foreigners in their homes. Fed us, loved us, and tried to understand us. They were and that was the beginning of my life in Ethiopia. I'll miss you, host family!

Last Friday was the swearing-in ceremony at the Embassy in Addis. All 40 of us speak 3 different languages total: Amharic, Tigrayan, and Oromifa. One person from each language made a quick speech to the audience about their training experience. We then took an oath, got certificates, and shook a couple of people's hands to seal the deal. It concluded with me eating about a half a loaf of banana bread in bite-size pieces, taking pictures with my BFFL, and chatting it up. It was short and sweet (my dad's banana bread is still sweeter though). They now address me as a volunteer instead of a trainee, which makes me feel a little more legit.

The next day we packed up our belongings again and prepared ourselves for another bumpy ride to our sites. It was relatively painless except for when my mobile was stolen then later retrieved by the police. Apparently every event in my life that I am starting or ending needs to have drama (It finds ME, I tell ya!). When I arrived in my town later that day, I just stood there in my empty house wondering where to begin. Kind of like when I was packing to come here. I am still sleeping on the floor because my furniture is not ready yet. I did do some laundry and walk around town buying arbitrary items. I did find some spoons finally, which pretty much made my day. On Christmas Eve, I will be heading back to the place where my cell phone was stolen to celebrate Christmas with a good handful of other volunteers. After the weekend, I will start getting serious. Until then, I will enjoy the holiday. I hope you do the same. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

.

 

 

Thanksgiving

I just celebrated my first and one of my most favorite holidays in Ethiopia—Thanksgiving. I like any solid excuse to dedicate a day to eat, drink, and play excessively and also where there is no expectation of gift-giving. The pilgrims got at least something right. Celebrating an American holiday an ocean and continent away is always interesting. This one was not as bad as July 4th in Argentina. No one really cares about that one unless you are American. At least the concept of eating food and drinking all day with your family is not foreign here. Actually, that is exactly how they spend most of their many holidays anyway.

Luckily, I was not forgotten back home (we’ll see about next year). I am thankful to have such a thoughtful family who still made a place for me at the table decked with a name plate and framed picture. They reported back that I was well behaved. A little creepy, but sweet.

The 40 of us did a pretty nice job making the most of the day. Thursdays are the only day of the week we are together. We all manage to get along, mixing and mingling among our four small training groups that make up one larger Group 3. A little awkward, but so is everything else we tend to experience here. The best way to describe the difference between our training set-up and the two previous years is to say that our training is great for Peace Corps, but lacking in the social aspects. The Group 2 volunteers all lived together in one area, but our group is divided into four for Community-Based Training. It is probably better this way and maybe it will lessen the shock when we live on our own in the next couple weeks (yikes!). From what I hear, Group 2 has some stories to tell from their training. As for our group, a crazy night may include us staying out 30 minutes after dark (which means 7 pm) in order to finish a card game. My how things have changed from my recent college days. A fellow trainee and I joke that so far our time here resembles more like rehab than anything else. It’s a nice thought, so far it is working (and it is cheaper).

Every week a couple of Group 2 volunteers come into town to school us Group 3 trainees. For this week in particular they utilized some of their cooking skills to prepare our Thanksgiving meal. Although nothing remotely close to my family’s cooking, the funfetti (!) cake and mashed potatoes and gravy were legit. I don’t even like gravy, but I find myself eating anything that looks remotely familiar. I never took a strong liking to beets, avocados, or hard boiled eggs, but now I find myself smiling when they are served to me. It’s funny how living abroad increases the tolerance of your taste buds, while simultaneously lowering other sorts of tolerances. To help us all feel a little loved on our first holiday in Ethiopia, we all gave thanks to one another in the form of a written compliment. To sum up the remarks I received (because I know you are all dying to know), they think I have a decent sense of humor. So much so that I can make someone ‘giggle like a little school girl’ and have the capacity to ‘make a dead man smile.’ I prefer comments like this more than a compliment/insult (depends on your perspective, namely what culture you identify with most) I received a few weeks ago that went something like, “Look, Emily, this bean is fat like you.” Although I’ve never been compared to a bean before, I appreciated the poetic effort. I even journaled it, so I would never forget that special moment. When it came to thinking of what I was thankful for in the other trainees, it made me realize our group’s dynamics a little better. Each and every one of us contributes something in one way or another. Unfortunately, I do not know everyone as well as I would like, but I have managed to find a few people that are willing to tolerate me. We all come from different backgrounds (i.e. not everyone has a health degree of some sort), but we share many similarities. Obviously, there are some values we all have in common, but what knocks my socks off is that redheads make up 1/8 of this group. This type of statistic is unheard of. I just had to document it for proof (see Figure 1).

Figure 1.

Look how wonderfully awkward we are. I am even wearing the map shirt my grandma gave me as a going away present (Grandma, it was a hit!). Since it is 100% polyester, it is wrinkle-proof, which makes it the ideal garment for travel. Not to mention the fact that I have no need to carry around those pesky paper maps anymore. Although a bit outdated, all you need is a friend to point out the next destination. My job is to just sport it proudly. Who other than a grandma would find such a shirt in a church rummage sale that had the USSR and Korea as one country still printed on it? She is such a sweet angel. All in all, it was a nice, relaxing, language-class-free day spent with each other. I’m thankful for that (and the map shirt).

So friends, family, and others who have mistakenly ended up reading this whole blog entry, the countdown has begun. Soon I’ll be lugging my life cross country in a couple of bags on a bus praying for my life so I can start a new life in Injibara…Kosober…er…I’ll figure that out later. Before I know it, I’ll be leaving the comfort of Gonde (just when the kids started to remember my name) for a bigger town with more people who don’t know me, learning how to live again, and doing what I came here to do. Yet, I have a feeling these two years will be over before I have time to figure out how to squat on my heels and I’ll wonder how the time went by so fast. Yet, unlike college, I’ll remember most of the memories. So, to future self—I knew you could do it! Cheers!

My New Home-Take Two

I just finished my week long site visit to Kosober/Injibara (I asked the locals and many of them just refer to as Injibara; Kosober is the newer name given by the new government some years ago). Before we left, we were given an info sheet that gave us a description of our sites. The town is nothing like what the sheet says, which goes along with the whole limit your expectations thing. It's for the better though. My town is pretty high up, around 2600 meters or so and is surrounded by great hiking mountains. One thing that was true from the last entry is that it gets cold at night (thanks for letting me borrow your sleeping bag, Dad, as I will be using it every night now), but has pretty nice weather during the day. The sun is really intense because of the altitude, so I may be sporting an umbrella around town. Luckily, it is fashionable to carry these things around along with men growing out their pinky nail, but that is another discussion. There are shops after shops after shops here, selling pretty much the same thing, except spoons (Why don't any of them have spoons?). I was tempted just to buy a ladel, but thought I wait it out. Maybe they will have a new shipment in by the time I return in a month.

Other than my fruitless conquest to find a spoon and after the realization that this town is also literally fruitless, I spent my time wandering town and buying things for my house. I did most of these things by myself, which was an interesting experience. Good thing I had an idea of how much things cost, because the lighter your skin, the higher the price. I don't think I got ripped off too much, but I still have my suspicions. I'm excited to have furniture when I return because sleeping on a foam mattress on a concrete floor is not exactly my definition of ideal. I say this now, and I hope I don't jinx myself, but other than a community of rolly polly-looking creatures and a spider that was hanging over my bed, there are not many bugs. I may have a different story to report later, especially during the rainy season.

Overall, my house is decent. I feel safe, which is the most important thing. My landlord and his family took me in as their own this week. She fed me breakfast, lunch, and dinner. She also took the time to show how she makes the dishes she served me probably as a hint that I shouldn't expect this later.

The day before I left I ran into some other ferenji. It was quite exciting. I could spot them from a distance and already knew their names because some locals thought we were related. They have been living in Kosober/Injibara for over a decade working on some agricultural projects. Our meeting was good timing because they offered to give me a ride to Addis, since they were going there the same day. Due to their generosity, I was able to circumvent another crazy bus ride in which I fear for my life. Once again, a whole other discussion in itself. Transportation is an issue. A real, flippin' big issue.

I have about five weeks until going back to Kosober/Injibara. Until then I will keep on training in Gonde. Hopefully I will learn the language a little more, so conversations may be about other matters than the food and weather.

My New Home

The other day I found out where I'll be living for the next two years--Kosober/Injibara. It's a couple of hours south of Bahir Dar and really close to a couple of Group 2 Peace Corps Volunteers. It is supposedly cold and rainy, but also touts a lot of fruit and a nice lake. You never know until you experience it yourself though. Tomorrow my counterpart and I will be heading there to spend a week getting my new home set up. Let me know if you find any cool information on it as every minute counts in internet cafes and I rarely have time or enough concentration to do research.

Silent Seva

Living in Africa for only a couple of weeks has helped me better realize certain nuances about America. One of them being that my home country is a place of convenience. This really isn’t new news, but it’s easy to look past this because we move so fast. We are an efficient, productive and results-driven society among other good and bad qualities. One of my main roles here is to share many of these American-like characteristics (the good ones) to the people of my Ethiopian community. This will be an interesting marriage of ideas, to say the least. It took about an hour after arriving at my host family’s home to recognize that almost everything here takes time and energy and is rarely convenient. Products don’t just appear on shelves that I go to the store to buy. Laundry is much more than sorting, pushing buttons, and folding. I don’t sing in the shower anymore, I shiver in the bucket bath. I have flushed or thrown something in a garbage can maybe once or twice. All this has been easy to adapt to, actually. I wouldn’t go so far to say that I enjoy going to the bathroom outside in a hole in the ground, scrubbing the dirt off my socks or not having running water, but it has allowed me to appreciate the resources I once recently took advantage of. Life is different and refreshing here.

Before I met up with the group of other PCTs (Peace Corps Trainees) on Monday in Philadelphia, I spent the weekend with some family. On Sunday morning, I went to an interfaith service with my aunt and uncle. That particular day was focused on a silent seva (Sanskrit for ‘service’). To sum up the experience, I was doing yard work silently. It was a beautiful day and I thought it to be a nice prelude to the years and some odd months ahead.

I’ve only been living with my host family for a short period of time, but I have already had the opportunity to share many cultural practices with them. One of my favorites includes preparing the coffee ceremony. I’ll be honest and say that I was surprised at how much work goes into a cup of coffee. I always knew that it didn’t come magically roasted and ground in-house at a coffee shop, but I also never really thought about how exactly this delightful and delicious, caffeinated beverage came to be as such. Some nights I think it is worth the effort. (Yes, nights. Like right-before-bed night. I would consider myself more of a morning coffee drinker, but I’ll take it where I can get it, which is usually at this time. Luckily, I am more or less immune from the effects of caffeine, so I can still sleep afterwards.) My family grows coffee in their garden, so my host sister and I go out and pick the beans. After the beans are picked you need to peel and wash them. Then we sit in front of small charcoal fire in their living room and roast the beans. Then we go outside to grind them. We use a contraption that looks like a large mortar and pestle to release the sweet aroma of homegrown coffee beans. When I first stuck my nose close to the beans to smell them, my host sister started laughing at me. Later on I read that Ethiopians don’t tend to smell the food (or beverages) they prepare. Whereas in America, a typical holiday meal at my godparent’s house would include me smelling each dish and complementing the chef at another fabulously prepared meal. Some Ethiopians find this rude and would rather just feed it to you. I haven’t experienced this said hand-feeding yet and I’m completely alright with that. During and after you swallowed your fourth plate of injera and wat you should say “k’onjo.” As a side note, if you visit this country just knowing that one word could get you many places. It means “good, beautiful” and is used from anything to a goat passing by to your tasty lunch. Sometimes you are talking about the same thing. Going back to the coffee though, when we are outside grinding the beans we take turns. I like her grinding the beans because she creates this fabulous beat that I usually accompany by either me dancing or slapping my hands against my legs to make what I think to be new background music to a rap song (hey, at least it would be original). I remember the first time I looked up to the sky—stars! Living in a heavy populated metropolitan city made it impossible to see the stars. But here, the sky is just filled with an infinite number. I had to etch the vision in my memory, because no picture would be able to capture this. I feel like that about most of my experiences in Ethiopia thus far, and it only has just begun. Here I transcribe my main frustration—the difficulty of communication. My host family doesn’t speak English and I am just learning basic Amharic. My vocabulary consists of a handful of words, one of them being “k’onjo.” Therefore, when I asked my host sister through a game of charades and a couple of Amharic words if she shared my same fascination with the stars, she just shrugged her shoulders. That was the only thing we said to each other during that whole thirty minute coffee preparation. The silence isn’t awkward. It actually is nice and helps me to value the work being done (I think this was the goal of the “Silent Seva” at my family’s church/spirituality service/etc.). Actually most of the work the sister and I do together is in silence, which is not limited to the coffee ceremony but does not include the use of the latrine. This is namely because I don’t know much of her language, she knows much less in mine, and after a daylong language session that only translates into a couple seconds of conversation, I am just exhausted and prefer it this way.

Even though communication among the locals has been a bit limited, so far Ethiopia has treated me well. I have a relatively bug-free room with a decent bed and a nice family that respects my odd American tendencies like spending time alone before I go to sleep and other weird things. The food is delectable and the coffee even better. The people, especially in the community I’m training in, are amiable and welcoming. The children are sweet and curious. I don’t walk five steps out of my house before I hear my name shout out or “China” from someone who I haven’t met. Well, it is a mix between “China,” “ferenji,” and/or “you, you, you.” You are probably thinking, “China, but you have red hair?!” First off, they act indifferently to my red hair, which is new news. Secondly, a couple of years ago, some workers from China came in town to pave the main road. These workers are some of the only light-skinned people many of the locals have ever seen. They get this funny, confused look on their face when I tell them I’m American. I find that funny and right now, I’m always confused, so I get where they are coming from. A sense of humor will probably be one of the best assets I have here. If I don’t laugh, I may cry, and we all know the awkward cacophony created when these two sounds decide to come together. Well, now I must go do my laundry, my hands acting as the washer and the sun as the dryer—in silence, of course.

A (Rookie’s) Packing List for Ethiopia

Many of you are curious as to what I'm taking with me, so I made up a list. Naturally, it is probably way too much stuff and I already have an urge to dump at least 5 lbs of it. I'm right at the baggage limit of 80 lbs and my bags are also at their limit, which is already making re-packing a pain. Just to give you a little insight on the dress code, women are not to expose their shoulder or knees. Skin-tight or revealing clothing is looked down upon also. Maybe it is all this extra clothing material that is taking up so much room in my luggage. Anywho, here  is a list of the things I packed. After living there for awhile I'll update it and let you know what was useful or not. 

The Chaotic Mess Before

Accessories

·         Pillow

·         2 pillow cases

·         Lap top cover

·         Duct tape

·         Sewing kit

·         Microfiber towel

·         Small mirror

·         Sleeping bag and liner

·         Mattress pad                                                                                                      

·         Accordion style folder for Peace Corps papers

·         Ear plugs

·         Sunglasses

·         Bike lock

·         Money Belt

·         2 water bottles (1 Nalgene/1 Klean Kanteen)

·         Fly swatter (hey, why not?!)

·         Index cards

Electronics/Gear

·         Swiss Army Pocket knife

·         Petzl head lamp

·         LED Flashlight and bulb

·         Batteries

·         Short-wave radio

·         Outlet converter

·         Travel alarm clock

·         Asus Eeepc Netbook with external CD drive

·         8 GB flash drive

·         2 watches (old and cheap new one)

·         iPod and iShuffle

·         Travel speakers for my iPod

·         Calculator

·         DVDs

·         Digital Camera

Clothes/Shoes

·         Underwear (10)

·         Socks (10 regular, 2 thick hiking socks)

·         Bandanas

·         Long underwear

·         2 hats

·         Rain jacket

·         Running shoes

·         1 pair dress shoes

·         Hiking shoes

·         Chacos

·         1 pair flip-flops

·         1 dress

·         1 light fleece sweatshirt

·         1 light fleece zip-up jacket (Northface)

·         1 down vest

·         3 tank tops/undershirts

·         5 regular, everyday shirts

·         2 ¾ sleeve shirts

·         2 dressy shirts

·         2 button-up shirts

·         2 cardigans

·         4 sport bras

·         2 regular bras

·         3 long skirts

·         3 pairs of khakis

·         2 pair jeans

·         1 pair lightweight, travel pants that can zip off into capris

·         Running capris (loose fit)/running shorts

·         Swimsuit

·         Board shorts

·         Pajama pants and shorts

·         Slips (yes, slips)

Body Care

·         Razors plus blades

·         Shaving cream

·         Hairbrush

·         Deodorant

·         Pumice stone

·         Q-tips

·         Cotton pads

·         Soap and soap container

·         Multivitamins and omega-3 supplements

·         Bug repellent

·         Wash clothes (3)

·         Tampons w/o applicator

·         Face lotion with 70+ SPF

·         Sunscreen!!!

·         Body lotion with Aloe

·         Nail clippers

·         Tweezers

·         Travel size shampoo and conditioner

·         Hair accessories (ties, bobby pins, headbands)

·         Minimal makeup

·         Toothbrushes (3)

·         Toothpaste

·         Facial Cleanser

·         Hand sanitizer (large and travel size bottle)

·         5 packs of travel tissues

Kitchen Stuff/Food

·         Ziploc bags

·         Measuring cups and spoons

·         Can opener

·         Scissors

·         Dish towels

·         Crystal light/Gatorade drink mixes

·         Nonstick frying pan

·         Spatula

·         Spoon

·         Plastic Tupperware

·         Small butcher knife

Hobbies/Misc.

·         Stationery

·         Photo album of me, family, friends

·         Sharpies

·         Pack of pens

·         Art stuff (markers, colored pencils, watercolor, drawing pads)

·         3 journals

·         US map, GA map, World map

·         Addresses

·         US stamps

·         Books

·         Passport photos (15)

·         2 decks of playing cards

·         Lonely Planet Ethiopia (& Eritrea) Travel Guide

·         Lonely Planet Amharic Phrase Book

·         $200 in traveler’s checks

Gifts

·         Deflated soccer ball plus needles

·         Candy

·         Candle

·         Luggage


(The Chaotic Mess After)

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Treasure found!

Welcome the new sibling!

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113387960

And....this is where I'll be living. I can't wait to live amongst so much history!

Going out with a bang

In less than a week I’ll be heading to Philadelphia for staging, which is just a fancy word for orientation. I’m actually going up a couple days early to tour the city and visit some relatives, which is something I’ve been meaning to do this whole summer.

Towards the end of last week I started getting serious about packing, which was really me going to stores to buy things I didn’t have with money I don’t have. A shout-out to all of the people who have helped me financially prepare for this extended vacation. I honestly would be going over there either in debt or without many necessary items. Thanks a million for preventing both from happening. Right now, all of these items are in a chaotic spread throughout my room. I like to keep my room pretty neat, so this has been a source of stress for me. I’m awaiting my older brother to come back in town to pack my bag though. Thanks in advance, Andrew! :)

When I received my invitation in late August, my dad asked me to think of one place I would like to visit before I left. I want to travel many places, so usually this question would require a good amount of time and consideration, but the answer rolled off my tongue—I just want to be home. And home I have been. Leaving for so long to a place where I will actually have limited access to email has left me with being the focus of attention. There is a running joke in my family that I think the world revolves around me. My answer to that, is this:

(And they blame me for thinking this way?! Psh...)

So, the last two weeks or so I have been saying my ‘goodbyes’ to friends and family. These moments have ranged from the "We are not going to cry" dramatic to “I’m so excited…I’m so scared” dramatic (the latter was a cherished ‘Saved by the Bell’ reference minus the caffeine pills. Watch and learn: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bflYjF90t7c). Ha. I'm just kidding. It hasn't been that dramatic. However, I do have a tendency to stir up the dust, just not a sandstorm. We laughed, we cried, we felt all the emotions (both good and bad). As much as people say they enjoy peace and quiet, I have a feeling they will miss my loud and emotional tendencies. On a good note, seeing people before I leave has given me the opportunity to check off many things from my ‘Now that I live in Atlanta again’ to-do list. I love multi-tasking and getting things done!

I would like to answer a question I’ve been getting lately regarding my blog:

What does ‘E to the Three’ mean?

Let me first begin by saying I should have probably addressed this issue in the first entry. One of the most valuable lessons I learned during my summer internship is to never assume people know what you are talking about, no matter how obvious it is to you. With that said—my bad. The title really stands for ‘Emily’s Ethiopian Experience.’ Think ‘E to the (power of) Three’ because there are three 'E's'. Due to a graphics issue though, I had to type it out. I thought ‘E to the Three’ was a little more catchy than ‘E to the Power of Three.’ I have heard some other interesting hypotheses of the meaning though. One including the implication that I was going to a third world country. That’s pretty legit. When I gave the title some more thought, I remembered a little fact about our group of volunteers. We are the third group of Peace Corps Volunteers to be re-entering Ethiopia for the third time (Now you see all these three's?!). We were/are there from 1962-1997, 1994-2000, and 2007-present. And there’s your history lesson for the day. Oh, and another interesting fact, Ethiopia is only in the year 2002.

Scratch that. Here is another history lesson for those of you who are interested on how me volunteering for the Peace Corps all came to be:

• About 6 years ago: Me: “Hey, I should join the Peace Corps”
• About 2 years ago: Visited the recruiter and attended some info sessions to discuss and learn about the process.
• On that same day: Realized I needed a degree to join. Good to know. I’ll just sit, wait, and wish a little longer.
• July 2008: Began the online application.
• Early November 2008: Finally submitted my online application. (There are a lot of excuses I can formulate to explain why it took me so long. One thing I will tell you is that it wasn’t uncertainty that was holding me up. It was more of me wanting to do everything just right.)
• December 2008: Interviewed with local recruiter. Nominated for program in South America.
• February 2009: Nominated for a different public health program in Sub-Saharan Africa expected to leave towards the end of the year. (Side note: this worked out to my favor. Africa was my ideal choice, but based on my language skills they wanted to send me to South America. I was lacking one Spanish class, so it ended up not working out.)
• Late February 2009: Sent in my medical, legal, and dental forms. I had been working on these forms for a little over a month.
• March 2009: Medically and dentally cleared. For me, this process was surprisingly easy. I had read and heard of all the things that could go wrong including lots of back and forth paperwork issues. Thankfully, I turned mine in once and didn’t have any troubles. Phew!
• April-May 2009: Practicing patience and flexibility.
• June 2009: Received an email from the Peace Corps telling me they would be reviewing my application again for placement (last step before being invited to serve) in 6-12 weeks.
• July 2009: The email I received asked me to send in some more information, like transcripts, volunteer experience, etc, so I was busy with that.
• August 24, 2009: After a family reunion in North Carolina, where I was being inquired by every family member about where exactly I was going to be in Africa and me explaining to them that I had no idea until I got my invitation—I got my invitation! Woot! I was invited to serve as a Community HIV/AIDS Advisor in Ethiopia starting in the beginning of October.
• September 2009: Preparing for a long-awaited journey!

Stay tuned for my I-have-to-fit-all-this-in-that (save the jokes) packing fiasco! I’m so excited, I’m so excited, I’m so, I’m so…scared!!!

Details to come!

There's a lot going through my mind right now. Sometimes I don't want to think about all the things I need to do before I leave, so I spend my days customizing this blog or meandering around my house. The reality of it all is that I will be living in Africa in less than a month. Trying to get your life squared away at home in order to create a new home somewhere else for two years has been an interesting process. I really don't have anything to show for it yet, except a nice typed 'to-do' list that hasn't been printed. Those things will get done...eventually.

Just to let you know, on October 5th I will be boarding a plane to head for Philadelphia. I'll spend a couple of days here doing paperwork essentially and meeting the group of volunteers I'll be training with in Ethiopia. From Philadelphia I'll jet off to Ethiopia for pre-service training, which usually lasts about 10 weeks. It will take me a little over 25 hours to get from Point A (Philadelphia, PA) to Point B (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia). Hopefully I'll be able to sleep and the beating of my heart won't keep me up. I mean...I am going to Africa...to live...for 27 months.

As I stated before, I am feeling a whole bunch of something right now. Overwhelmingly though, I'm just plain excited. Joining the Peace Corps is something that I've been wanting to do for a long time. Before I knew you needed a degree to get in, I was contemplating taking time off from college to do it. Their rules do make sense, I have to say. So in a phrase, "I'm livin' the dream!" Well, my dream that is. The Peace Corps offers a lot of materials to help a volunteer to prepare, both emotionally and physically. Absorbing it all has been a feat. I still feel more or less clueless, but have a mysterious sense of preparedness. If I am to take anything from this process, it is an open heart and mind. I don't want to carry expectations to Ethiopia with me.  Everyone has a different experience and sees life through a different pair of eyes. I really have no idea what it will be like and that's fine with me.

On the flipside, I do know a little about my job. Yes, I do have a job over there, which honestly sometimes I forget because I'm thinking about how the coffee will taste or if it will be safe to run. Although these topics are equally important to me, I haven't been employed by the government to wine, dine, and keep in shape. As I digress, I've been given an assignment (like a secret agent without the secrets). My job title is 'Community HIV/AIDS Volunteer,' which is basically what I went to college for but with a focus on a specific disease. I will be able to put Health Promotion (my major--think "Public Health") into practice, which is--in a word--awesome. The Peace Corps gave me a generic description about my duties, but in essence, I think I'll be a liaison between the target population I'll be working with and HIV/AIDS services in the community. I'll also probably work on trying to enhance these services that focus on prevention, care, and support on the community, health center, and hospital levels. Please keep in mind that I use the words "think" and "probably" with full intention of letting you know that I only have an idea of what I'll be doing over there. My only wish is that whatever I do, I do it well and to the best of my ability.

Well, I suppose I'll leave you for now with this first post on my first blog. I imagine it will get more interesting as time progresses like with pictures, videos and gadgets galore. I'm new to this though, so be patient with me. Exciting times are ahead and I can't wait to share them with you.