I bet those of you checking in on this are curious about how the start of this is going...well, I am NOT! It is freaking AWESOME!!! I had a scare before leaving, that re-illuminated a lot of things for me and put some readjustments on my perspective before departure, but that's something for another time.
Staging was a blast! And so short! I checked in to the hotel Sunday evening, registration only took 5-10 minutes. A lot of people were there at 6pm which is when registration was supposed to start. I suggested we should al head out to grab dinner and so we made plans for lobby at 7pm to head out. I was pumped because a fair amount of people came out was there waiting! First we went out for Philly cheesesteaks at this place called Campo's. They were pretty good, Half Fast Subs is still way better! Side note: if anyone wants my punch card it just needs one more stamp before a free sub...first letter from Boulder wins it! Afterward we were looking for a bar to grab a drink together and chat, combined with another group and took over a good sized section of some place called Mac's Tavern. The bartender and servers went bug-eyed when they saw us, made me laugh. We all talked for a couple hours before calling it a night. I just have to say I am so excited to be calling these 44 (and hopefully it stays at 44!) people my PC family for next couple years, well, no for the rest of my life! And if you want to hear something crazy about family and brotherhood...yep, there is a fellow member of Pi Kappa Phi (my fraternity for those that don't know) in our group!! He is from the Berkely chapter (Oh Gamma chapter...). Talk about crazy coincidences!
Staging went very well and was a super busy day! We got our yellow fever shot at the clinic then actualy had a huge break (so not busy I guess...). I went with my roommate to Wal-Mart to grab a couple things. Turns out it's not "just down the pier". Took us 45 min to walk there, and even with a small run we didn't make it back in time for the big job tour that I was helping promote for this girl Kim! We were so bummed out! And shame on the taxi drivers that teased us and didn't pick us up.
Anyway, we talked about some logistical stuff, our anxieties and aspirations, and threats we may face but the main goal for staging was going over our commitment to serve. At times throughout our meetings we took time out to reflect on why we signed up for the Peace Corps, what we hope to get out of it, etc. Personally for me there is a myriad reasons for why I signed up. (I'm not sure on the correct grammar use of "myriad" right now but I do know that it means 10,000 and I think it was in our letter from Obama...that I threw away.). A big one I realized when I was watching the Blindside with Miles. In the movie the husband says to the adoptive mother "You just have this sick thing where you derive pleasure from helping people" (or along those lines). And I connected with it. I am still not sure I want to make a career out of it but I do genuinely enjoy helping others.
Core Expectation #10 deals with representing the "people, culture, values and traditions" of the U.S. to other nations. What is everyone's thoughts on this? How should I represent the U.S. in this regard? What if I was just representing you, what are your values and traditions? Please tell me, I'd love ideas and stories to tell everyone in Namibia.
I began thinking about this myself and found myself bereft of anything too concrete. Kind of sad really, I mean I have a some thoughts here and there but I also was thinking of how divided this country is right now. We still have our core principles that our country was founded on (or do we...) but not being someone too involved in politics I'm a little out of the "current trends" that we've been moving towards.
One thing that I do know is the U.S. is a very career oriented culture. I feel many other aspects of culture have been pushed aside because of this: family, the arts, just basic happiness for life, etc. We talked about how in the U.S. life and work are separate (for the most part) but during Peace Corps there can be very little differentiation between life and work. The second goal of the Peace Corps is to help other cultures understand America, so anything done to further this is techincally work. For example a morning ritual of breakfast and tea with my teacher counter-part at my site is still considered part my my work towards furthering Peace Corps goals. I want to make sure not to give them the impression that in the U.S. your career is your life but I worry that for many of us it has. I hear from many of my friends that graduated around the same time as me that they absolutely hate thier job, don't find it fulfilling or feel like their life doesn't have much substance to it anymore. Not everyone follows the same path in life but I would hate my life if it revolved around a desk. Just something to think about. I'm excited to see the traditions and values dominant in Namibian culture and will definitely write all about them later!
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