Previous posts

I've moved my blog to this address from another location. Here is an archive of every entry from my old blog.

May 5th, 2004
Got my plane tix
I got my staging information today, and Peace Corps made my plane reservations from Denver to Philly. Leaving june 1st at 10:10am. I get to Philly a day before staging starts, enough time for a philly cheesesteak and a quick run up the stairs Rocky climbed back in '78. Then two and a half days of staging and it's off to Paris, then Yaounde, Cameroon.

April 26th, 2004
5 weeks
Only three weeks of work, then two weeks after that, and I'm off. Better start packing. What will I pack? How much will I have to buy? I'll find out soon enough. I'm a last minute planner, so we'll worry about it later.

Go Nuggets.

Gotta love the pointless blog entry. I had to write something though, I don't want to be seen as a careless blogger! People live for this blog!


April 1st, 2004
Why am I doing this?
Today was another beautiful spring day, and I got to enjoy it in the comfortable confines of my cubicle. The sun was shining bright, but the only light I enjoyed was generated by the fluorescent lamp above me. I need to get out! This is only a temporary job, and its great for what I need right now, a little money to pay off the bills and head across the Atlantic.

That brings me to the question everyone asks, "why are you joining the Peace Corps, why are you going all the way to Africa?" After a day like today, that's really easy to answer, although the answer itself isn't all that simple.

I'm not out to save the world, I would love to do that, but I think thats slightly out of my range of abilities at this point. My reasons are more selfish than anything, to be honest. Returned Peace Corps volunteers always say they gained a lot more than they were able to give. In my case, I expect nothing different. I certainly want to help people in Cameroon, and maybe I will, but I'm going into this with the expectation that I will come back a more complete, more determined, more oriented, happy person. I don't know how that will happen exactly, I just know that it will.

So now for the reasons, I will list them to keep it simple:
*I want a real challenge. Challenges and the ways we overcome them are what make life worth living, or at least interesting. Stepping away from everything famliar and working in a field I have no "real world" experience in, in a totally foreign, exotic environment is, in my opinion, a pretty good challenge, that most would not attempt.
*I'm 23 and I want to see the world. I want to learn about other cultures, which will in turn help me to learn about myself.
*I want to meet other people that feel the same way I do.
*I was very fortunate to get a college diploma, now I want to put it to use in a way that will maximize its value, by benefiting others.
*I want to see places and people and things most people in this country dont even know about.
*I want to practice, and improve my French, and be fluent again like I once was.
*I want to learn a new language, if that is possible.
*I want to help people if they need my help, whether it be in acquiring business skills, learning english, or in ways that I cannot forsee at this point.
*I want to see if "the international life" is something I want to live for a long time to come
*I want to get away from the television, and read as many books as possible.
*I want to get away from all the first world luxuries I take for granted.
*I want to enjoy a cheap, cold beer and fresh, grilled fish on the beach, under a palm tree, while watching the sun set on the Atlantic. (I will make sure this happens).
*Seeing, experiencing, and learning about Africa is going to be the adventure of a lifetime!
*Maybe I will convice someone who reads this to do the same thing.
*Last but not least, I want to see a toilet flush in the Southern hemisphere (rumor has it, the water goes clockwise!) -Cameroon is in the northern hemisphere, but a short trip south to Gabon will get me where I need to be.

There are probably a thousand more reasons than the ones listed above, but I won't know what they are until I get to Cameroon.

Thanks for reading!
62 more days!