Adios Austin

Sunday-Monday, November 14-15


Went on a backpacking escapade with Katelynn and Luke, her boyfriend. We drove about 45 minutes southeast to Bastrop State Park where we hiked around in their primitive backpacking area. Not sure the exact mileage we logged somewhere around 7 or 8 miles. We hiked in each carrying a gallon jug of water, can't seem to escape carrying extra water in Texas! (referencing when I led an Outdoor Adventure backpacking trip in Big Bend, TX where we hiked in 5 gallon jugs of water) First time ever bringing a dog into the backcountry and I tiny little trooper at that. Teddy hiked most of the way often running ahead of us and then all the way back. Highlights: We set up camp after a mile or so to drop off the water and some of our pack weight, set up the tent, etc.. and then were on our way. After hiking a loop we headed back to camp; however, it was dark and we missed Luke's stick boyscout sign and could not see the tent from the path. After backtracking we eventually found it and then made a delightful meal of bean burritos. Delicious and also cooking for 3 people on a gas stove took about five minutes - amazing!


After hiking out the next day we stopped at a gas station to get my classic snickers and a coffee :) Have to say it was a great last backpacking venture for a bit.


With Emily at work during weekdays I find other ways to amuse myself. So I decided to use my cooking/Martha Stewart side, be domestic, and make Emily a dinner. Rode my bike to the Food Co-op and to Fiesta Mart acquiring my supplies and then biked home with my groceries in my backpacking bag.



Tuesday, November 16th

I have an addiction to fried avocado tacos. Went to Torchy's again today by myself for lunch. 


Met up with Sally, an old friend back from ASP (Appalachia Service Project) summer staff days. We went to La Tazza Fresca and I must say they have one of the best chai tea lattes I have ever tasted! Wish I would have found it before my last day in Austin. It was really great to Sally again before I left - nice to still have a connection even after not seeing each other for a couple of years.


Biked over to Mozarts, the coffeeshop on Lake Austin. Definitely took a different route that involved more hills and fewer bike lanes. Rewarded myself with a piece of chocolate peanut butter cake :) Also realized that biking is my most efficient means of transportation. Faster than waiting for the bus and figuring out bus routes, maybe even faster than a car because you never have to worry about finding a place to park; there's always room at the bike rack or a sign to attach to.


Had a farewell dinner over at Hula Hut, they're a restaurant associated with Chuy's. Enjoyed some Red Stripes and a great veggie taco with the great company of Emily, Keagon, Katelynn, and Luke. My wonderful month long housemates even surprised me with a great card and a Keep Austin Weird shirt. You guys are the best :)


We finished off the evening by driving out to Mt. Bennell. After a bit of stairs there's a great view of the city, the river, and everything especially at night with the city lights was the perfect end to my last day in Austin.





Wednesday, November 17th

This past month has been a good growing moment for me. I needed to remind myself I can do the solo thing. I can count the number of experiences where I’ve left home and gone off on my own for a month of longer and the Peace Corps is like stringing 27 of those one month segments together. I like to think I’m fairly skilled at adapting to new situations and finding a place to belong.

Austin was a lot of things to me. It was helping a friend move to a new city to start a new segment of life. It was showing me I could spend at least a month away from my family when I’m used to living with them every week. It was showing myself I can get into biking shape and learn some bike maintenance, re-learning how to adjust to new places and what I need to maintain a happy equilibrium, and testing out the best of Tex-Mex and Mexican that Austin has to offer :) And putting all those things together it was putting me into a better place mentally to grasp my limited time line before departure and to focus positively on embracing all the moments until January 31^st.

I’m sitting in the St. Louis airport right now. Been traveling around all day from Austin to a brief stop in Dallas and now to St. Louis, journaling during my 2 hour layover.  When I fly to Zambia it will be by far the longest I’ve ever been on an airplane; that’ll be an interesting one.

Southwest has the great insight to let you fly with two checked bags for free. The total weight of my two bags came to 80 pounds, right on the dot exactly. I’m allowed to check a total of 80 pounds when I fly to Zambia. Glad to know I brought the same amount of things with me for a month in Texas as I will be able to for 27 months in Africa. Think I’m going to need to do a couple of trial runs to make sure I fit in under the weight requirement. Especially since my packing list just continues growing and it all seems 'necessary'. After spending a month without soccer a soccer ball and small pump has been bumped to the top of the 'optional items' list. 

Whelp must be going think we’re about to start boarding. I’ll update things more when I get home to Northville. 

Also completed on the 17th:
*Lesson learned. Skirt = loose clothing, loose clothing = pat down in airport security
* Pawned my bike this morning. First pawn shop experience. So not sure if it's the norm or not but there didn't seem to be much negotiating. I told him a price, he told me he couldn't do that, told me a different price, I tried my haggling skills (think I have a LOT of room for growth), and then we stayed at his price. But heck overall profit-loss, I paid $10 to have a bike for a month - not bad. Paid more for the bike lock - do you need one of those in Africa? 

Days 15-23 in Texas

Tuesday, November 2nd
Rode my bike out to Mozart's, a coffee shop located right on Lake Austin. The lake is actually part of the Colorado River - they classify sections of the Colorado as lakes if there is a dam on both sides. So in Austin there are the Lady Bird Lake, Lake Austin, and farther out Travis Lake. It's about a 5 mile bike ride from our home to Mozart's - but a pretty nice trip if you take the roads with a bike lane, the only struggle is to make it up the steep hills. Mozart's has a dangerous system of offering a bottomless cup of coffee; I sat there and drank three cups of coffee when I posted my previous entry especially for someone easy effected by caffeine. It was a rainy Austin day and the first day I got to ride my bike in the rain.

On the way home from the coffee shop I stopped by CVS and got my flu shot. Now I'm prepared for when I return in a week to Michigan to jump back into the classroom and hopefully be less susceptible to getting sick. Working in a different classroom around lots of children everyday had already given me a cold for a good two weeks right before I came down to Austin; hoping to return full energy to Michigan and keep my immune system healthy. 

It was still raining when I left CVS and I was quite hungry so I took myself out to dinner. I've gotten food to go by myself before or eaten at Cosi/Panera types of places solo before but this was the first time that I can recall ever going to a nicer place and eating by myself. Considering I'm planning on traveling half way across the world and living over in Zambia for the next 27 months I figured eating by myself while everyone else was eating with family or friends is something I should get used to. So I sat down by myself at Maudie's Tex-Mex restaurant and enjoyed some lovely cheese enchiladas. I have to say my spice tolerance is increasing, although I still need a fair amount of water to keep my mouth from overheating. Sitting by yourself gives you more time to people watch and take in the scenes around you, I even did a little journaling while eating. One problem with dining by yourself though is you can't blame anyone else when the entire basket of chips and salsa ends up demolished.
Great things about Texas: 
* Outdoor seating everywhere
* Free chips and salsa with almost every meal


Wednesday, November 3rd 
Emily got a job working for an advertising company! The first and only company she had applied to; so we went shopping at the Barton Creek Mall to celebrate. Emily looking for professional clothes and me looking for Peace Corps appropriate clothes. And low and behold I found my professional outfit for Zambia! Women are expected to wear only dresses and skirts in professional settings; so for important events I need to take it a step up from my casual skirt/dress attire that I'll be wearing in the schools. I found a black dress that was long enough, below my knees, had short sleeves, and was even on clearance! It was the first dress that I found and tried on. Following this event Emily and I decided that life is just easier in Austin. Emily gets her first job, the first dress I find is perfect, it's warm, sunny, and people spend more time outdoors.

When we finished up at the mall we headed over to Chuy's, a famous Tex-Mex restaurant, to meet up with an old friend of Emily's that also recently moved to Austin. Chuy's has multiple locations but the one on Barton Springs is the original and I must say it's my favorite sit-down restaurant in Austin to date.


Thursday, November 4th
Let's see here. On Thursday I broke out the yoga again. I took a Hatha Yoga course through Washtenaw Community College last winter and have been thinking about how yoga would be a great activity to get into the routine of doing while I'm in Africa. A friend of mine who is over in Africa doing Peace Corps right now had blogged about starting yoga with some other Peace Corps Volunteers. I feel like doing Hatha Yoga is a good way to remember to live a balanced lifestyle and to take the time to take care of yourself. I always feel refreshed and stretched out and it should be something I can do without needed any additional resources. Materials wise I think I should either download some audio of different sequences or just write several different series in my journal before departing because I'll be more likely to do it if I have something to follow. 

In the evening Emily and I attended a Dwali celebration on UT's campus. I was not familiar with the festival before we attended and feel like there is still much to learn as we were not with someone who could provide us with insight into their holiday. It's a Hindi holiday celebrating the triumph of good over evil. There was candle lighting, Indian food, and fireworks to end the night! 


Friday, November 5th
One of my favorite days in Austin so far! Hiked at the Pedernales Falls State Park with a group of fifteen other hikers organized through the online organization meetup. Got picked up for the hike by a girl that lives a couple of blocks away, met another girl that lives less than a block away, and that was all before we even got to the meetup location! There was a wide variety of people out for the hike, everyone from the recently relocated graduate student to retired austinites. We completed a 7.5 mile loop at the Pedernales Falls State Park, enjoyed a lunch picnic on the trail with a view and then headed over to the Real Ale Brewery.

At the brewery we sampled five of their different beers: oktoberfest, full moon, mysterium, fireman #4, and coffee porter; my favorites were the full moon rye ale and mysterium because it was such an unique beer. Although I must also say that the coffee porter paired quite well with the halloween candy left out in a basket.

And because we were having so much fun we decided to hit up the Salt Lick, the famous BBQ restaurant that I mentioned in a previous post. The Salt Lick is a fair bit removed from central Austin and I must say they don't have very many vegetarian options, enjoyed some great bread and butter with my sides of coleslaw and potato salad. But the atmosphere is great and everyone seems to love the BBQ - it's definitely a must visit for those new or traveling through Austin.


Saturday, November 6th 
The best part of Austin's food scene are their trailer food. It doesn't get any better than the Gypsy Festival where thirty plus trailers from all around Austin gathered at a park by the Colorado River for a day of good food, live music, and great people watching. I had some fun looking at their website beforehand and reading about how different trailers got started anywhere from creating food that all comes in a cone to one business that started just because there were so many people in the extended family to feed. The only problem with the Gypsy Festival was that it was such a great idea everybody came out so the lines were incredibly long and it took forever to get any food. I biked down there in the morning and got an iced mocha (my coffee of choice in the warm climate) and then visited the Conscious Cravings trailer, a completely vegetarian venture, where I enjoyed a sample sized chimmichuri seitan. I definitely want to visit their trailer on the UT campus sometime in the next week to enjoy more of their menu. After that the lines defeated me and I was on the move again.

There's this outdoor store down here called Whole Earth Provisions, which I LOVE! It's similar to REI in the outdoor gear and clothes that they carry but they also have a random stock of childrens toys, lots of hammocks hanging outside, and I even found a new Kavu bag/purse to replace my old one! The reason I biked over to Whole Earth Provisions was because Backpacker's Magazine's was touring the country and stopping in their Austin store, talking about backpacking gear and giving away free things. I won a quick dry American Hiking Association shirt, but it's a large so need to make friends with someone that likes outdoor activities and wears a large shirt...

While I was sitting by the river at the Gypsy Festival I made a list of aspects that would make my ideal town/city:
- Bike paths and bike culture
- Water source: river, lake, etc...
- Locally brewed beer
- Outdoor culture: hiking nearby, camping available
- Soccer team to play on (really miss playing right now)
- Focus on local and/or organic farming and potentially humane meat practices
- Four seasons (love fall too much)
- Dog friendly
... basically if it wasn't for Austin's really hot summers that I would never survive and the fact they do not have the four seasons going for them then I could relocate down the road to Austin... never thought I'd hear myself say that one.


So the day wasn't done yet after the backpacking event I met back up with Emily and Katelynn and we headed over to the Home Slice, a great pizza place on Southern Congress. To finish off a great Saturday, Emily and I made an appearance on 6th street, the place to go out in Austin. I must say they take their bars and clubs to a different level down here.


Sunday, November 7th 
Mosey day. Biked into town after a pit stop at Kirby Lane for some sweet potato fries. Yes I have found my sweet potato location down in Texas (I've rated all the sweet potato/yam fry locations in Ann Arbor based on their taste and the sauce they serve). Then it was to Book People for some more Zambia research and journaling. While there I made an amazing discovery! I had assumed that Book People was a chain, it's similar in size to most Borders or Barnes and Nobles; turns out I should have done more investigating. Turns out it was started by UT students, turned over to a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (RPCV), and then grew in size to what it is today. The name Book People comes from Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 where the book people from his novel hid away in the woods to memorize the information in the books before they could be burned. I love it when I discover places have more meaning behind then than just being another part of a chain.


Monday, November 8th
Emily's first day of work! Saw her off to work; it's so very great that everything seems to be working out with her move down to Austin, that she's already started a new job, and moving up in the world in a direction she's interested. And with Emily busy with work I took off to visit Houston. My dad's in Houston this week for a business trip, he comes down to Houston a fair bit for the job he's been working. Being a great dad :) he came and picked me up in Austin and together we headed back to Houston. Then we quickly hit up happy hour at a sushi/grill place in the mall that's attached to the hotel. Got to love discounted food and drinks. We strolled around town a little and then called it a night.


Tuesday, November 9th
Feeling a bit lost finding myself in a city quite a bit larger than Austin and exponentially larger than Ann Arbor, I headed to the street to explore a bit! There's something of the sort of 650,000 people Austin and just shy of 2 million people in Houston according to the census in 2000. Crazy to think about, Ann Arbor had a population around 114,000 according to that same census in 2000. Experimenting with different population sizes and then to think that in 80 days (yes I have started a countdown to help me grasp my timeline here) I will be in Lusaka where there are 3 million people and then find myself in a remote village with a very small group of people.

Traveling around Houston I decided to get out of the Galleria area where we were staying. I wanted to see if I could get a different feel for the city besides the business and shopping side of things. I went out to the Montrose area which is known for their thrift stores and being a more chill section of Houston. I thrifted a bit searching for skirts to complete my Peace Corps packing list and found a fun one - need to get some feedback if it'll work in Zambia or just be a fun teaching/wearing around skirt. Also visited Brasil, a local coffeeshop/bistro that had the best iced mocha I've ever had, complete with melted chocolate. And also enjoyed a beet and goat cheese sandwich; yes my sister heather is rubbing off on me in more ways than one. She makes an amazing beet and goat cheese tart which is the reason I started eating beets in the first place. Then returned home to the hotel to meet up with my dad and get some food at another place in the mall, traffic is crazy here at rush hour so we stay put. And since I'm going to be non-vegetarian when i go to Zambia, I relaxed my vegetarian morals a bit and tried some crab and ate some raw Ahi tuna. Then we headed into downtown and checked out the Flying Saucer, a pub that has more beers on tap than I've ever seen!


Wednesday, November 10th 
I miss riding my bike so to continue my goal of getting in shape while I'm down in Texas I went for a run following the suggestion 3 mile hike the hotel had printed on a handy little running card. So of course I went in the wrong direction right off the bat! But eventually got myself all figured out and onto the suggested course. If I lived in Houston I could never be a runner, the air here is quite humid and there's a lot of pollution in the air from all the cars and commercialism, the air just smells like city. After the run I wandered around the mall next door some as it was raining outside and managed to get quite turned about. I think I'll need to have Heather, my sister, somehow contact me every once in a while when I'm in Zambia to motivate me to post on my blog. I get it written down roughly in my journal and then just don't put fingers to keys to post online. I think I'll be better at it when I'm blogging is my main way of contact with everyone at home. I also introduced my dad to Chuy's Tex-Mex restaurant at their Houston location.

They have large portions and I eat too many free chips and salsa so I had leftovers but then this brought me to this new realization. So we don't have a refrigerator here in the hotel room so I didn't have anywhere to store my leftovers and wasn't sure how long it would last (yes as my dad later mentioned I could have put it on ice) so I decided just to eat them a couple hours after dinner. I will not have a refrigerator or ice when I'm in rural Zambia so if I cook food how long will it last until it becomes dangerous to eat? Is there a specific way I can store prepared food so it will last longer/not grow bacteria? I need to do more research on that one... And on that note need to head to bed so I can wake up in a couple of hours and start my travels back to Austin.  

Hanging 'round

Things I've learned while in Texas - no particular order: 

1.  Ann Arbor is a very book friendly town and where Borders started! Discovered this after remarking to Emily my amazement/frustration that there is only one bookstore within reasonable biking distance; the fact that multiple Book People employees know me by sight means I probably spend too much time there...

2. Austin hills will get you. If you walk 2.5 miles and then bike 9.5 miles then by the time you arrive at the Green Belt you will be too tired to join the Austin Hiking Group - the whole reason you went out there in the first place... Note to self: next time find a ride there.

3. When you get a new pair of cowboy boots even if they're not 'real' cowboy boots according to hardcore boot wearing Texans, you still need to break them in. It's not a wise idea to walk a mile to the grocery store without socks on, the blisters you acquire on the way there will only continue to grow on the walk home.

4. Bottomless coffee = danger Will Robinson (on the third cup right now :)

5. Austin likes their coffeeshop/bars where you can choose between a coffee or a beer - great town!

6. Always look up directions before going on a run in a new city when you're not in good shape. Ran 3.7 miles yesterday when I decided to follow Lamar road, thought it was a the familiar road. Funny, I don't remember it being so long or curvy when I rode my bike down it two days ago.

7. Fashion notes:
a.) Apparently a lot of my clothing that I considered to be blue gray is actually just straight up gray - thank you Emily.
b.) Black and brown can be worn together... 

8. Carmel is essentially brown sugar and butter, but it's oh so delicious. Heather, my sister, gave me a carmel corn recipe.

Favorite Places in Austin. 

Capital Lawn: Within the city my favorite spot whether it's reading a book on the green grass under a tree or eating pb and j tortillas  on a park bench

Barton Creek Greenbelt: Southwest of the city it's a 7.9 mile long trail along the Barton Creek. Went there on Sunday, hiked less than a mile in and then found a lovely spot on a rock in the sun right next to the water. Here are some pictures from it.

View from my reading spot by the creek :)

Soaking in the sun rays reading some Matilda for book club

The rocky ascent back to the bike

View of the Colorado River on my way back to the city

Random long table with four lamp posts along the bike path - Keiffer this reminded me of an artisty thing you would enjoy.

AUSTIN!! October 19th - Nov 17th

This is what I originally wrote to start my blog, but then realized I might need to start with an introduction of myself and what I'm doing in Zambia. I'm going to update the blog on different experiences I have down in Austin, some Peace Corps related, some not. The overall idea is to get myself used to and comfortable with journaling and then transferring it into something I then share with anyone that feels like taking the time to read some.

Thursday, October 21st 

Moved/visiting Austin for the next month. It's a good trial run for the bigger end all of leaving for Zambia with Peace Corps. I'm not really quite sure what my plan is while I'm down here. I have a couple of goals.

1. Realize what I'll miss when I leave for Zambia so I can either bring it along with me, soak it in as much as possible between now and then, or just start to wrap my head around it so it's not as big of a shock.

2. Acquired a one-speed bicycle from craigslist that I'm working on riding all around town to start getting in better riding condition. Signed up for a bike maintenance class at the downtown REI in a couple of weeks.

3. Learn how to create/write a blog; publicly sharing more about my life.

4. Get connected somehow to the Austin community. Different ideas:
* Substitute teach: turns out to be an unrealistic plan because I'd need a texas drivers license, to get  fingerprinted in TX, and the earliest orientation is a week before I'm leaving.
* Volunteer with kids, immigrants, school system, etc... doing some searches on volunteermatch
* do a meet-up event - looking into soccer, outdoorsy, and food groups

* get out into the city, meet new people, learn here and there

Friday, October 22nd

Drove out to the Salt Lick Restaurant - famous in the area for their bbq. There was a fundraiser event for the Hill Country Conservancy complete with a buffet dinner, open bar, armadillo racing, live auction, country dancing, and a bonfire! We got free tickets to the event from a family Katelynn babysits for. It felt like a real southern country event with men dressed in their cowboy hats and girls completing their dressy outfits with a pair of cowboy boots! Need to learn the two step when I get cowboy boots.

Saturday, October 23rd 

Went to the downtown farmers market with Katelynn. We wandered around the market with her dog, Teddy; there was a dog costume contest going on with some really cute dogs all decked out - including one dressed like the hamburgler :) Reminded me of when Laura, my sister, used to dress up Kodi, our dog, and have photo shoots; took a picture and sent it to her. They have a great coffee stand so I could enjoy a dark roast while I wandered the different stands. I stumbled upon some prickly pear fruit! The night before I had a drink with prickly pear juice and was excited to discover that I had caught the tail-end of their season! Not really sure what to do with the four that I now have chilling in the fridge...

The same family that gave us tickets the night before to the fundraiser gave Katelynn two extra tickets to the University of Texas game; she had work so Emily and I got to go! But not before I had some fun with the bus system (turns out the routes change on game days because UT closes down streets - a new concept to me because the University of Michigan never shut down streets that I was aware of for the football games. We enjoyed the sunshine while sitting at great seats at the game and UT almost pulled themselves back into the game against Iowa State... almost. 

University of Texas Longhorns in the fourth quarter - just needed one more touchdown! 

Saturday night we went out to the Ginger Man, a bar downtown, complete with a beer garden, 70+ beers on tap, an oktoberfest celebration, customers that bring their dogs to the bar, and not just one accordion playing band - but two! Chatted with different Austin locals and learned about more restaurants, bars, country dancing locations, and taco stands to check out :) We ended our night by stopping by Surf-n-Turf, a taco stand/trailer and getting some delicious, generously portioned tacos before heading home on the bus. Their tables were secured  by a pole extended from the top of the trailer and no table legs- got to love it.

Sunday, October 24th 

Broke out the bike and explored the Wheatsville Co-op, which is quite similar to the People's Food Co-op in downtown Ann Arbor. Discovered an AMAZING new kind of hummus - spicy smoked bbq - made locally by a company called Baby Zach. The checkout guy told me there was a place in town that made vegan bbq from Baby Zach's company. Looked it up and going to need to visit the Halcyon coffeshop/bar/restaurant sometime quite soon to try out some vegan bbq esp. because I feel like I've been missing out on the bbq scene with my vegetarianism.

Met up with Emily who had run into our previous realtor at church - of all the churches in Austin. We're going to go to a concert tomorrow night. Really loving Austin being the Live Music Capital of the World!!

Not sure how I feel about chronicling my time... testing it out and see where I go from here. Tomorrow I'm going to bike down to the south side of Austin to Zilker Park where there's a least one place to swim, read my book club book (which I started today and am excited because I think I'm finally getting back into the reading zone after struggling to read much at all since August - quite unlike myself), and survive the projected 94 degree weather! I would never make it through an Austin summer!!! 

Monday, October 25th 

Headed out towards Zilker Park, a park located on the other side of the Colorado River. Just did a little google mapping and looks like I biked about 10 miles today, a bit shy of 40k but working up to it. Also hoping since Zambia's mainly a plateau there won't be big hills (fingers crossed) and having a mountain bike with different gears should at least make the ascents easier. There's a bike/hike trail called Town Lake that runs most of the south side of the river; it was nice to not be biking illegally on a sidewalk or frighteningly riding down the side of a road. Read my book club book at the park for a couple of hours, met a couple of dogs, and then biked over to S. Congress to meet up with Emily and enjoy a late lunch. In the evening we went to a concert where Bob Schneider played at the Saxon Pub on South Lamar. He played everything to rock/rap to slow songs; one of the band members played everything from the accordion :) to the harmonica, keyboard, and trumpet. It was great to experience the true Austin live music scene! 

One-speed bicycle I acquired from craigslist. This is on the Town Lake path overlooking the skyline!!

Peace Corps 50th Anniversary Celebration!

Wednesday, October 13th 

Below find some thoughts I typed up around 3 am after getting home from celebrating the Peace Corps 50th anniversary celebration:

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.” - quote of the night

An estimated 300 people showed up tonight on the steps of the Union to celebrate the 50^th anniversary of the day the idea of Peace Corps began; when JFK  gave a speech that inspired thousands to join the cause. The whole evening was inspiring. It illustrated a thought process towards service and towards being part of something bigger than yourself. At the student symposium component of the evening a conversation with a girl at my table struck me: “it’s the best time in our lives to be selfish (referring to becoming a Peace Corps volunteer) in the best kind of way”.  It got me thinking. I joined Peace Corps because I wanted to accomplish a particular set of goals, and I wanted to experience a particular capacity of life and culture different than I have at this point, and I wanted… I want to make a positive difference in someone’s lives and I want to accomplish this simple goal continually throughout my life. And because I want to accomplish these things I’m leaving for Zambia at the end of January. For the next 27 months my family and friends will be left behind in the states and I will miss being an active part of their lives. Thank you for all of those who have supported and continue to support me as I pursue my dream of serving in the Peace Corps. 

 JFK on the steps of the Union when he proposed the idea of Peace Corps 50 years ago.

 The crowd that gathered at the steps of the Union to celebrate the Peace Corps 50th Anniversary!! 
Pictures found on Michigan Daily website. 

Pre-departure October 2010

Struggling with how to start this blog... going to start with the basics of where I'm at in life and some general Peace Corps information.

Things are a bit all over the place currently but here it goes. I've been living between my parent's house in Northville and my sister and brother-in-law's apartment in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Every week I pack up a bag with the different clothes, books, and whatever else I might need for the week because I don't know yet which residence I'll be staying at each night because substitute teaching is quite variable and most of the time the way the system works you find out where you're teaching anywhere from a couple days beforehand to a couple hours before showing up for a day of work. I've been substitute teaching in several districts, visiting different districts, schools, and classrooms everyday. This can get a little trying over time because you never have enough time with the kids; one of the reasons I prefer elementary school because at least then you're with them all day long.

So I'm taking a bit of a break down in Austin, Texas right now. The plan originally formulated before I had heard from Peace Corps. The idea was I'd help my friend move down here and then stay for an unknown duration of time substitute teaching while I waited to hear the final word from Peace Corps and/or develop an alternative approach to teaching overseas. Substitute teaching doesn't work out because I'm only down here for a month; I was invited into the system but by the time I took their orientation class I'd be leaving in less than 10 days. Not worth getting a Texas drivers license or paying to be fingerprinted in the Texas system.

On October 4th I received my Peace Corps packet!!! Or I should say it arrived at my home in Northville where my Dad promptly called me, opened the package (felt like it took FOREVER but there was a lot of packaging to get through in his defense). Then he read that I was invited to serve with the Peace Corps in Zambia as a Community Educator working with the Rural Education Development (RED) project. I depart January 31st for pre-staging; I'll spend two days stateside getting paperwork and final medical reviews taken care of and then fly to Zambia!!!

I received my Peace Corps packet and the next day accepted. I didn't quite know what to make of my decision. The friends that I know that have done/are doing Peace Corps all seemed to need to take a couple of days to process the invitation and decide if this is what they wanted to devote the next 27 months of lives to the Peace Corps. I didn't want to take this commitment lightly but realized that I wasn't making a rash decision I'd been waiting 13 months for this packet to arrive in the mail. I was planning to teach overseas anyways if Peace Corps didn't work out. With Peace Corps I'm able to go to Africa, teach in an underdeveloped area, and I'll be living in a rural village; there couldn't be a more perfect situation if I'd picked it myself!

I applied to Peace Corps because I want to have an overseas experience, to experience a culture completely different from my own, and to feel completely out of my element (pretty sure I won't be loving it at the time). The most important thing to me is to gain a better understanding of all types of people. I hope to make a difference in the lives of the people I meet from my village, the teachers or children that I work with in the schools, whomever really. I don't know yet how this will take form; I think it's better to be open-minded and approach every experience as a potential learning moment.

I don't know what I'll end up doing in my life (hopefully it'll include teaching elementary school) but regardless I think it'll involve education, formal and informal. The experiences I have in the Peace Corps will allow me to better understand the students in my classroom, not just the ones from similar backgrounds of my own, but the ones that are struggling in their new environment, the English as a Second Language students, the ones that the educational system really needs to work on reaching. 

So I accepted my Peace Corps invitation. In the thick Peace Corps envelope they sent me I found my exact job description and a bit of what the day to day should actually look like. Here's a brief little overview.

January 31st:

Pre-staging, located in the United States somewhere for two days. This is where we'll get any necessary vaccines including: rabies, hepatitis A and B, meningococcal meningitis, and typhoid. I'll also start taking Malaria medication which I'll be on the entire time I'm over there. Peace Corps starts all volunteers on Mefloquine which you take weekly; however, it has the great side effect of often making people get sick so if your stomach can't handle/hold down the Mefloquine then they switch you over to Doxycycline.

February 3rd:

Fly to Zambia to begin Staging (training for the next 11 weeks). We'll be training at the Peace Corps building located in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia. I stay with a host family within commuting distance to the training center. During training I'll find out what region of Zambia I'm being sent to so I can start learning the local language. Peace Corps also provides training for your specific job, community educator in my case.

April 2011- April 2013:

Live in a mud hut in a village somewhere in Zambia without electricity or running water; cook over hot coals, use an outhouse, shower from a bucket, truly embrace life.

What will I be doing as a Community Educator working with the Rural Education Development (RED) Project? 

Great question - I wondered the same things myself. This is what I've put together from the information/sources that I have. I will work with 5-8 different schools in the area; it's common to have to bike up to 40 km, sometimes more, to the schools you work with. I'm not sure if this is one way or roundtrip? Regardless I need to get into WAY better shape to be able to handle 40 km on a mountain bike on rural dirt roads. The common situation is you're the only volunteer in your village, the nearest PC volunteer is likely a 40 km bike ride away. I'm also about 40 km from the nearest town. Peace Corps seems to love the distance of 40 km and I am about to become quite familiar with it and can foresee a love/hate relationship developing with it.  I'll be teaching HIV/AIDS, food security, and life skills to the community. I also have the opportunity to start side projects anywhere from bee keeping, community gardening, and after school programing; I'll have to wait until I learn from the community what skills/projects they're interested in.

Hopefully you have a better idea of what I'm doing for the next bit of my life and why/how I've come to this decision! I'll be continuing to post updates on Zambia as I research things while I'm down here in Austin - so check back every once in a while!

Zambian hippo. Heather, my sister, found the picture when she was first researching Zambia; it's now my computer background and figured I'd include a taste of Zambian wildlife. Zambia also has also giraffes, lions, alligators, and cheetahs to name a few!