Changes to Blog

Since I already had to add in the Peace Corps disclaimer, I went ahead and made a few other changes too! If you have a gmail or aim account, you can now use the "follow" tool on the right to recieve automatic updates. I hope that we will be able to use this blog to keep in touch!

Peace Corps Placement

I'm sure most have you have heard by now, but I am going to Moldova! Where is that and what does that mean, you ask? Here is what I know so far:

• I'll spend the summer in the capitol learning to read and write Romanian.
• I will be living with a host family.
• I will be a community and organizational development advisor, working with a non-governmental organization to address a community problem.
• This program is very flexible since problems, solutions, and goals are different in every community. I will be charged with integrating myself into the community, working with local leaders to understand community problems, and seeking out creative solutions to those problems.
• I also get to work on secondary projects of my choosing once I am a trusted member of the community. Some early ideas include an environmental science or ecology club, a volleyball team, a softball team, English literature club, or even a Girl Scout troop!
• I chose to participate in a classroom coorsepondence program and my current supervisor, in DC, is putting me in contact with some teachers he knows in Mississppi (from when he was a Teach For America Corps Member).
• The food is very pork and potatoes...
• Summers are long, mild, and humid
• Winters are fairly mild, certainly not any worse than I endured last year in Pullman
• Moldova gained independence in 1991 and the Peace Corps was invited to serve there in 1993. To date, only about 650 volunteers have served there.
• I have a very small training class, probably less than 10 classmates, so I hope that means I will get lots of one-on-one attention with the language lessons.
• I will not be sworn in as a Volunteer until August, when I finish training and pass a language proficiency exam.
• More to come!

Peace Corps Update

As I stood on 31st street in NYC waiting for my bus back to DC I got a call from my placement officer...I'm leaving ealry. In about 65 days in fact (June 9th)!! My placement information will be arriving early this week!

Cherry Blossom Festival

The Big Bad Apple

So for those that know the story from the last time I took a quick trip through NYC, this one was 1000x better! Of course it was pouring down rain when I got there, but I marched on uptown through the city. I didn't study the maps nearly as much as a usually do before a trip, so when I accidentally stumbled on Rockefeller Center it was kind of a surprise. Then I wandered through Central Park and you see in the movies. In a city like that, they need a big park to lighten the mood!

This is the other big city center, Time Square. This "Naked Cowboy" was rolling in the dough as people (okay, teenage girls) lined up to have their picture taken with him. Interesting take on something that would be illegal at 2 a.m. on any other street corner...

The whole point of the trip was to attend/work at an event I have been working on with an Academy volunteer. This volunteer is very well connected and our guest list was filled with influential names from NYC. After the event, the volunteer and her family opened up their home to me on the Upper-upper-west-side. That's not a typo there, just a nice way of saying the Riverdale community of the big bad Bronx. Yes, it's true. I stayed the night (and even took the subway from) the Bronx. If I were Pat Benatar I would definately be putting another notch in my lipstick case! Of course, I suppose I forgot to mention the very kind doorman, 180 degree view of the Hudson and George Washington Bridge...

Anyway, that night her family spent an hour making a list of things for me to do the next day before I caught my bus back to DC. At the top of the list was a visit to H&H Bagels. Wow. Yum. I won't be eating Safeway bagels anytime soon!

I also went to the Natural History Museum where I gauked at the African Mammal exhibit (knowing all the names of the ungulates without reading them from the wall) and the basalt Olmec head. I wrote a paper on those my freshman year of college. They are like nine feet tall solid basalt stone heads. I can't imagine how they got it there!

Spring Break in Florida

Looking for sunshine I headed south to spend a few days with a friend from school that is working for Disney now. She hooked me up with enough day passes to visit Epcot, Studios, and the Magic Kindom--plus the best seat in the house for the Cirque Du Soleli show! We had a great time catching up on long lost girl talk and I got a starter tan....Woot!

This is Janelle's new puppy, Riley. He's a labra-doodle!