Spits, Spats and a Spoonfull of Yesterday

Ok, So I haven't exactly been faithful to the good ol' journal here but I can manage to write in spits and spats so I'll put the link back up in my profile. Now that I know occationally people read through this (give me a shout folks if your not to ashamed to have read such wonderful crap as this!) far be it for me to deny them the pleasure. Was talking to Amanda today on-line and I realized that I miss the olden days. The days of yore... the days of six months ago back at school. I've got the weekend off and hopefully I'll see some people, first at the EMT party then hopefully Leo and perhaps jess later in the weekend sometime. Its starting to snow here now and I keep thinking to myself that its too early for snow until I stop to think that its December. Perhaps its myself and not mother nature who's getting some dates crossed someplace. Amanda specifically was really cool and I wish that I had gotten to know her better than I did in the time I had. Time hasn't run out of course, neither of us are dead and both have the desire its simply a matter of logistical difficulties. She leaves in a month for Spain and I leave in 2 months for Morocco. Closer together than one might think, you can see from one to the other on a clear day across the straight of Gibraltar but certainly farther apart than we are now.

The trip to Morocco is fraught with logistical difficulties. Not the least of which is the bureaucracy of the Peace Corps itself. My latest difficulties are found in the passport office. Due to my parents diplomatic status I've been issued a diplomatic passport for use when I visit them for long periods at home in Israel where they both work for the U.S. Government. I'm planning on going to visit them in February as my marvelous experiment in the world of holiday retail has made it to difficult (once again logistics) for me to visit over Christmas. (Celebrating a Christian holiday in a country founded by Jews is another fun story for another time) However, in order to receive my Peace Corps passport I have to submit my Diplomatic one. I'm assuming that this is going to cause problems if I don't turn it in till the 14th of February... I don't know if it will cause a problem because I can't get a hold of anyone at the Peace Corps to ask. (surprised? I think not)

I also have to write a short paper on my goals for my project and a resume updated to be project specific. Within ten days. A perfectly reasonable request until you realize that I still have not the foggiest idea what my project even entails. When they told me it was going to be self starting I had no idea that they weren't even going to give me the basics. Anyway, I'm not to worried about the essay, I can wing it and they'll have to deal with what they get.

Others of the many problems include having to learn 2 languages, one of them which right now is nothing to me but a bunch of meaningless lines scribbled backwards and a "ch" sound which always makes me want to ask if someone needs the abdominal thrusts maneuver. The other earned me a solid string of C marks in school. I can vaguely recall my 7th grade French teacher telling me that you never know when a solid French background would come in handy. I can also recall that in my head I was laughing at her uproariously. (Well Mrs. Howe, I suppose the last laugh is on me.)

Then there's communication issues of course. I have no idea if I will be someplace with computers, telephones, even running water and power are questionable. I am going to be working in rural wildlife filled areas after all. Villages in such places may be as backward as my tee-shirt right now... (take my word for it... don't ask) In a way I'm almost hoping that my life will be stripped down to the bare neccessites because then I'll better be able to see what it consists of. In any case I got the guide book and food guide and Moroccan Arabic phrasebook that my parents sent me today so at least I can begin to prepare myself somewhat for the culture shock. I can go to bed tonight and rest easy knowing that I'll be able to identify my dinner and then ask "where's the bathroom?"

In other news....

Life around here has pretty much settled into the same routine... I kick around from day to day looking forward to days off and working at Target. (insert French accent as appopriate). I actually don't mind my job except that a trained monkey could do it and I can't wait until I can get back into something which will require me to shift my brain out of first gear. If nothing else the job has taught me to be more observant of my surroundings. I can spot a pen in the bottom of a shopping cart at 400 yards and I'm damn proud of it!

Still playing games with Braden after work and having some fun there. Prince of Persia and Knights of the Old Republic 2 are the current titles with a few others occationally thrown in for good measure. Braden has a crush on a girl at work but is too shy to talk to her so I'm playing the reluctant middleman. Never a good situation no matter how it ends up. Turns out she likes some video games so maybe the kid has a shot... maybe... I must give kudos to the boy's taste however she is quite attractive. A smoker though.... ugh.

A 22 year old got murdered yesterday morning in Amherst near where Braden lives. Quite depressing when you realize that things like this can indeed happen in your back yard when you (like everyone else) have spent a great deal of time subconsciously convincing yourself otherwise. Our very own slice of Iraq with a cause that's even less clear. How about protesting that?

Dinner tonight was delicious. Homade quiche and fresh salad with ice cream and red wine...

Au revoir pour maintenant. Je suis fatigue. Bon nuit.

Little bit o'love

Just thought I would share a great travel website I found, or rather found me (and here I thought no one was reading these things) http://www.gonomad.com. Edited locally right here in South Deerfield! Yay for adventuresome spirits right in your own backyard.

Light at the end of the Tunnel

So the day has finally arrived. I recieved a phone call from the Peace Corps on Wednesday of last week bringing me both good and bad news. In traditionally hollywood fashion I'll start with the bad and end with the good. I'm not going to the Carabiean as I've been anticipating for all these months as my medical screening process was delayed considerably by a surgery I had 7 years ago. Despite the fact that I had no ill effects following my recovery in the months following there was some issue with the diagnosis and so here I am.... still in my appartment when I should be packing for some sunny tropical beaches. C'est la vie.

The good news is that I acutally managed to speak to a real human being in the beaurocracy that is the Peace Corps and I was quickly switched to a new project that is perhaps closer to what I would have liked to have done in the first place. As it turns out I depart for Morocco in early March to work in or around national parks or other sites of Environmental interest doing environmental education, ecotourism, agroforestry and other biologically based projects. Not that I would have found a health realted project boring or that I lacked the skills to feel prepared for it. My many years as an EMT and as a red cross instructor have seen to it that I feel comfortable in most medical situations. However, wilderness and wildlife biology have always been my primary fields of interest.

The new project comes with a new set of challenges of course, as I have come to expect with all my peace corps endevors thus far. I will have to learn Arabic and perhaps the Berber dialect that they speak in the more rugged mountainous regions of Morocco. I already have a shoddy working knowlege of French, though I will work to improve it in the coming weeks so I can converse, if not fluently at least readily in the language of government in a country that still has many holdovers of the European colonial era. Dispite all of this I find that I'm feeling considerably more cooperative with a passport application on my desk and an official invitation and instructions to look upon when I feel my resolve getting shaky.

Now comes the myriad of small details that are the prelude to any 2 year leap into the unknown. In the coming weeks I must rent a P.O. Box as I plan to move out a month early and travel to Israel to see my family and to Arkansas and Florida to see my Grandmothers before coming back to the Pioneer Valley a week prior to departure. I must arange for my final rent payments, pack my belongings, figure out where I'm going to store things, figure out if I'll have power to run my cameras... my computer? I'll be leaving a digital world for who knows what and you know....

I can't wait