It's been a busy week. After visiting Nicole in Minneapolis and coming back just in time for the family going-away party, I've finally able to fully concentrate on getting ready to leave for the last few days. Unfortunately, this still means doing things like changing my address with my bank & insurance company, fighting with Pepco about closing my account, and making sure all my bills are paid. It also means lots of shopping, which is not my favorite pastime. It's exciting, I suppose, but difficult as I don't have a great sense of what I need to be shopping for. I've gotten some good guidance from the Peace Corps and some current volunteers that are in Mauritania (thank god for the internet!), but it's still tough. I've never purchased a shortwave radio before. I don't know if I'll need a Phillips head screwdriver on my Leatherman (Swiss Army-type) knife. My mom's making me long skirts 'cause we couldn't find any suitable and cool enough. And when I say cool, I mean so I won't melt; all concern about what I look like is taking a major backseat to comfort right now. Anyway, there's plenty to keep me occupied in the next two weeks. Which is probably good, 'cause if there weren't, I might actually think about how strange it is that two weeks from now, I'll probably be out at a bar in Philly with the other new PC trainees, getting in our last few drinks before leaving for a dry country on Friday. Life's about to change...
June 8, 2005
Made it back to Wisconsin safely. After a harrowing experience on the PA turnpike involving a massive thunderstorm and zero visibility, and a renewed sense of how ridiculous Illinois� highway system is, I made it. And now I�m waxing philosophical. It�s odd being home for more than just a few days� visit. �Home� being a relative term, of course�it�s all very familiar, but it�s not my house anymore. I don�t know where my parents keep drinking glasses. I keep trying to throw things away where there is no trash can anymore. I guessed right at where the lid for the green bean pot was, but I can�t figure out if the living room is the same color as it was last time I was here. The local grocery store moved. But the old guy at the end of our street still sits on a lawn chair in his garage and watches the traffic go by. And, somehow, that�s reassuring.
Life here is quiet. I don�t know how long I�ll be charmed by how quaint it is, but WI is just a lot calmer than in DC (especially when you don�t have a job!) I did some laundry today and it occurred to me that I could hang things on the clothesline outside. In my parents' half-acre backyard. In which they now have a nice, big deck with a great gas grill and a patio table with an umbrella. And the grass is lush, green, and well-manicured, as are all the yards in the neighborhood. The yard continues past the wood rail fence into the park, where the neighborhood kids (whom I don�t recognize anymore) play, and where we�ll surely see the occasional Girl Scout softball game. We have a dishwasher. We can drink water straight from the tap. We have central air. And I take the car everywhere. I think being here may actually make the transition to Mauritania even harder. Life in DC may be more glamorous in some ways, but it�s certainly lacking those little luxuries.
Speaking of Mauritania, I went to the school where my mom teaches this morning to meet the third graders, who she�ll have next year. We were planning to correspond on our own as part of her social studies curriculum, but the Peace Corps has a program set up, World Wise Schools, through which teachers connect with volunteers overseas to help fulfill the third goal of PC: �helping promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of all Americans.� They�ll send her teaching materials and we�ll exchange letters throughout the year. I was prepared for a lot of questions I couldn�t answer yet (like specifics about the country and culture), but the kids mostly asked about the Peace Corps. I forget that 8-year-olds wouldn�t know what it is and what it does. (I also forget how miniature they are; I�m not used to kids anymore!) They had some good questions and seemed interested. So at least I know I'll be getting a letter once a month (well, if it makes it to me), even if it is from fourth graders! Honestly, I'm very happy to have the opportunity to correspond with them. It'll be nice to have a captive audience for my stories, and it'll be great to give them a bit of insight into the way people live in a place very different from their home.