Recent Readings

Winter months mean lots of reading, and the past few weeks have found me with not a whole lot to do. I've been reading like a madman and finally paid the library back all of the fines I owed, hence the "WANTED" poster with my picture on it had been taken down and I'm able to borrow books once more. In case anyone is interested I've reviewed some of my recent reads below.

In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin
This is the second book I've read by Erik Larson. He has an amazing way of writing historical narratives and making them read like a novel. This particular book deals with the American ambassador to Germany right after Hitler's rise to power. It's an interesting perspective on the Third Reich. So often books only touch on the events leading up to World War II, this book starts a whole decade earlier and gives insights into the growing anti-Semitism in the region. Good read.

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen

Franzen is perhaps most famous for his 2002 book 'The Corrections,' which is one of my favorites. This books came out about a year and a half ago but I just finally got around to reading it. It was excellent literary fiction. Franzen has an amazing way of writing about American culture, suburban Midwestern life in particular. This book wasn't quite as quirky as 'The Corrections' and a lot of reviews on the internet complain about Franzen's misanthropic edge. Which, has some truth. Also, the book can be a bit of a downer. Despite these criticisms, I really enjoyed it and I'd recommend it to anyone who is a fan of the genre or into pop culture and politics. This book is unique in that there are probably a lot of people I wouldn't recommend to read it. I would say check out the first chapter (which perfectly sums up what is to come) and if you aren't sucked it {which...just seems impossible}, ignore this one.

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
One of my favorite books that I've read over the past few years was Mario Vargas Llosa's 'Feast of the Goat,' a gripping (cheesy word, but this book is GRIPPING) tale of the last days of Rafael Trujillo's regime in the Dominican Republic. Trujillo is one of those dictators who gets briefly mentioned in classes (He was a bad motherfucker who had a reign of terror blah blah blah). It wasn't until I read that book that I realized what a profound effect the man (and his nearly three decade long regime {el Trujillato}) had on the island. He defined a whole generation. He was a genuinely terrifying man (even those in the United States dare not criticize him. When a Columbia grad student did take the dictator to task in a paper, he was kidnapped and [rumor has it] dropped into a vat of boiling oil. You know...like a frozen chicken MCnugget.) While Llosa's book was some great historical fiction, this book uses the literary fiction genre to observe the effects Trujillo had on one Domican family. The book starts out describing the {terrible} life of Oscar, a fat and acne faced Dominican teenager, destined to die a virgin (the only Dominican man to do so!). The writing style is perfect, with a mix of both Spanish and English, and includes a plethora of fun factual footmarks. As the book progresses, we read the histories not only of Oscar, but of his mother, grandmother, etc. A central theme of the novel is the fuku, an ancient curse that haunts the family. This book is fun, quick, and full of history.

Love and Capital: Karl and Jenny Marx and the Birth of a Revolution
This is the behemoth of a book I'm currently tackling, though I'm not sure for how much longer. I'm about a hundred pages in and this book is a difficult read. Maybe it's the super small print, or the fact that it weighs about ten pounds (seriously?!?!?! it's only 600 pages, they must have printed this on the most dense paper money can buy), or it could just be that it's not all that exciting. It tells the enthralling love story of Karl and Jenny Marx. Okay, not so enthralling. I do enjoy reading about Marx's life and how he came to view the world and shape his economic theories, but it's...difficult. I became interested in the book when I saw the author doing an interview on TV and found her a pretty capitivating storyteller. I'm hoping the book picks up a bit.

Well, that's what I've been up to lately. Now I should review some of the TV shows I've been watching, because I would have LOTS of stuff to say about that!

And the panic sets in...

I just glanced at the calendar and noticed this coming Wednesday is February 22nd, the day I would be leaving on to go to Honduras. Of course this managed to stress me about a bit because in my head I'm thinking there's no way I could leave on Wednesday! I still have so much left to do! Well then the other part of me says no shit, you have so much left to do because you weren't preparing to leave. Of course the more I think about it there's really not all that much left to do. I've been preparing to leave since...well forever. At this point there some basic things that have to get done: I still have to get flights booked to staging, but from what I understand this is usually done about a month before the departure date. Glancing at other blogs it looks highly likely that the staging for Rwanda will be in Philadelphia. Also, I have to head over to town hall sometime soon so I can register to vote absentee for the upcoming elections (I already know who I'm voting for...can I just jot it down and slip it in the ballot box early?) (That last parenthetical was a joke btw. I am a PolSci major.) There are still some things I want to buy for my trip. Few clothing items, some other necessities. AND I have to figure out how I'm going to pack everything.

Finally, I have to say my goodbyes. It's one of those things nobody actually wants to do, but you pretty much have to. Of course I shouldn't panic so much, I mean, I don't leave until MAY for godsakes. So, plenty of time, right?

My life lately has been...boring? Without excitement? That's not totally fair to say, but I'm definitely in an in between stage. After quitting my job, I went a few weeks without anything to do. Which was boring and basically meant I watched trashy TV all day. In early February my uncle was nice enough to get me a job (that's right...I'm that kid) at his furniture store answering phones and doing some surveys. It's not the most exciting thing in the world but it's something to do and some money in my pocket.

This past week one of my good friends from High School (who's now living in Florida) came back to Stevens Point to visit. We really hadn't seen each other in quite a while but really it seemed like no time had passed. To many it's no secret that my mind is a bizarre vault of random trivia. I love talking with Kevin because he really is one of the only people I know who catches all of my references, and who has seen all of the movies I've seen. He's probably packing more trivia than I am.

This time of year is always difficult because the days are so short and the weather soooo cold. But oddly enough, this February has felt a lot more like spring. The temperature rarely dips below thirty, which is rare for Wisconsin. I'm not complaining, you see I hate being cold (and hot for that matter), but really...40 degrees in February?! This can't be a good thing. I'm not sure if it's related to global climate change, I can only imagine it is. I curious to see how the next few months shape out to be.

On a final note, I've been relentlessly changing my blogging template and can't seem to find one that I like. I've settled on this look, granted I'm going to be making a few changes because it seems rather blah right now.

A disjointed entry, but that's where my mind is right now.

Preparing for the Future

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind. For one, I celebrated my 23rd birthday, which means I'm getting very old (according to the kids at the Boys and Girls Club where I work). Also, I got some exciting news from the Peace Corps.

I've been bad about updating this blog, and now all of this seems like afterthought, but I thought it would be good to share.

The first week of January was a haul. For one, the vacation was over. I had a great Christmas this year, and not only because I spent it in Vegas :) I got to see old friends, catch up with family, and eat a lot. Who could ask for more? Of course, the whole time, the uncertainty of my situation was always in the back of my head. Ringing in the New Year was exciting and nerve-wracking! I was very anxious to hear back from the Peace Corps, but given my past experiences dealing with the bureaucracy, I was expecting to hear back, oh I don't know, mid JULY! So, I was shocked to receive a phone call the Wednesday after New Years. Of course, I had just eaten the nasty salisbury steak at work and was battling a bout of indigestion, but tried to maintain composure on the phone. Furthermore, the anxiety, stress, excitement, nerves all seemed to be attacking me at once. I was shaking so much I could barely write down what the placement officer was telling me.

I think it boiled down to this:

'Oh hey Ian. So, sorry about Honduras. I wanted to talk with you about some of the various option we have going forward. I have three assignments leaving around April-May, all three in Africa. The countries are Uganda, Rwanda, and Mozambique. All of them are community health positions. Also, there is a program leaving around the same time for a Latin American country. I'm not going to tell you which one because they would make too much sense. Instead I'm going to warn you how difficult it will be to get because you will be competing against the 100 other people who were dis-invited to Central America. So. I need an answer soon.'

Well, its not word for word, but pretty close. I swear these Peace Corps officers must write out full monologues before calling people. Of course, I had no idea what to do. I was really hoping on a position in Latin America given my Spanish studies. BUT, I had resigned myself to the fact that it probably wasn't going to happen, and the more I looked at going to Africa, the more it appealed to me. Of course I'm young and naïve, right? I took a half day from work and went home to google where exactly Mozambique is. (I know, it's embarrassing, but really...who knows that off the bat?!) The more I looked at these three countries, I kept coming back to Rwanda. I don't know why. I may never know why. But something about it just seemed to call out to me.

I realize how cheesy that sounds. You can roll your eyes at me. But that's what went down. So I picked up the phone, called Brian (maybe he spells it with a Y, I'm not sure), and requested an invitation to Rwanda. Three days later, FedEx dropped off my invitation!

A few days ago I sent in my acceptance email and made it official. On May 7th I leave for Rwanda for 27 months! The past few weeks have been a learning process, I've probably read the Wikipedia article on Rwanda a million times. I'm excited to start this new chapter in my life and to learn a new culture. Of course, this position is slightly more daunting than my previous. For starters, I've never been to the region, so there's not the comfort of having visited before. Also, it is really really really far away. And not in the same time zone. And tickets there cost a billion dollars. It will be a challenge.

Of course, the biggest challenge will be learning the national language, Kinyarwanda (which isn't even recognized by my spell check!) O mein gott. One things for sure, I'm going to have some good stories for my blog.

Where do we go from here?

Everyone has been asking when I leave for Honduras...which of course requires a pretty long answer. The past week has been filled with some highs and lows, but with regards to leaving for Honduras it's been low low low. On Friday of last week I received a phone call from Peace Corps informing me that due to violence and instability in the region, Peace Corps would not be sending any more volunteers to Honduras for 2012. After a quick google search I discovered that the prospective volunteers leaving for Guatemala and El Salvador were also affected by the decision. According to the New York Times, that's almost 105 volunteers that now need to be placed elsewhere. Sometimes I wish I had an e-mail of some of these other volunteers so that we could share our thoughts/frustrations, hopes for the future. That sound cheesy, but it would be nice to talk to some other people in the same boat. This week the New York Times reported that not only was Peace Corps not sending any more people to Honduras, it was evacuating the country altogether. Come January, all 168 volunteers that are currently serving there will have to come home.

This of course speaks volumes about the rampant violence that is plaguing Central America and Mexico. I'm not an expert on the issue, and I'm sure there's no easy answer to ending it, but it is a very sad situation. Especially for a region that can never seem to escape violence.

So I'm closing the book on Honduras. Since I received my placement letter in August I've been learning a lot about the country; its history, culture, and politics. But now I'm getting excited all over again, that nervous excitement that I had all summer, waiting for my country placement. On Tuesday the placement office for Peace Corps called. Her initial question was about my priorities; Am I most tied to: my regional placement? my {work} assignment? or my departure time period?

I assumed that saying 'all of the above' wouldn't be a proper answer. So I mentioned that I was hoping for a Latin American country where I could use my Spanish. She was very blunt [not in the rude way, but in a way one can appreciate] and told me that not only was Latin America the most requested region, but given all of the recent events, I should probably not plan on going there. Which is fine, I'm very flexible, just eager to leave! So number two priority: departure date. It looks like, however, all of the programs through March are filled. Meaning the soonest I will be leaving now would be April. The rest of the conversation was pretty standard 'we don't know too much yet, we'll be in contact' stuff the Peace Corps is good at. It looks like I won't really know anything until mid-January.

Only one program leaves in April (at the end of April I should point out): Uganda. So...assuming I'm not going there I'm probably going to be around for quite a while. Which leads to another problem. WHAT ON EARTH am I going to do with myself? Come February I'm effectively unemployed. And Peace Corps has my passport [what's the status on that?! I'd like to know]. So...I'm thinking I need to find something to occupy my time. I've created a list:

1. I'm aching to go on a roadtrip. A fun, long, friend filled road trip. Of course the likelihood of this happening is very small. But I'm holding out hope.

2. I have a friend who lives in New York and I've thought about going to visit him [again]. Of course he's busy and has an actual life, plus New York's expensive. So...not sure if that's going to happen.

3. Find a Job. Just until I leave. Of course...not sure if that's going to happen.

Okay I'm three into my list and realizing how ridiculously pessimistic I'm being. In all honesty I'm holding out a lot of hope too. I'm hoping that I find out my country [sooner rather than later] and find enough awesome things to do this spring to hold my attention.

Only time will tell. I'll keep you updated.

Roadblocks

I found out on Friday I won't be going to Honduras in February.

A volunteer was injured {in some kind of violent incident}, and due to growing instability in the country the Peace Corps has decided to cancel the program for next year. Which is the second setback I've had during this whole process. I have very mixed feelings about all of this, number one being frustration. After the delay last year, finally receiving my invitation made it all seem like such a sure plan. Now things seem to be a little up in the air. Of course, I don't want to be in a situation that's deemed unsafe. It just goes to show how lucky we are in the United States (I'm not saying there isn't violent crime here, but it doesn't seem to dominate daily life like it does in many countries around the world).

At this point I don't know too much, the placement officer told me I should be getting a phone call on Monday or Tuesday to explore what my options are from here on out.

Applying for the Peace Corps: Part Two

Isn't it funny? The little things you seem to remember. I remember the night my placement officer called to tell me I had been nominated for the Peace Corps. It was a significant step in the process because I finally felt like I could begin telling my family and friends about my [tentative] post-graduation plans.

I was in my kitchen in the midst of making spaghetti a la carbonara (because I'm cool like that, it was actually a staple in my college diet). Now, anyone who's anyone knows that the final step in making carbonara, while not difficult, requires a lot of care and attention. After rendering the fat from the pancetta and cooking the noodles, you create a mixture of egg, cream, black pepper, and parmesan cheese. Noodles go into the fry pan and mixed with the rendered fat and the cooked pork. Finally, you add the egg/cheese mixture and stir the sh*t out of it. Ideally it will become a creamy cheesy mixture. If you f*cked up it will become scrambled eggs with noodles (which I can only assume is disgusting). So back to my story, noodles were cooked, fat was rendered, when--RING RING. No that's not quite right. I believe I had an Amy Winehouse ringtone. So she starting singing and even though I'm terrible at multitasking, I answered the phone. My placement officer Janice was on the other line, and started off with some small talk. Straining the noodles. Wiping the fog off of my glasses. 'So I just wanted to tell you that I've decided to nominate you and we can move on with the process. The pancetta pops and a piece of grease hits me on the hand, 'SH*T!' doesn't sound like a proper response to what she's saying so I ignore the pain. 'Given some of your past experiences, I've decided to place you as a health extension volunteer to work in either Central or South America.' Sigh, or maybe it was quick intake of breath. Its one of those sounds you make when you're excited, only to later ask 'What the hell was that sound?!' 'I thought you might be excited, I know that's where you were hoping to go!' Pouring the mixture into pan and stirring my heart out. Some just fell onto the floor, but doing two things at once is hard enough, I'll wipe it later. 'Now I know you were hoping to leave next summer, but this program will have you leaving next September.' Ten months from now, I can live with that. 'Do you have any questions?' I made a lot of carbonara, would you like some? 'Great well congratulations and you have my phone number!' At this point I was completely ignoring my delicious italian treat and running around my living room like a buffoon doing, what I can only imagine was, an incredibly awkward dance. I wanted to call someone, but of course nobody was answering their phones!

It was a good night. The next part is the hardest. The waiting.

Towards Christmas time I received a lovely, thick packet from the PC office with all kinds of medical/dental forms that I was to have filled out ASAP. Now, normally I would have all of Christmas break to get this done, but seeing as I was out of the country for most of January, I had a small, five day period in which I had to get my entire medical review done. For anyone who wants to know what the medical review is like, I would say: all-encompassing. I was poked in every orifice (that's actually not a joke, it was kind of gross). I got every vaccine scientists could think of. [I pride myself on being well-vaccinated. And no Michelle Bachman, the vaccines haven't made me mentally retarded] I had gallons of blood taken (okay that one is a joke, but it seemed like a lot!)

Good news: I'm healthy. Bad news: Insurance covered none of what I got done. Good news: I have parents who love me...and paid to make sure I'm healthy :)

After being cleared the waiting game continued. All spring. 'Ian where are you going in the Peace Corps?!' Still don't know. All summer. 'Ian where are you going in the Peace Corps?!' Still don't know. About mid-July I received a letter in the mail, but it wasn't the letter I was hoping for. Due to budget cuts, my program, set to leave in September, had been canceled. To say I was upset would be an understatement. I was also a little depressed having realized this was the basket in which I had placed all of my eggs. There was a possibility that I would get to leave with the next health extension team in February, but I would be competing against the people nominated to leave then, as well as the comrades I was to leave with in September. In order to stay competitive I would have to complete so many hours in different volunteer sectors and do some résumé polishing. It was going to be a lot of work, and I didn't really have the time. Luckily I had gotten a job at the Boys and Girls club for the summer and was able to acquire quite a bit of hours of 'health-teaching experience.'

Well, the work seemed to pay off, and at the end of my [depressing] summer, I received the invitation kit [and country name] I wanted so badly. Honduras.

So it's set. I'm leaving February 22nd to serve as a Health volunteer (working with HIV/AIDS) for 27 months! The process was long and tedious, and the waiting was HARD, but it has paid off. I am excited for the adventure that awaits and eager to get on the road. Plane. Eager to get on the plan.

Applying for the Peace Corps: Part One

Since I applied for the Peace Corps I've been getting a lot of questions. Most often I get asked where I'll be going, which for the better part of a year, I really had no idea. I guaranteed people they would know as soon as I did. [I held true, posting my position/country on facebook about three seconds after tearing open the envelope. Speaking of the envelope, the whole invitation package was wrapped up in what is quite possibly the most well sealed piece of mail I've ever received. Which seems like a cruel joke. I digress] Most people seem to think I'm only going to be gone a few months. 'Well, yes. 27 months.' Cue wide open shocked expression.

Them: Will you be able to come home? Me: Well...I do get vacation time, but I'm hoping to instead meet my family somewhere in Central America for Christmas. Them: What are you going to do when you come back? Me: I have two years to decide! Right? Them: Will there be translators? Me: Nope. Hoping this Spanish degree is worth something. Them: Is it safe? Me: Um...well yes and no. I've been reading a lot about Honduras (an obsessive amount) and I won't lie. There are nerves. And it's upsetting that a country and a people have to exist in that kind of turmoil. But, from what I hear and read, the Peace Corps puts its volunteers' safety as a top priority. And its not good to live life doing only the 'safe' things.


Them: Why did you decide to join?

Me: ...

This is one of those questions where there never seems to be a simply concise [elevator] answer. The truth is that this has been on my mind for a long time, even back in high school. Of course what did I know back then. Throughout college I would attend the info meetings, signup for emails, and read the literature Peace Corps sent to me [did I sign a list? How did they find me?!]. But in the back of my mind those books were always under the grad school ones. Because that's just what you do after college, right? At least, that's what all of my friends are doing.

CUT TO: INT. COLLEGE APARTMENT LIVING ROOM. SUMMERTIME

I wasn't entirely sure I wanted to go to grad school right away. I might get some flak for saying this, but I didn't see the value in going from school to school. For me at least, I want to get out of the classroom and learn on location, which really, is the best way to learn. (I'm thinking a blog post on this topic is soon to come)

So with that in mind, I opened up my laptop, googled the Peace Corps, and filled out the online application. All in one fell swoop. Actually the application is incredibly time consuming and took me a few weeks. It's a good primer to the application process as whole, which is...[trying to think of an adequate word but failing]. Long. About mid October the application was finished and submitted, and then I had only to wait. Soon after I received a phone call from my local placement officer, who just so happened to be coming to town the next week! We scheduled an interview, and quick google search revealed [in advance] some of the questions I could expect. Once I got to the interview I was [pleasantly?] surprised at how we went through the list verbatim. I left the interview feeling good, and excited for what was to come...