Paşte Fericit! (Happy Easter)

Disclaimer: The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. government or the Peace Corps. This information is not for publication elsewhere without my permission and is intended only for the readers of this webpage. Reproduction of this information without my expressed written permission (after I get it checked out with Peace Corps) is not nice and could get me into trouble so don’t do it.

Written Monday April 9, 2007

Yesterday was the Orthodox celebration of Easter which I think this year lines up with the Roman Catholic and also Protestant celebration of Easter. Usually the Orthodox celebration of Easter is different so for the next two years you’ll probably be hearing Happy Easter from me a little early. Although my gazda family has never gone to church with me before, Saturday night we stayed up until midnight and brought candles to church to have them lit and bring them home. The priest came outside on a wooden platform built outside the church and the people stood around crossing themselves occasionally (like they do on the bus every time we drive past a church.)

I’m told the service usually lasts three hours and you stand the whole time – usual in the Orthodox church, people spend the whole service standing. It was kind of strange for me to think of people staying up late to go to church at midnight for three hours. It reminded me a little of going to the midnight showing of Return of the King. But we didn’t stay for the entire church service. The church, or outside of the church before midnight was very crowded. When the time came there was a lot of pushing and making your way through the crowd to get your candle lit, or just sticking it in someone else’s flame to light it. I’m surprised more people don’t get set on fire. An old woman did bump me and sort of lose her candle between me and my jacket. I gasped and jumped and was generally quite flustered. I probably overreacted but I was wearing rayon and I know how flammable that is.

Yesterday after a late breakfast Lumi announced that we were going on a visit at one and today “families would all eat lunch together.” We got in the car with a bouquet of flowers and drove to another bloc in Ploieşti where we were greeted warmly with kisses on both cheeks from the woman and a kiss on my hand by the old man. I had no idea who they were but apparently we were having dinner with them. I was surprised to realize they already knew I was a vegetarian.

The conversation went very fast and I wasn’t always able to follow all of it but I could tell when it was about me, my family, my friends in the Peace Corps, the job I’ll have in Deva, the jobs some of my friends will be doing, the project I’m working on next weekend for practicum with Casa Eva, a list of things that I will eat…

I jumped in whenever I could to attempt to clarify points about myself which I’m not sure I did successfully in my very slow Romanian with I’m sure some incorrect grammar. In general though I got the sense that everyone was impressed with all the things I was able to say correctly. There was some joking that if I drank more palinka I would speak better Romanian.

Ţuica (TSWEEKA) is a common drink – I think it’s the national drink. It’s plum wine twice distilled into Plum brandy. Palinka is Transylvanian Ţuica that is distilled one more time, (that’s three) making it about 87% alcohol. And it tastes like it. As the amount of Palinka in my glass decreased the amount of mineral water I added to it increased. Faced with all this overwhelming hospitality I decided to test the tradition that if you empty your glass, it will be refilled. It is true. Luckily I switched to white wine. Don’t worry I didn’t embarrass myself or the U.S.

I’m proud to say I contributed to the conversation – and spoke more than Tina. I don’t know if that’s because she isn’t welcomed to participate because she’s a kid, or because she was watching the TV that was on in the corner, but I spoke almost no English and was able to communicate I think pretty effectively.

Through conversation I learned that these people are Lumi’s in-laws. The mother and father of her late husband. Pictures were passed around of her niece, their granddaughter who is a child model at the age of 6.

When we sat down there was the traditional Easter dish, drob (the internal organs of a lamb, wrapped in the stomach and baked. It looks like greenish brown meatloaf due to the fistfuls of parsley in it.) grilled fish, bread, zacusca (it’s called pinjur if you buy it at Trader Joe’s and it’s very common here – roasted eggplant, peppers, tomatoes and garlic spread on bread. I eat it for breakfast almost everyday but this was homemade as opposed to from a jar. I was encouraged to eat it all so there wouldn’t be leftovers), cooked pinto beans with garlic and parsley, salad made of shredded celery root, mayonnaise, olives and radishes, a plate of whole tomatoes and radishes (what Romanian meal is complete without whole raw tomatoes?) and boiled eggs.

The Easter tradition here with the eggs is to color them – many people dye the majority of the eggs red, although there are other colors or prominently display the red ones to represent the blood of Christ. On Easter Sunday you take an egg in your hand, pointy side up and someone takes their egg and says “Christos înviat” (Christ Resurrected) to which you reply “Adeverat înviat” (The resurrection is true). Then they knock the pointy side of their egg against your egg. The point is to try and break the other person’s egg without breaking your own. When your egg is broken you peel and eat it.

The only eggs we celebrated with were dyed solid colors, but there are the more elaborately painted Easter eggs here that I would have thought of as Ukrainian Easter eggs at home. The tradition extends into Romania. You can buy the elaborately painted blown egg shells or wooden eggs at the Palm Sunday craft market in Bucharest if you’re into souvenirs but what many people do is to paint hard boiled eggs and then save one every year. If it breaks and is rotten you’ll have bad luck for a year, but if it breaks and is dried up and not rotten you’re luck will be good. Best just to not let them break. My professor Simona has one from when she was a kid.

Above listed with the food are the things that I ate including a small piece of grilled fish (the fish here is fishier tasting than I’m used to and I’ve accepted that people even in the US believe vegetarians eat fish. To contradict them requires too much energy.) I was glad that something else that looked like fish in clear gelatin had some other kind of meat in it because I wasn’t welcomed to try it. There was also sarmale – cabbage rolls stuffed with rice, beef and pork and served with sour cream. I think they’re my favorite Romanian dish when I have them without meat, served this time with a relish of pickled peppers, and also lamb coirba – the Romanian sour soup that can be made with any kind of meat – or no meat at all.

After all this, I thought the cozonac – traditional Easter sweat bread and I can’t remember the name of the other bread with cheese and raisins was desert. But then came out a huge plate of lamb that even I had to comment looked perfect (Lumi agreed “like a picture in a magazine”) and a salad made of spinach, parsley, tomatoes and radishes. Green salad is not something I’ve seen a lot of in Romania. Most “salads” involve some kind of mayo and are similar to potato salad. But especially since we arrived at the end of winter our choice of fresh vegetables has been limited – mostly to tomatoes and cucumbers. There is always imported produce in the big supermarkets but a lot of people would rather wait until spring and summer and stick with Romanian grown vegetables from the local piaţa.

Then there was Torte (cake – there’s a lot of controversy in class as to how Americans think the names of Romanian deserts should translate) with fresh cream and sour cherries, Turkish coffees with fresh cream, more wine and just when you thought you were done for sure – fruit salad with fresh cream! After all this, Lumi, Tina and I went home to rest and “siesta.” I followed my personal Easter Tradition of listening to the Highlights from Jesus Christ Superstar up to my yearly quota.

Today we went for a long drive to a forested park near a lake. It was nice to be out of doors on a spring day and I was looking forward to a walk in the woods. Lumi said she hadn’t been there in three years. Apparently it’s a very popular spot because there were a lot of people there today picnicking and listening to music. Because this was the park you didn’t have to pay to get into people just drive their cars into the woods and tailgate more than picnic. When the trash cans overflow they leave their trash on the ground. This has started to seem sadly typical in a country where the local government isn’t always organized enough to collect trash and the idea of littering hasn’t become socially stigmatized. Lumi was pretty upset that the forest was so dirty and full of garbage and there were no flowers out. It really made me appreciate our state parks and campgrounds back home.

The other thing was there were no real trails to walk on, we just took a couple of short walks down the potholed pavement roads and had to quickly dodge any oncoming cars going faster than anyone should down such roads. Afterward we visited an Orthodox convent to pray and light candles and then the Catholic church to pray for Lumi’s mother who was Catholic. Her mother passed away two years ago a few days after Easter and then her husband died a month later, so this is a difficult time of year for her.

Today the Catholic church was closed because I think a mass was in session so we just stood outside for a few minutes and honored her mother in silence. Even though it’s still a beautiful but cool sunny day outside I’m taking advantage of my chance to be lazy and am typing this with the door to the balcony open in my room. I would like to spend more time outside but I don’t really want to go anywhere and I have a lot of reading and writing I want to do so I’ll sign off for now. Here’s hoping that in the year’s to come I’ll be able to describe Romanian Eater traditions more accurately and in better detail.

Tina & Lumi day after Easter

The Bucharest Craft fair last weekend
Woman selling painted eggshells and wooden eggs at the Bucharest craft fair
The family
The table
Me and the family on Easter after Lunch

At Last! Site Announcements!

Disclaimer: The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. government or the Peace Corps. This information is not for publication elsewhere without my permission and is intended only for the readers of this webpage. Reproduction of this information without my expressed written permission (after I get it checked out with Peace Corps) is not nice and could get me into trouble so don’t do it.

Written Wednesday April 4, 2007
It doesn’t feel like I’ve been here five weeks. Last week was our halfway through training mark and we found out our site assignments and job descriptions. First, though we had a half day of language “assessment” where we rotated through six different stations with our language teachers pretending to be shop keepers, restaurant waitstaff, postal clerks, our gazda families etc. putting us into situations where we had to speak Romanian with them, so they could give us feedback on what we need to practice.

I didn’t study too much before the day because I didn’t want my results to be artificially positive, and I’m satisfied with my feedback – four B’s and two A’s but I still have a long way to go. Anyway that in the morning and site announcements in the afternoon made for a very exciting and emotionally exhausting day.
My site where I will be living for the next two years is in the city of Deva which has approximately 71,000 people.
If you go to the Wikepedia site for Deva in Romania, you’ll know about as much as me because a printout of that is what I was given along with some information about my organization. There was a fortress there built in the 1300’s on some nearby mountain top – and it exploded I guess, but the ruin is still there, and apparently it’s a nice mountain in a city surrounded by the mountains of Transylvania.

I’ve been told in Deva I can look forward to modern connivances like mobile phone service, and the internet in my apartment which make it a little hard to believe I’m in the Peace Corps, but then I will be doing my laundry by hand since everyday things in the US like washing machines are not common.
I’ll be working with a six year old NGO that has never had a volunteer before. It’s called Mara Foundation (Fundaţia Mara) and provides services and resources to at-risk youth in Hunedoara County. From the information I’ve been given it looks like Mara Foundation focuses on formally institutionalized children who were in orphanages, children with HIV and mentally and physically handicapped children and their foster parents. It sounds like they wanted a volunteer with some new and different ideas to help them recruit volunteers, fundraise, help with public relations and hopefully do a little bit of programming as well.

My Program Manager in Peace Corps told me there were two places they were thinking of placing me and this is the one where I will have less opportunity to work directly with the kids, but I’ll also have plenty of opportunities for side projects in case I want to go to the local high schools and start an English Club or a Service Club or something.
After a busy day of site announcements and language assessment, I still wasn’t done. I got on a train for the nearby city of Pieşti and volunteer for one day on a Habitat for Humanity Project. It’s our opportunity as trainees to get out of the school on the weekend and do some manual labor – and its all expenses paid by Peace Corps.

While I was there I met TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) volunteer who currently lives in Deva. So I was able to get some info on the town and learn a little bit about what to expect. For example, there are three grocery stores and pizza and sandwich delivery is available. I’m told the best coffee shop in Romania is there (although we’ll have to see, I heard about a really good coffee shop in the Miamurişt area). It sounds like I’m pretty lucky and I have pretty reliable train and bus access to the rest of the country and surrounding countries. I’m six hours from Budapest. Three hours south of Clug – a big tourist spot. Apparently “Phil” was able to get on a bus in Deva and travel to Istanbul. And he might be moving there after PC so if he as a couch to crash on…

I also met his girlfriend, a PC volunteer in Pieşti who’s from the Mississippi Gulf Coast – so we talked about my volunteer experience there! Even though they’re both leaving Romania in July it’s nice to have someone who can introduce me to the town and help me get situated (besides my second host family, I’ll be living with for the month of May, that is) and it was cool to talk to someone else who knew what I was talking about when I mentioned my experience in Mississippi after the hurricane.

The work on Saturday was enough to make you proud after you did it. We ended up deepening two sixty foot trenches each by three feet, laying the pipe that will eventually bring indoor plumbing to the house that was being renovated and then burying the pipe again. It wouldn’t have been so bad if it weren’t for the fact that we were digging into clay with large stones buried in it. And that it was so cold that after digging for three hours I still didn’t want to take off my sweatshirt. But I’m not complaining. It was good to get out in the aer liber and have some physical exertion even if my back and shoulders were already sore from carrying my bags before I even got to the Habitat Site.
In other news, (briefly) I was able to spend some time in Bucharest on my way back to Ploieşti last Sunday so some other volunteers and I were able to attend a craft and flower fair, held ever Palm Sunday at the Peasants Museum. Due to connections with a friend of a member of Peace Corps staff who works at the museum I was able to see the MOST AWESOME PUPPET SHOW EVER even though it was for kids. Perhaps I will post on just the puppet show at a later date. I was very glad I decided to go to the craft fair, although carrying my weekend bag around Bucharest after a day of digging trenches in clay was not my idea of fun and I was sore for not less than two days afterward. In fact, I’m still a little sore now.

Other adventures of a theatrical nature include, I went to see the show Biloxi Blues playing here in Ploieşti, although it was expensive $50 RON and I had to get money out of my checking account at home. I knew the story from having seen the movie about two years ago. My friend, Micah didn’t fair so well because he saw the movie when he was eight, but it was interesting to watch the story unfold and practice listening to Romanian while only understanding a word hear and there. The best part was hearing amongst all the rapid-fire Romanian the words “Biloxi Mississippi.” I was especially interested in seeing the show having recently spent time in Mississippi in close proximity to Biloxi. Luckily the characters in the play are mostly from other states or I would have felt compelled to point out that Mississippians pronounce it “Bluxi.”

Some student's art work -
try not to be amazed!

Isn't it great?

written Saturday March 10th
A Little about School

Disclaimer: The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. government or the Peace Corps.

The school where I attend Peace Corps training every weekday is a “middle school” but from what I understand there are grades 1-5th in the morning and 6-8th graders in the afternoon.

The kids have to wear their uniforms in school, which vary, but I see many younger kids wearing little suits with black ties. They love to walk past the Americans and shout “hello” to us in English.

One little boy asked me my name while his friends stood behind him and giggled, and when I told him, and then asked him his name in Romanian, they all thought it was hilarious.

Last week a young man stopped me on the way from the bathroom and said enthusiastically “How do you like Romania? Do you like it here?” “Da, da!” (yes, yes) I replied. “Oh, I’m glad to know that!” he said.

Some of the kids like to show us their impressive collection of American English collected from movies and rap songs - all of it cursing (but as I write this the American movie True Romance is on TV and I’m not surprised at some of the English words these kids pick up. (My gazda mama Lumi came in my room and said there’s a movie on with Brad Pitt – which I find a little bit funny because Brad Pitt’s in this movie for like 1 minute). Or they like to say random phrases in English, like “I love you!” or just whistle.

Also, it’s apparently very interesting to knock on and open and close the doors that have the Peace Corps logo on them when we’re having meetings.

We are told that the students in Romania are much more disciplined when they are in class than American students. Therefore, after sitting in class all day where they have to pay attention and not speak out of turn, they really enjoy a good run down the hallway screaming. On Friday they were particularly nuts.

Also, although I’m told there is no gym to speak of, and that their gym classes are held outside, from the sound of their screams while I’m in language class in the morning, they must be having screaming class because otherwise I would have assumed it was gym (it probably is…in some fashion. Perhaps there Is a gym in the blue building?)

Honestly, the kids are quite loud, and it’s strange to occupy the same building as them. We’re not allowed to use the teacher’s stairwell or entrance. I still don’t know where the teacher’s entrance is but the teacher’s stairs are nice and polished – and close to the Peace Corps bathroom on the third floor. This can create quite a traffic jam in the hallway of little people shouting “Hello! Hello! Hello!” But I think we regard each other as a bit of a curiosity.

They are interesting and fun and loud – but they are kids.
It can be kind of intimidating to walk through a group of Romanian third graders who are talking and laughing loudly when you don’t know what about. But I’m also constantly impressed with their artwork that decorates the hallways and classrooms. Some of the other volunteers are developing quite a report with them though. Once you engage them in a game of soccer after school you’re the coolest thing ever (I’m hoping to be able to do this one of these days) especially if you’re Todd and you’re 6’9’’ or so.

The school staff I’ve met has also been very nice and accommodating and I’m very impressed that Peace Corps volunteers have our own bathroom, an office, a language office and a PCV lounge on the third floor – so I can’t complain.

In other news – this week our Friday Language class was a scavenger hunt with directions to 4 clues and our 5th clue was a subject about which he had to create a skit to be performed in Romanian for the rest of the group. My group got to do a spoof on a Romanian language lesson and I played the student (there’s one in approximately every class) who sits in the back and asks how to say crude and dirty things in Romanian. (Our teachers tell us only so we know what it means if we hear it.) "Cume se spune pe Romaneste 'Eat my butt?'". Overall it was a really fun day in class!

Romania Week 1 written Friday March 2nd
Buna Zuia! (Boona – Zeewa) Good afternoon

Disclaimer: The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. government or the Peace Corps.

I’ve been in Ploiesti for eight days now and I wonder if I’m too tired to write this. I had an aggressive plan for studying my Romanian tonight, but I think I’m too mentally exhausted. Tomorrow Luminista (Lumi) my gazda mama and Florintina (Tina) my gazda sora (sister) are taking me shopping outside of Ploieisti because I’m cooking soup for dinner. Lumi has been very accommodating by preparing meals without meat for me, so I hope I can return the favor by doing some cooking on the weekends. I had an interesting vegetarian sausage for dinner tonight.

For our 10 weeks of training in Ploiesti we are well taken care of by our gazda (host) families. Everyday Lumi gives me a ride to the training center which is in a middle school (grades 1-8) in Ploiesti. This is a subject of great amusement for the other PCTs (Peace Corps Trainees) who walk or take the bus. Lumi will drive me right up to the gate of the building where I have language class (this involves driving on the sidewalk.) Our gazdas were only supposed to take us to school for the first day of training. I did get to take the bus home on Thursday because I told her the other volunteers would help me get home to our bloc, but I was too busy talking to my friend Jim to ask what number bus to take in the morning. I hope to eventually learn the bus schedule though I will miss the Romanian lessons Lumi gives me during the morning ride.

At school we study language in the morning for four hours and then in the afternoon we have other Peace Corps training events. Language class is a lot fun but it’s also like being in first grade in Romanian. I am very surprised at how well the language training is going. After the first week I am able to speak a very broken present tense form of Rom-glish. I have successfully purchased an alarm clock, a plug adapter, a coffee, a tea, a bunch of flowers and oranges. I love it when one of our profesoarele (professors) Simona says to us “Jesus. You guys going to be all right?” with her Romanian accent.

Lumi speaks English very well, but doesn’t always understand me, and Tina will answer me in Romanian if I ask her a question in English. Tina is a good teacher who taught me my colors and recently discovered coming into my room to point to things and ask “Ce este?” (what is this?) Tina teaches me new words about 45 at a time, and then she says in Romanian “do you need anything else?” Lumi is very good about quizzing me on things she’s already told me and asking me “Cut e chasul, pe Romaneste?” (What is the time in Romanian?)

Tonight I brought home some oranges from the market next to the school and Lumi made a fruit salad while I sat at the table and tried to ask for less butter in the cucumber and cheese sandwiches she packs in my lunch. I asked (in Romanian) what I could do to help and she said “Nimic, multumesc. (nothing, thank you.) Nimic means nothing. Write it down.”

I get very excited every time I can form a sentence in Romanian although I’m afraid Lumi might find me demanding or doesn’t understand that I’m working on plurals in class so it’s an achievement for me to announce at the table “I like cucumbers!” (Romanian plurals, by the way, don’t even make sense to Romanians.)

Last night Lumi came into my room to see if I needed help with my homework and I read from a page in my notebook the sentences I managed put together: “I like cabbage rolls with cabbage. Not with meat. Maybe I learn I make one day.” She said Ok, and left the room. My friend Micah and I were walking together discussing what our practice of our vocabulary sounded like to the Romanians: “Couch! Bed! Sink! Door! Carpet! Kitchen! Living Room! Blue! Red! Yellow!”

The first of March is a holiday here similar to Valentine’s day or mother’s day when men and boys give ladies and female family members flowers and little corsages with red and white cords and little metal trinkets to celebrate the coming of Spring. I got a snowman one from Tina and very nice handmade card. One of the boy students at the school where we train gave me another Martzie Shor trinket with a four leaf clover on it, but the best was before school Lumi gave me a very nice red and white cord with tassels like a book mark and a little Peace sign. I was able to say “I like peace very much. Perfect!” And I think she was happy.

In our other Peace Corps training we just began our practicum projects. We are put into teams with other volunteers in our area (mine is institutional development) and we have approximately six weeks to do a project in partnership with a local nonprofit or a government office. My team is working with Casa Eva – a sort of halfway house for orphans which teaches life skills in a collective setting sort of like a family situation where kids are grouped together with a supervisor/teacher. This is opposed to the institutional setting of orphanages during communism. Today we met with the director and coordinator and some of the kids. We had an interesting session since they speak only Romanian and German and this is the only day we will have a member of the Peace Corps staff to escort us and translate for us. We got a lot of information but it’s way too early to begin thinking about what kind of project we’ll be doing and I’m not sure how much about the organization I’m allowed to publish, but I’m sure you’ll be hearing something more about this project as it develops.

I’m really enjoying the training thus far, despite the Peace Corps bathroom being on the 4th floor (American, 3rd European floor) of another building, and the bathrooms where I have class are a step with a porcelain slab with a hole in it that you squat over. I try to keep a spare handful of toilet paper in my pockets because it’s not provided in the student bathroom. Also the PCT lounge gets quite loud at lunchtime and there are 3 computers with internet access for 40 of us. I’m sure it’ll get more stressful as I begin to exit what Peace Corps calls the “tourist phase.” After all I’ve only been here 1 week, but so far, so foarte bine (very good)!

Some Parting Words

Disclaimer: The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. government or the Peace Corps.

For the last few weeks I’ve wished I could just disappear dramatically in puff of smoke or a flourish of a black iridescent cape. But since I can’t do that, I feel I owe those of you who have loved and nurtured me some parting words.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what it means to grow up. I sat in my bedroom before I left remembering how nervous I was the day I graduated high school, and the day I left for college. They seem like nothing now compared with this.

In preparing to leave for Peace Corps, I have also been doing a lot of pondering about why I want to do this. What motivates me to leave the U.S. for two years? I came to the conclusion that I love my country. That’s why I’m so hard on it.

Sometimes I look at my relationship with my country as that of a knowing parent, trying to deal with a young child. I like to think the my country is the stern adult, a dedicated leader steering me in the right direction, but lately though I feel as though I’m the parent struggling, perhaps in vain, to keep my country from acting like a stubborn bratty thirteen year old.

Today at my staging event a returned Peace Corp volunteer trainer mentioned John F. Kennedy speaking about not just being a citizen of the United States, but being a citizen of the world. I started getting a little teary as she described the liberating sense of there being something beyond a country that we could all belong to as humans.

It was thirty years after Kennedy spoke those words she was able to take up the call to service.

I can’t even remember by I wanted to do the Peace Corps. I know I was first introduced to the idea in 5th grade and when I heard about people going away to other countries to volunteer to help I said “I’m going to do that.” I liked the idea even more when I found out Kennedy started it. My 6th grade class talked about Kennedy’s famous line “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country,” and I really took it to heart.

As I grew and matured my desire to help matured as well. I no longer saw PC as an opportunity to travel while saving the rest of the world from it's problems, but as a way I could make a contribution, potentially, on the world stage; to be the pebble that gets dropped in the pond.

I’m doing this because I love my country because we need to see other people. It’s a corny joke on a bumper sticker but it’s true. I believe in the three goals of the Peace Corps which are: To help the people of interested countries in meeting their needs for trained men and women; to help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the people served; to help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of all Americans.

I want to do this for you America, because when you strip away all that’s familiar: your humor, your relationships, your cultural expectations; and plunge into the unknown – you find out what’s left at the core of you is who you really are and what you really believe.

I’m leaving America to learn what I love about her. I’m serving her by going abroad to learn how I can better serve her when I return.

In doing this I willingly make a lot of sacrifices. But a language barrier and lack of hot running water are nothing compared to the biggest sacrifice I am going to make – and you, my loved ones are going to make it with me because I’m sacrificing myself. By simply undertaking this journey I know I can not return the person I was – I am now – as I leave. I write this at 2:35 am on what feels like my last night to be myself. Who I will be when I get to Romania has yet to be determined.

Those of you who know and love me will not get the same Laura back that you said goodbye to. But that’s ok, because I’m willing to venture the Laura you get returned to you will be in some way improved. How, I can’t yet say. What I will accomplish, I don’t yet know. But I am willing to make that sacrifice in service to my country - even if it is only by setting a good example for a crabby thirteen year old.

Because I have always believed that true patriotism is doing what is necessary to help improve your country.

http://www.seeklyrics.com/lyrics/Moxy-Fruvous/The-Drinking-Song.html

Need a reason to flip off your TV?

This is not an attack on "Norbit" which I'm not even going to dignify with a response, nor is it a reason to throw anything within reach at the TV which trailers for "Ghost Rider" have been giving me a good excuse to do lately. This is me, unemployed as I am, with way too much time on my hands - complaining about commercials.

In my own defense I am home alone all day and it doesn't occur to me to turn on the TV until my mom gets home from work because evening television is all she does. And to be honest, with THE COMPLETE SERIES of the West Wing on DVD who needs television (which is - for the record Dead to me since the West Wing was canceled.) Except I watch the evening line ups with my mom (when I can't get her to watch the West Wing all night every night.

Watching TV leads to being exposed to commercials and two commercials lately have gotten under my skin. They're not what you think. The first one, I'm embarrassed to admit is for Epic Movie. Now I could address this simply by saying Epic Movie: You're stupid. But that's obvious. Epic movie is supposed to be stupid. And it was made for stupid people who see stupid parody movies. I, however, have a quarrel with Epic Movie on premise. I would like to argue its misunderstanding of the word "epic." "Epic" means literally "worthy of epic poetry, such as Beowulf or The Odyssey." A traditional hero myth. Epic movie confuses what is "epic" with the entire fantasy/Si-Fi genre.

Almost NONE of the films being spoofed in this film do I consider Epic. Now Lord of the Rings, is an epic, and though I hate to see it lampooned could probably humor the non-ring geeks who put up with so much from the rest of us but LOTR isn't even being made fun of. Maybe the Chronicles of Narnia if we're talking about THE SERIES and not just one installment. X men, I can sort of see it. Epic? Pirates of the Caribbean? Willy Wonka? Nacho Libre? Don't even ask me where they pulled Da Vinci code from!

You want to spoof bad "Epic" movies, here's a list for you Troy, King Arthur, Alexander, Chronicles of Riddick...A better comment would be simply Epic Movie: You Suck.

While I was just going to exercise myself of the suffering caused by cognitive dissonance between the meaning of "epic" and what we're pretending it means, Windows VISTA commercial lit my flame. At first I thought it was going to try to sell me a TV, but it got my attention. Then I find it out it's comparing the experience of Windows VISTA to watching the moon landing or the Berlin wall fall!
Next time I'm just going to stick my head through the TV!

I've asked Andrew to help me put a picture of myself in my Blogger profile because that task has been giving me a hard time. (That's to the upper right and under the About Me). He hasn't done it yet, because I think we had a miscomunication and instead he just posted the picture of me to the blog and not to the profile. Despite the fact that I believe it was a harmless unintentional error, I am going to be vindictive and put a picture of him on my blog until he fixes it and I have a picture of myself in my profile. Now you can all look at him. Look at him and laugh. And post comments making fun of him...although I don't know why because it's a good picture and not in any way funny. But if he fixes my profile for me I'll take it off my blog.

Answering honestly...


You are Poison Ivy

Poison Ivy 67% The Joker 62% Apocalypse 61% Dark Phoenix 61% Venom 55% Mystique 53% Magneto 51% Two-Face 49% Mr. Freeze 47% Dr. Doom 46% Catwoman 41% Lex Luthor 38% Riddler 36% Juggernaut 33% Green Goblin 33% Kingpin 28%

You would go to almost any length for the protection of the environment including manipulation and elimination. . Click here to take find out what super villian [the Joker] are YOU? http://www.thesuperheroquiz.com/villain/

I'm Expecting!

It's official! I ordered a laptop computer yesterday and I will be recieving 5-7 days after January 30th. My first computer all my very own! I've never had a new computer before. The closest I've come to having ANY computer was my parents' old Gateway after my mom got a new Dell in 2003. The PC was functional but had barely enough memory to run a DSL connection and a weird Fellowship of the Rings "wizards" screensaver my brother put on there (not that I'm complaining).

Now I will have my very own laptop that will store my writings, my recipes, my pictures, my music and eventually connect to the internet. It will allow me to watch DVDs and keep in touch with all of you while I'm in Romania. And I bet it will come in handy for work too!

Oh I'm so excited for my new laptop computer to get here! Why? What did you think I was talking about?

Speaking of keeping in touch, just so you know I'm on Facebook now too. I'm still figuring it out so I don't know how to do a lot, but it seems like a neat social tool.

Because I haven't said it in a while the Recipe of the Weekend was vegetable stew. One thing I miss while being a vegetarian is stew. I've tried a delicous recipe for squash stew which I like very much, but this recipe was basically Vegetables (roots to be more specific: parsnip, carrots, potatos, onion, turnip) + water + salt&pepper + rice + cumin. After I got it all in the pot together it didn't seem very promising. My mom was teasing me it looked like Great Depression Stew. Her dad used to tell her his Great Depression recipe for Cabbage Soup made from cabbage, water and pepper (and perhaps a ham bone - so the vegetarian version would be as stated and quite dull.)

Luckily I was able to swoop in at the last minute and save MY stew by adding vegetable broth, garlic powder, parsley, oregano, bay, lemon juice and a little tomato paste. Stew it is, but cut out for a life of poverty, perhaps I'm not!

Who cares?

I'd like to comment on the Academy Awards for this year and that comment being, I don't care.
My Brother The Film Student maintains that the Academy Awards are overrated. I think everyone probably thinks the Academy Awards are overrated until they are nominated. I don't think the awards mean little to nothing - I just don't get in to them every year.

Wait a minute Laura, I know how into the awards you were last year. Are you saying you only get into the Academy Awards when movies you like are nominated?

No. Before last year the last time I cared about the Academy Awards was 2003. So more rightly I only care about the awards when movies I LOVE are nominated. Movies that touch me deeply and make me think differently about who I am and my place in the world. Movies that STILL make me cry every time I watch them. Movies I had to see six times in movie theatres.
Those are the movies I care about and most of the time I don't care whether they are nominated or not. But when they ARE nominated - it's that much more fun. Otherwise I am able to acknowledge that the awards are mostly political (Witness Denzel Washington not winning as he should have for The Hurricane, and then winning the next year for a mediocre role in Training Days.)

So Laura, are you saying that in 2003 you only cared deeply about Return of the King (award winner for mostly wildly anticipated movie of MY LIFE) and last year you only cared about Brokeback Mountain (second most anticipated movie of my life).

No. I also cared a great deal about CRASH and I was very proud of it for winning Best Picture. I was also SO proud of BBM (we're so close we have appreviations for eachother) for being nominated and interested in how Munich would be acknowledged for what it brought (or didn't bring) into the dialogue about terrorism.

But how can you say you cared about CRASH when we never heard you talk about it or write about it on your blog (the blog you temporarily renamed Brokeback Bloggin') ?
Well, in an early blog entry I explained that the subject of racial privilege is a sensitive one that deserves much care and attention when discussing, so I left off writing about CRASH on my blog - as important a film as I believe it was - because I like to reserve such delicate issues for conversations when I'm drunk.

I guess what I'm trying to say is it is not every year films come around that I get so emotionally invested in them that I care whether they win awards. Most of the time good movies are good movies and whether or not they win doesn't change how much I love them. I'm proud to see the movies I love get nominated and win, but it doesn't always happen. (I was shocked by the way to realize as I did in high school that The Dark Crystal never won anything!)

Maybe I haven't seen enough movies this year to care who even gets nominated. (except for Earagon.) Or maybe after such an emotionally exhausting 2006 - I need to take a year off.

Needless to say when another one comes around that I care about - I will let you know.

The Journey Home

Train ride to Andy's from dinner - approx 1 hour
Go to the bathroom, pick up bags, say goodbye to Michelle, Greta and Humphrey - approx 16min
Train ride to Penn station from Andy's - approx 1 hour
Train ride to airport from Penn station - approx 15 minutes
Shuttle ride to monorail plus monorail ride to terminal - approx 35min
Wait for United ticket counter to open - approx 1hour 20min
Wait at the gate for delayed flight - approx something more than 2 hours
Flight - 1 hour 45 minutes
Sleep on the flight - something more than 1 hour
Time change - lost one hour
Breakfast at IHOP in Chicago with Chris - 3 hours ?
Cups of coffee: 3 plus a stop at Starbucks for something with Expresso in it
Hours slept upon walking in the door to my house - 4
Bedtime- 10:30 after The Daily Show

I'm home in WI, where I will stay without getting on a plane again until mid Feb. It was a great trip to NYC! Thank you Andy, Greta, and Humphrey for putting up with my tissues and eating your mac and cheese! Thanks Andy for the appetizers and for everything! Thanks Sam for coming into town last night! It was good to see you! Thanks Michelle for some great discussions! Thanks Natalie, for everything, and mostly for being there. Thanks Chris for picking me up at the airport and listening to me rant about Supernatural on virtually no sleep. I WILL SEE YOU ALL AGAIN! Good times!

Last Post of 2006!

I want to take a moment and reflect on the December I've had. I was sad to leave Ocean Springs, Mississippi, the friends I've made and the work down there, but I had to come home for Christmas. I had a lot of great experiences working on the Gulf Coast, and if not for the Peace Corps I probably would have stayed down there.

I had a great Christmas and it was really nice to spend time with friends and family and I was very blessed to get to spend time with many of those who are dear to me, including reunions with some old friends. Part of that is my trip out to NYC where I sit in Queens right now as I type this.

The plan was to go to Time Square for New Years but as no one seems to want to get off the couch and I'm coming down with a bad cold, I don't know if that's going to happen. It's all right, however as I came here to see friends and not the city, so much.

I'm still preparing to leave for Romania in February, and will get a lot more serious about working on that as soon as New Year's is over.

In the meantime I hope everyone had a great holiday!

Mother of All Surveys

Describe a typical Sunday for you:
Sleep in till seven. Get up, dress, eat cereal, put cereal away and clean up the kitchen. Read til I fall asleep wake around 10:30 -11 to make lunch for volunteers, serve lunch, read til I fall asleep for an hour and a half, make dinner, serve dinner, clean up after dinner, do nothing for an hour, volunteer orientation for which I am present so I can stand and wave and be introduced to the volunteers.

Any odd routines you follow when you wake up?
Set my alarm for ten to six, turn it off, get up at six, try to do four sets of Sun Salutations, wash off face with no rinse cleanser on a cotton ball, dress, eat an enormous breakfast so I don't get sick from my medicine, drink a glass of green tea while I check my email, go back to bed for an hour, get up again a little before 8:00

If alcohol was banned worldwide, what would your reaction be?
Probably be one of the last to know.

When was the last time you cried?
...shit I don't remember. I always thought you should know the last time you cried and the last time you threw up. One time I didn't eat enought breakfast so I threw up in my coffee mug.

Your CD collection is going to be repossessed. You may keep one.
I don't have an ipod so I guess it's whatever's in my CD player so Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Do you believe world peace is possible?
If it's not possible we have to work to make it possible.

I'm a genie. Name your wish. (Money and Love cannot be granted).
I would wish for racisim to be obliterated then we could concentrate on all the other isms. My second wish is that someone else would pay my phone bill for three months.

Name one thing about the OPPOSITE sex that automatically turns you off.
Republicans

Name one thing about the SAME sex that automatically turns you off.
Shallow empty-headedness

Speaking of SAME sex, what do you think of Brokeback Mountain?
I can't believe this actually a question! See blog entries for December 05 through June 06

Where are you?
In Matt's office. More specifially, Ocean Springs Mississippi

Leatherface is in the kitchen. Will you fight to victory, or hide?
I'd whip out the Wolverine claws and take that bitch down!

Do you feel that people underestimate you?
Not as much as I underestimate myself.

When you're in a bad mood, what will always put you in a better mood?
Writing a long email or calling my mom or a friend to bitch.

Honestly, do you talk about MySpace in real life?
I don't do MySpace.

Have you met someone online in person?
Not that I know of.

Do you believe minimum wage should be raised?
You try living on roughly $10,000 a year. You're still more than $12,000 below poverty level.
(calculated to a $5.15 minimum wage.)

If someone at a bar gives you "the look" how do you respond to it.
Wouldn't recognize "the look." Probably think this person is a creepy stalker. He or she will have to come over and start a conversation before I leave if they want me to respond.

Desperation happens. Do you take advantage of desperate people?
Probably not since. I deal with desperate people every day and my job is to help them as much as I can.

Pretend you're 15 deep in beers. Describe what you would be doing now?
I would never get 15 deep because well before it I would be drunk enough to decide it's time to drink something much more foul like absinthe or pickle brine and then I would shortly be vomiting with my eyes.

Does everyone in your life know the real you?
It seems to be irrepressible.

What is something you're afraid of?
Apathy.

You have two weeks to live. Would you tell anyone?
Maybe not. I haven't thought about it.

A band you thought was cool when you were 15.
They Might Be Giants. ...Still do. But when I was in 7th grade I was really into Billy Joel and Meat Loaf.

You have a nightmare, who's the first person you think to call?
My mom if I call anyone. Usually I don't.

Wanna have kids before you're 30?
Not before 30.

A memory from high school
We were supposed to have a big snow storm and everyone thought school was going to be canceled but it wasn't so I came to school dressed as a snowman and I wore boots and a scarf all day, but you couldn't wear a hat so my snowman looked pretty dumb because it was just my stupid greasy hair on top of a snowman body.

Ever had a crush on one of your friend's parents
No. No.

Naughtiest thing you've done at work.
Read online slash fiction...then left to go donate platelettes.

Do you look more like your mom, or your dad?
My dad.

Something you've always wanted to learn how to do:
Fencing.

Where you'd like to be in 10 years?
In a really fulfilling job directing a nonprofit that keeps me busy and that is either helping people or allows me to express myself artistically and thinking about running for office in the future.

Something you learned about life:
The things you get the most worried about (like money) are usually not worth it.

What do you want for your birthday?
Have someone take me out to dinner, preferably at the Mellow Mushroom.

Describe your favorite weather using a noun?
Book weather

If you could be alive during any time period, which would you choose? Why?
The 1920's and 1930's. Dependng on where I was it seems like it would have been an exciting and important time to be alive and I'd like to see if I could have risen to its challenges and made a difference. Also I don't know a whole lot of history further back and I'm afraid to go further back in time as a woman.

Your favorite line of poetry?
I'm having a lot of trouble with this one. For now I'll say "then he says America should switch to the Metric system because its so much more logical. Go Away we like our rulers! Thomas Jefferson said You always get the rulers you deserve." - from a poem called James Joyce by a Milwaukee poet who's name I can't look up right now.

Book that you’ve read more than once:
Watership Down and all of Harry Potter except for the first one.

Worst traveling memory.
Flying home from Germany for about eight hours in a plane with a raging yeast infection but I didn't know that's what it was. I wanted to shoot myself!

What fictional character do you most resemble?
I like to think Samwise the Brave, but probably Schmendrick from the Last Unicorn

Due to Bush not signing the Kyoto Treaty, the ice-caps have melted and the sea level has risen. What mountain range do you go live on?
The Gangees. It just seems like the mysteries of life could be uncovered there.

If you had a daemon, what would it be? Name?
A black fox. Not sure of its name. Hallet, maybe? Never named my D&D character's "animal companion" or familiar either.

Your favourite nail polish colour?
Any, as long as it's on a guy.

How do you express yourself creatively that pisses off the neighbors?
Discssing esoteric things on the phone with my friends while in our room or speaking to them in movie quotes which don't make sense to them.

Did you think the Beast was less hot at the end of Beauty and the Beast?
Who doesn't!

What’s your comfort food?
Grilled cheese sandwich or macaroni and cheese

What song do you sing in the shower?
Fancy Meeting You Here from the musical Lucky Stiff

Your favourite word?
Lunch. My favorite swear word is Hell.

Do you wear lipstick? Where do you wear it?
on my lips. No I wear lip gloss - or I would wear Burts Bees lip gloss if someone gave me upwards of $3 to buy it.

What’s your favourite part about your favourite holiday?
Easter. the pastel colors and spring flowers.

What kind of music are you listening to right now?
the hum of the pop machine next to the table in the computer lab and the rustle of someone filling brown paper bags with groceries.

Have you ever streaked?
No, but I'm willing to run naked through the Parthanon. I must research the punishment for this.

What’s your favourite way to travel?
By train

Have you ever gotten a scar from doing a load-in? Where and how?
I don't think so, but I have mutiple scars from steaming the costumes from South Pacific. Steam burns. Also I burned myself with a hot screw while helping build a set for a summer school production of South Pacific. I have South Pacific scars.

Your favourite way to end a piece of writing?
Nothing else happened. The End.

The Storm

This is not an entry about Hurricane Katrina. This is an entry about the thunderstorm we experienced yesterday, Wednesday in Ocean Springs Mississippi. Yesterday was supposed to be my first full day off in twelve days, and like any day off it's beauty was in the fact that I had no particular plans except to maybe go work out, and hopefully do some writing and reading.

However sometime around four o'clock in the morning a thunderstorm began and the sky opened up and rain poured fourth like I have never seen before. There was thunder and lightning - which didn't really phase me except to wake me and inspire me to quietly Thank God I had shelter and a warm bed to sleep in during the storm.

Normally, I really enjoy thunderstorms. I think it's somehow romantic to listen to the rain. But right now in a Hurricane Relief Volunteer camp it's not so cool. There is a tangible difference in the energy of the camp when the sky is cloudy and it thunders and rains. People walk around all ashen faced and jumpy as though another hurricane could sneak up on them at a moment's notice. The atmosphere in town is of morose resignation as though - The weather will kill us ... or not.

Around 7 a.m. (the lights didn't come on as they usually do at six because we had no power at about that time I realized the emgergency lights were on in my room) I sat up and thought Wow! It's really Raining! My dorm room (with no ceiling so you can hear any conversation anywhere in the building) is right next to the back door which was being slammed repeatedly from 6:00 on as people ran in and out to look at the rain and remark loudly upon on it. It was through these loud conversations as I tried to sleep that I learned:
The roads were flooded
No volunteers were able to go out on construction work that day
School was canceled
A tornado hit and damaged 10 rooms of the middle school building a block away (which has not been used as a school since Katrina). (Mississippi has tornados but it doesn't have tornado sirens. I think people figure what's the point since they don't have basements anyway. On the bayou the watertable is so high, you can't have a basement.)
A screaming woman who saw the tornado hit the school ran up to our back door seeking refuge

Finally I decided to get out of bed and check out this rain. I should have stayed in bed because visability was absolutely zero as white sheets of water poured off of our roof. I thought to myself This is what it was like when it rained for 40 days.
I know know what Arthur Miller meant when he wrote in The Crucible "I will fall like an Ocean upon that courtroom"

You would have thought it hadn't rained at all since last year and that this was the result of all the evaporation in Mississippi over the entire summer for it to rain like this!
It was the closest thing to a Monsoon I have ever seen!

After visiting the kitchen for a muffin and being surprised and releived to find volunteers sitting at the cafeteria tables with emergency candles lit listening to a worship band sing songs like "I praise you in the storm" I decided being helpful was over-rated and that I was going back to bed. On my way I ran into a staff member and Mississippi native in the hallway who muttered "this is the deep south no one wants to know about." I turned to her and said "Is this a tropical storm?" having never experienced anything like this before, I was unsure, but confident it wasn't a hurricane or we would have known about it (and probably evacuated) ahead of time and because there wasn't much wind. (Katrina had winds of 175mph).

"No," she said. "this is just how it rains down here."

The long and short of it is that ALL the volunteers were routed into the distribution center yesterday, but it was my day off so I was not about to jump in and work at structuring their activities. We have had a lot more volunteers than usual lately and are seeing a lot fewer clients. Plus no one comes out - not even for free groceries - when it's raining, so you can imagine what it's like during a torrential downpour.

These volutneers had nothing to do but reorganize things then express their frustration at not having enough work and then they eventually gave up and took up reading or napping. Many found productive tasks to do in the kitchen or placing buckets under the many MANY leaks in our roof. For the most part - it was like indoor recess in a Kindergarten classroom.

Needless to say my day off was unproductive because I couldn't leave the building though I did manage to sleep for nearly 10 hours.

I believe we got over 4 inches of rain in one day.

A Striking Discovery

I was recently reflecting on the work I'm doing here in Ocean Springs and how seemingly complicated it is, but also how much I enjoy is challenges. Every day it reminds me of stage management. (If you ask a stage manager to lock doors at 10:00 - they're locked at 10:00. I'm standing there at 9:58, and counting).

I think the work I'm doing now, training volunteers to work in the distribution center, and working with a new group of people every week is a good preparation for the Peace Corps. I need to be able to communicate effectively with all kinds of people and find tasks that fit their needs and what needs to be done. It can be hard, but it's also fun. One of the hardest things is letting the volunteers do things that I know how to do faster and more effiecently (after seven weeks) but I can't do it all, so I have to show them how to do it and then stand back and watch for ways to help them.

It can also be frustrating to have people coming up to you all the time saying "I need a job" "Tell me what to do" and you point to an area and say "Reorganize this so I can ..." and they look at you blankly and say "Tell me what to do." I guess I've always been someone who can hear "reorganize this" and then run with it, but some people just need to but q-tips in plastic bags when there's nothing else to be done.

Mostly what surprises me about the work here is that I look around and realize I've been given a lot of responsibility. I don't know if that's by design or by default, but everyone I was working with left so now I'm in charge of the distribution center. I lock up at night when I need to and I help cook for the volunteers on the weekend. I've welcomed a few groups and given them tours of the facility, sold volunteers t-shirts and answered dozens of questions. I can even speak with some presumed authority on economic situations here in Mississippi.

Basically I've made myself available and when someone asks me if I can do something I do it. If I tell someone I'll be there, I'm there. I've made myself reliable and am surprised to see how relied upon I've become. I've been given a lot of responsibility here because, strangely, I've discovered, I am responsible.

It's weird. I think, How did they know I could handle it? When I got here I was told they had plans for me because I was a long term volunteer and someone said "It's not that we don't get long-term volunteers but not all of them are responsible or sane." I thought, what have I done to lead you to believe I'm either sane or responsible other than show up when I said I was going to?

So far, to my knowledge, I've not let anyone down. It feels good.

What's the weather like...in Romania?

I got my Peace Corps assignment and my mission, should I choose to accept it is in Romania where I will be working for two years on helping to develop NGOs (non government organizations).

I'm very happy to be stationed in Romania - a beautiful country with rich history I'm told- because Peace Corps has been well established there, and my only preference was for some place where it's not too hot. I was very lucky to happen to get stationed in Eastern Europe where I would have requested had I stated a preference.

My official title will be Community Developer. I don't know exactly what my job duties will be day-to-day but I get the sense that it's the kind of job where you never fit all your duties into one description and often find yourself doing things not in your job description. The job description the Peace Corps sent me sounds right up my alley - accept I'll be doing all these things...in Romanian, the language I have to learn.

Of course right now I don't know too much about my assignment or anything. My mom is going to send the materials to me here in Ocean Springs and then I can look them over in more detail. The most important thing that I know right now is that I leave for training in D.C. on Feb 19th.

Why rebuilding the Gulf Coast is like working on a show...
(really, it's like every week is tech with a whole new crew)

Because most of my friends all have one thing in common - theatre - I thought I'd use some common terms to describe give you an idea what I'm doing -

The people who know what's going on carry keys (and after two weeks, I'm one of them -!?)

You'll be covered with bruises and not know why.

Coffee is important (and you have to get up at 5 a.m. to make it).

The hours suck (sometimes 12 hour days, usually six days a week. Although I'm often in bed by ten.)

There's always a huge build going on (try 75 houses and 400 on a waiting list).

You lift with your legs and not your back.

There's no such thing as a typical day.

You learn not to assume things about people - like don't assume that 76 year olds don't have email or cell phones (or that they can't work 6 or 7 days a week).

You meet interesting people from all different backgrounds (from all over the country).

Every day the "audience" we serve changes.

There's yoga every morning before the "performance" (starting at 6 a.m.)

People make their own t-shirts with inside jokes on them.

There are naps on the couch in the "common room" (it's like a green room) (although it's strange when your day starts and you find yourself "napping" between 7 and 8 in the morning.)

There's some hurry up and wait, things move by quickly but the hours are slow. You get a lot done in a day, but there's always more to do.

You always go to bed tired!

Why rebuilding the Gulf Coast is like working on a show...
(really, it's like every week is tech with a whole new crew)

Because most of my friends all have one thing in common - theatre - I thought I'd use some common terms to describe give you an idea what I'm doing -

The people who know what's going on carry keys (and after two weeks, I'm one of them -!?)

You'll be covered with bruises and not know why.

Coffee is important (and you have to get up at 5 a.m. to make it).

The hours suck (sometimes 12 hour days, usually six days a week. Although I'm often in bed by ten.)

There's always a huge build going on (try 75 houses and 400 on a waiting list).

You lift with your legs and not your back.

There's no such thing as a typical day.

You learn not to assume things about people - like don't assume that 76 year olds don't have email or cell phones (or that they can't work 6 or 7 days a week).

You meet interesting people from all different backgrounds (from all over the country).

Every day the "audience" we serve changes.

There's yoga every morning before the "performance" (starting at 6 a.m.)

People make their own t-shirts with inside jokes on them.

There are naps on the couch in the "common room" (it's like a green room) (although it's strange when your day starts and you find yourself "napping" between 7 and 8 in the morning.)

There's some hurry up and wait, things move by quickly but the hours are slow. You get a lot done in a day, but there's always more to do.

You always go to bed tired!

Deputized!

At the end of my third day here in Ocean Springs Mississippi, I have been informed of some of the additional duties I'll be taking on as a long-term volunteer (about two and a half months - I'll be coming home some time in December). John, the "house manager" here is making me his assistant. I'll carry keys, lock up at night, turn out the lights, be available to answer questions, give directions, ring the bell for evening prayer. On Saturdays and Sundays I'll cook meals for all the volunteers here. I'll have a desk, access to an LSS (Lutheran Social Services) computer, and an LSS cell phone so I don't have to use my own minutes if people need to get a hold of me. Did I mention keys?

In addition to being a John's part-time assistant (I'll have mostly evening shifts) I'll be working most mornings in the distribution center which supplies food, water, personal hygiene items, diapers and some other things to local people displaced by the hurricane. For the last three days I've been working in distribution, filling orders for people and loading them into cars (we have for this task we have a collection of reappropriated shopping carts.)
I'm told I'll be in charge of organizing the distribution center when the two main people working there now leave later this month. I'm not sure what that means yet.

So far I'm having a good time and meeting a lot of interesting people from all over the country. I'm learning new things every day, and working with people with a variety of work and communication styles is a great experience. I go to bed every night tired, but I'm also excited to see what this new position is like.

John, the house manager has been here since January. For a long time he's been working 12 to 18 hour days and has a lot of amazing stories about this place. It's a lot different from the last time I was here in March. I haven't spent much time in town yet, but we're no longer living, eating and working out of the church. We're in a huge warehouse, most of which houses construction supplies for our operation and other hurricane recovery operations. Then there's the distribution center, the "lounge" a room with tables couches, tv/dvd player, computers (iMacs) and a pop machine and a refridgerator, a kitchen and cafeteria, showers, laundry and the dorms (rooms with rows of wooden bunk beds). I live in a room with 24 bunk beds but not all are filled right now.

Camp Victor can house 208 volunteers, but in November we'll have 250.

Interestingly, I'm sharing my room (or they're sharing it with me) with a group of Americorps volunteers from NCCC) (It's another branch of Americorps - like I was a VISTA). This group has been here two weeks, will be here three more, and in two weeks another NCCC group will come in. More Americorps people. Huh, small world!

"This Greyhound is Delta bound..."

This Saturday I'm getting on a bus and heading to Ocean Springs, Mississippi for at least two months. I have no idea what I'm doing down there, but I'll be volunteering with a Lutheran Church through Lutheran Episcopal Disaster Relief. It's where I went when I went to Mississippi in February. This is their new disaster relief webpage www.campvictor.org And I thought I had put dorm life behind me!

I am, in fact, going greyhound, but the above quote is from a song on a mixed CD one of the girls on the last trip made that we listened to in the van. I should say it was THE mixed CD. Katie Luther, if you're reading this, Props to you and thanks for coming to my blog.

And since my ticket is purchased and I let the volunteer coordinator I'd need someone to pick me up at the bus station in Biloxi on Monday - You guessed it!
I was able to schedule my tests last week. Yesterday I had a breast ultrasound - turns out I don't even have a cyst! Here, I thought I'd had a harmless cyst for four years and it turns out it's just a hard spot of tissue. I bet you'd never even notice!

Today I had my psychiatric evaluation and was given a clean bill of mental health. Apparently the doctor thinks I have good coping skills should I get depressed far away from home. Let's hope he's right.

With those reports collected today and faxed to Washington D.C., dare I say, I expect to be accepted into the Peace Corps sometime in the coming months! And when the time comes you, blog readers, will probably be the third or fourth to know!

So the DANGUMIT of the week goes out to my new shoes. I got them online at a New York shoestore that charges no tax and no shipping and they were on clearance for only $49.99! That's $40 off the suggested retail price, and this style is nigh impossible to find in regular shoe shores! The shoes were delievered yesterday, and I should say the only size on clearance was 7.5. Usually I wear an 8 but I purchased a pair of sandals by the same company over the summer (you may remember my agonizing over Can I justify spending this much on sandals once in my life becuase if I ever cross the deserts of India these will be the sandals I will be wearing?) and one woman in a shoestore told me to get a 7.5 only they didn't have a 7.5 so I went to another shoestore in the same mall and bought an 8 and then continually agonized over whether I wasted my money on sandals that were too big.)

Well, that's not the case this time. These shoes pinch something awful! I suppose a lot of women suffer through buying the wrong shoe size for a baragin. I just didn't think I was one of them. But they already feel better than they did yesterday. I actually think I can wear the 7.5 but it would have been better if I'd gotten a 7.5 wide. Don't worry, though, I'm going to stretch them out. I decided today and I already wore them outside once so there will be no returning them.

Just learn from my mistake, people and always be wary of buying shoes without trying them on.