The Waiting Game

     I never thought unemployment could be so.... well, boring. Back in Potomac, Maryland where my high school parking lot looks more like an exotic car dealership than a place of education, I sit and wait for the day to come when I finally leave for Ouagadougou. I have been spending my time doing what many people outside of the work force do, drinking too much beer and catching up on the television that I missed over the summer working on the farm in Louisville. Lengthy side note here: Maryland has to be the WORST state besides Utah when it comes to buying alcohol. That, or Kentucky has to be the best. The absolute latest store here is only open until 1 a.m. and you have to drive fifteen minutes to get there. You can only purchase beer & wine at designated stores or liquor stores. Stores overprice everything because it is so limited, and if you couldn't understand this from the last sentence, I cannot go to a gas station (which almost all also close at about 1 a.m. for some stupid reason) and purchase a 6-pack. I understand the reasoning. We want to keep Montgomery County safe for our children and make it so it is challenging for them to purchase alcohol. Little problem there: I see more eighteen year olds walking out of these beer & wine stores than adults! Not to mention this is an extremely liberal state that is supposed to promote free enterprise and privacy, and we limit sales of alcohol and have speed cameras every fifteen yards that make people drive ten miles under the speed limit. I'm losing my mind I tell you!

     Now that I am finished with that "little" tangent, it really has been nice to actually see my friends from the past for an extended period of time. Usually these visits are fleeting, with all of us at different schools with different friends and different lives. Being back home has enabled me to see the instant success of some friends, and see the recession struggles of a college graduate in 2012 in others. It is an unusual situation I am in. I get to have the freedom and boredom of unemployment, but still have a rather unusual job staring me in the face in less than three weeks.

     Speaking of leaving shortly, I finally found out my travel plans. I'm leaving on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again. Sorry, a little satire for you. I will be connecting in Brussels where I can explore the beautiful airport for a few hours and then en route to Burkina Faso. Basically it is like herding cats. We meet, we are chauffeured around, and we arrive after a day of travel. I'm not complaining; I would be the one that gets abducted in Europe, Hostel, style and end up with a left eye and a right Achilles at a train station in Bratislava. The reason I mention this connecting flight is because after my service is complete I will also be connecting in Europe, most likely Brussels. It may be a bit early for speculation of life after the Peace Corps, but this leaves an incredible opportunity for travel! According to Euro Trip (I get all of my information from fiction movies), every country in Europe is basically a hop, skip, and a jump from its neighbor and I have read many stories of people selling their plane tickets back to the U.S. post service and using their readjustment stipend to travel. This sounds incredible to me right now... We'll see how thrilling that sounds after ≈ 27 months away from home. Honestly though, the first two years of college FLEW by and I'm sure this will too.

     I have been thinking about this entire experience in one of two ways. In one sense this could be the most free experience you could ever imagine. It will be the only time in my life where I will be free of instant communication. No Internet, no Facebook, no stupid Twitter, and no horribly biased "news" articles that read more like blog posts than anything else. What an absolute dream. I won't have to look at people's ridiculous Instagram photos that completely ruin a picture. Have you not noticed that all Instagram does is take what is probably a good picture and stick what seems to be Sepia on top of it and ruins the clarity? What part of that is appealing to you?! Another tangent, I apologize. But honestly, does that not sound like a dream to get away from all of this? One more: no reading post after post of moronic political arguments that will not sway anybody but instead serve as self-serving "genius" posts. Oh how I will not miss those.

     The other side is the exact opposite. I'll be away from the connection that I have grown so accustomed to.  People will get engaged and married while I'm gone, and I will have no idea that it happened! Friends will have kids, or more kids, and they'll be walking by the time I get back! The iPhone will be on like the 14S, and I'm sure 3D TVs will have turned into eye implants or something ridiculous like that. Oh, and we'll have flying cars. I really cannot imagine how far technology will travel in two years. No, seriously, I can't imagine. Things could be basically the same, or things could have totally changed. Maybe Siri will actually work by then. Maybe my iPhone will turn into a robot and start taking over the world. If that happens, somebody send me a letter... I'll just stay in Ouagadougou.

     The point is, regardless of how it actually seems while I'm over there, I'm sure it will seem like no time from now, and when I am finished with my service. It's like when you go on vacation. The first two days seem like they are never-ending, and by day seven it seems like the entire trip has flown by. I'll be back before you know it, so schedule your plane ticket to come visit me in eight months, but plan accordingly, because it'll take you a week just to reach my village!

Less Than A Month Out... Here We Go

     So here I am, a mere twenty-five days away from leaving for Burkina Faso. It is such a surreal feeling to actually be counting down the days before I leave. With my application being submitted in May 2011 and my final acceptance in July 2012, this process has been so long and draining that to actually leave seems almost like a dream. I've begun packing and stowing things together for when I leave. It's a strange thing; trying to figure out what is necessary to bring to a continent where cell phones are more accessible than clean water... I can bring a maximum eighty pounds, and with suggestions from the Peace Corps to bring only four-ish pairs of socks and underwear apiece, I feel I will be packing on my merits rather than using theirs. Packages take between one and four months to arrive, depending on where in the country you are, and it begs a lot of questions. Of the obvious ones, I wonder how many bars of soap to bring right off the bat. How many tubes of toothpaste? How many DVDs so I can stay sane as I go through a brutal culture shock and adjustment period? These are the questions that I ponder on a daily basis. I then immediately drown out these questions with television and consistent Internet, which I am taking FULL advantage of before leaving. Alongside these, I have been stuffing my face with all of the American garbage, MSG, and Chipotle I can fit in my gullet before I start eating rice, maize, vegetables, and unusual meat products (horse, goat, brains, etc).

     Forget all that. Everybody keeps asking me why? Why would you subject yourself to this for 27 months? To these people I respond with a question. Why not? Why deal with the garbage job market? Why go back to school after just finishing eighteen years of it? Why not travel, learn, and experience as much as I can while I still can? Sure it will be hard and arduous at times, and sure I will miss all of the amenities that all of us have come so accustomed to having; but at the same time, when we all have spouses and kids and careers, how many of us will be able to say that we actually did anything with our lives? How many of us will be able to say that we've gone truly out of our comfort zone? I know I will, and I know that living in luxury will be that much better after this experience. 

     Most importantly, and as corny as it may be, I feel like I'm doing something that can actually benefit other people that truly need it. Burkina Faso is one of the poorest countries on the planet. It is 134th in GDP, 171st in life expectancy (average age of death is just over 52), and boasts the 3rd worst Internet connectivity in the world. Electricity like we know it in the US is basically non-existent, and cleanliness standards are not exactly up-to-date. Often adults feed themselves and when they are comfortably full, the children and toddlers get the remainder. While I may not be a public health genius, I understand the importance of good hygiene, even when the "normal" resources are not available. I also understand the basics of business, and can certainly help people understand the easiest form of capitalism. While the changes will likely not be huge, over time even small changes become significant. 

     I have extremely high hopes for Burkina Faso and my experience in the Peace Corps. Through times of hardship, confusion, and hopefully joy, I believe that I will grow as a person and return to the United States a better person than when I leave. 

This blog will be my main communication technique with the Western world whilst I am in Africa. If you'd like, go ahead and spread the word to those whom you think may be interested. Whether you are a Churchill grad, Louisville grad/classmate, family member, or friend, I encourage you to stay in contact with me while I am gone. Anybody you know that is considering applying to the Peace Corps can contact me at any time and I can help guide them through the at times obnoxious process. All the best, and I'll check back in soon!