Antipodes



Source

When I told my friend Michel from my French conversation group that I was going to Madagascar, his response was that that's just about as far away as I could get without getting closer. I started thinking about that today, did some digging (not literally) and found out that he was pretty much right. This map lets you figure out the farthest point from a given place (its antipodes), and California and Madagascar are pretty much saying “what's up” to each other on it. Since Oakland’s antipodes is in the Indian Ocean, Madagascar is the closest land to it. The southeast coast of Madagascar is about 11,350 miles from Oakland, while the furthest point from Oakland would be about 12,450 miles away.

So to Michel: Nice geography skills! And to my parents: Sorry about the cost of plane tickets for your visit.

Madagascar



Credit: aleixcabarrocas

Exciting news: I was invited to teach English in Madagascar! I got the invitation last week, but have been too busy with class and homework to justify spending time blogging about it. And while the initial excitement may have worn off, it doesn't take much to give me chills. Look at this photo and you'll understand. So I'll be in the land of the Malagasy people, lemurs, and 10,000+ plant species. The fourth largest island in the world, its biological diversity has led some to call Madagascar the eighth continent.

I really wasn't expecting anything this spectacular out of my Peace Corps service. I knew I could deal with just about anything, so I was expecting the worst that Peace Corps would give me (which still probably wouldn't have been too bad). Better to have low expectations and be very pleasantly surprised than get your hopes up and be disappointed, right? I was counting on super-hot West Africa, which would have been great too. But I got mild, wild Madagascar.

And of course, I regard the non-human biology as a plus. The people are the reason I'm going, and I'm very excited to meet and live with the Malagasy people! Everything I've read has been positive, but I don't want to write too much before I have even met a single person.

Speaking of different cultures, I'm reading Kwame Appiah's book Cosmopolitanism for class right now. (I'm actually going to write a rap about it too, but that's another story.) He emphasizes that humans have much more in common than not, something I like to point out as well, and one of the most important things for a Peace Corps Volunteer to remember. It's what makes Peace Corps possible, really. My advisor has really good timing assigning the book right before I leave to immerse myself in a new culture, and I can only imagine how often I will think of it when I'm in Madagascar.

That's pretty much all I've got right now. When I have time, I'm trying to get my feet wet with the Malagasy language and read what I can about the country. I graduate from Seattle U in about two weeks, which means I leave the US in about six. Going to miss everyone a lot of people, especially the family, but honestly I could leave tomorrow.

Until next time!

Africa

On July 11, my Peace Corps travels and travails will begin! Final destination unkown. Continent? Africa. Ahhh yeah that's what I'm talking about! Got an email from placement an hour ago with the above info, and an invitation with my specific country is on the way! Excited and relieved, but now I get to wait AGAIN! Really the dominant PC activity I've engaged in so far. I know that I'm in the calm before the storm right now, but I really am too eager to cherish it. Just give me my degree and get me out of Seattle please!

More when I get that special, special piece of mail from DC :)

Procrastinational Productivity

Senioritis has been in full effect for as long as I can remember, so I'm forgoing my reading and studying and all the other things a good student should be doing to start a freakin blog. Haven't written one since the days of LiveJournal, MySpace and snooping parents. Hopefully the scars have healed and this will be a productive outlet.

My motivation for writing again now is that I will soon (hopefull1y) be departing for two years as a Peace Corps volunteer! So I want to have a place to let everyone who cares to stop by know how I am doing and what I am up to while I'm away. First, some background...

Two aunts and one uncle served in Senegal in the early 1970s, so Peace Corps is sort of in the family. I became seriously interested in joining up about a year and a half ago, for a myriad of reasons. Service to my country and those with whom I will live, personal enrichment, language learning, and the ability to live (pretty well!) in another country for two years without spending a ton of money.

I applied in late September, interviewed in early December, was nominated in late December, was medically cleared two weeks ago, and was qualified for service Thursday! Only a little over seven months- and that's not even that bad! So I wait yet again, one of the last times in this long trail of waitings. But this should be short; my placement officer is supposed to call within the next week or so and she already told me she wants to invite me to a program in francophone sub-Saharan Africa, teaching English, leaving July 11. But the Peace Corps has to give 8 weeks notice minimum, so if I were to be invited to that program they would have to notify me by... next Monday, May 16. So I guess I wait a week, and know I might be going somewhere else if I don't hear anything by then. Apparently, the delay is because of budget fighting in Congress, with placement officers not knowing which programs will be funded (which leave in two months!).

Anyway enough for someone who doesn't even have an invite yet. More when I hear from DC, or in a week.

Peace, love, justice