Gomez

I finally have my flight details, which precipitated my first peace-corps-stress-dream involving empty suitcases, being lost and alone in the middle of a desert, and a horizon filled with smoke.  Standard stuff, right?  My itinerary is a direct 15 and a half hour flight from JFK to Johannesburg, South Africa followed by a 2 hour flight to the Namibian capital of Windhoek.   I'll start packing next week when I'm back in the Lehigh Valley.  The Peace Corps has a lot of Wiki pages, including one specifically on packing for Namibia.  They really highlight the need for good shoes as volunteers walk a lot.  It would appear that no number of shoes is too many.  There is an 80lbs, two bag limit.  I don't think I'll come anywhere close to the limit since I can't pack my dog;  

Gomez

His name is Gomez and, yes, he is as awesome as he looks.  All of my human friends and family know where I'm going.  Gomez, on the other hand, will think I've just left the house for a bit.  It's hard to leave my friends and family, but I have the comfort of knowing that I'll be able to communicate with them from time to time and that they understand where I've disappeared to.  I'm also comforted by my suspicion that Gomez likes my parents more than he likes me (food bribery.  He'd hand me over to a Somali pirate for a piece of anything remotely edible).  He was perfectly fine while I was in Southeast Asia and seemed to be very comfortable at my parents.  There, he has doggie neighbors, my mom that sneaks him bits of food under the table, and my dad that gives him long walks nearly every day.  I'm more concerned about how I'll feel being separated from him.   That part will suck and there's nothing I can do about it but wear it.  He's a great dog and I'm going to miss him. 

My dependable truck of 13 years will be signed over to my dad in two weeks so he has something more dog friendly to haul Gommer around in.  My phone will be deactivated as of March 14th (and sent to The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence - if interested in donating an old cell phone, follow this link; http://www.ncadv.org/takeaction/DonateaPhone.php).   These two actions will complete the downsizing process that I started roughly 18 months ago.  I remember clearly the morning I decided to pursue an invitation to volunteer with the Peace Corps.  I walked through the three floors and basement of my old house taking stock of all the things I would need get rid of.  It seemed an impossible task at the time.  I'm happy that I've managed to reduce my belonging-in-the-world footprint as much as I have.  It's an odd feeling to be able to fit all you own into the corner of a single room.  During this process, I often wondered if at some point I would become fearful of what I was embarking on or feel some sense of loss over the things I was selling and giving away, but that hasn't occurred.  I just feel light and unhindered by material belongings and ready to move on to my next challenge. 

It was great seeing my old Arlington gang last weekend.  I've got 3 more weeks of bouncing around left before I'm off.  I plan to head to NYC to visit a few folks the weekend after next.  I have to fit a shopping trip in sometime before I leave to finish off my packing requirements.  Not much else to share for now.  I hope you are all well.  Thanks for reading. 

down time

Sorry, folks, for my absence.  As you can imagine, backpacking Southeast Asia is an easier subject to write about than, say, walking Gomez or reading.  Writing about reading is boring.  More boring is reading writing about reading.  There really isn’t a whole lot for me to blog about unless you want to hear about the most painful case of jet lag ever.  I’ll just start typing and see what happens…

I am currently living in the calm before the storm.  You would think that all of this down time would make me dwell (and worry) about what I’m about to embark on, but it has only made me remember just how much I dislike not being busy.  I have 30 more days until I ship off.  I’ve been spending my days, for the most part, doing three things; 1) reading books about Namibia and about previous volunteer’s experiences, 2) going to the gym, and 3), if I remember correctly, is reading various Namibia Peace Corps Volunteers’ blogs. 

This time last year I was working full time, training for a tough mudder and a half iron man, completing my MBA, preparing my house to put on the market, working through the Peace Corps’ medical requirements (like dental x-rays, lab work, vaccinations, hearing test, eye test, every medical question you could ever imagine), being a responsible dog owner, and still managing to maintain something approaching a social life.  But things have changed.  536 Center Street is a memory now, the tough mudder and half ironman are behind me, my MBA is complete, and my days among the nation’s employed ended in early December.  

The last time I had this amount of time on my hands was in spring of 2006.  I was a management consultant that was “on the bench” (meaning I was being paid to do nothing but wait to be assigned to a client).  The Bench isn’t an unusual position to find your self in from time to time as a management consultant.  Back then, I lasted about two weeks before finding a second job running a group of day laborers doing home renovations.  I had zero experience doing that sort of work, but that made no difference to my friend who owned the company.  It was nice getting two paychecks. 

However, the home renovation job alone wasn’t enough to keep me occupied, so I also started studying for my GMAT.  I wasn’t yet convinced I wanted to get an MBA, but the GMAT gave me a goal to work towards and something mentally stimulating to fill my time with.  My bench time lasted over 4 months, during which time I helped my friend’s company renovate a bathroom, rebuild a front porch, build a deck, gut and rewire a small house, jackhammer and repave a driveway, and I took my GMAT exam.  On weekends, I helped my brother-in-law work on a house he was building in West Virginia.  It was a busy time. 

Had I not had the time on the bench, my life would have proceeded much differently.  My GMAT exam went much better than I had thought it would, which opened up the possibility of going to Lehigh University for my MBA.  That, in turn, opened up the possibility of buying a home in Bethlehem, PA instead of renting in Arlington, VA.  Owning a home and getting an MBA were two big projects I’d been playing with in my mind for some time.

It’s an odd feeling to be back here in West Virginia, living in the home I helped my brother-in-law build (I’ll never hang insulation again for as long as I live), and looking for something to occupy myself with.  Everything has come full circle.  The last time I was living in this area, I had these ideas about owning a home and getting an MBA.  That’s all behind me now.  What I have ahead of me is harder to wrap my head around.  I wonder what the next two years will bring, but I’m old enough to know that trying to anticipate what an experience like Peace Corps will be like is a pointless exercise.  If I find myself worrying at all, it’s about how much good I’ll be able to do in my community.  I’m hoping I’ll be in a position where I can actually make a difference.  However, something I’ve gleaned from the blogs I’ve been reading is that it is sometimes hard to see how you’re really helping.  I think a lot depends on your particular assignment.  If I’ve learned anything from my reading it’s that I’ll have to be creative, dedicated, resilient, and accept failure without becoming frustrated.  Easier said than done, but I’m sure I’ll do my best. 

That’s all I have for now.  I could describe my dog walks with Gomez, but I imagine you have better ways to occupy your time than reading about such things.  I’ll be visiting with my good friends from Arlington, Melissa and Brian, this weekend and will hopefully catch up with some of my old Arlington gang while I’m there.  My next post should be full of new information as I’m expecting a communication for Peace Corps any day now regarding my departure and packing requirements.  I’m sure the prospect of finding out what I’ll be packing is exciting to all of you.  I’ll try not to disappoint.  Thanks for reading.

Here's a photo some friends I made in Myanmar just sent me.  It's from a riverside market near Myanmar's Chin State;