Grading. That’s basically all I did in June. I was told I needed to give two tests to each class and do the average for them and that would be their grades. I didn’t plan very well so wound up giving both tests at end of may/practically all of June. I had planned on giving the first one in May right after I returned from IST but, once again, class was canceled and I wasn’t informed, for “sports scholaire,” which, as I understand it (which is not very well) is a rough equivalent of high school sports. Only a few students were actually in it but they canceled classes for it and there was some fety in town for it, and people asked me, all surprised, why I wasn’t at the sports scholaire fety. Please – I didn’t even care about school sports when I was a student.
So I use one week for the test, one week to do corrections the following week, during which I review exam answers with the students and they try to change their answers to the correct answers or write down the answers of the questions they left blank and try to convince me that I miscalculated their grade. Fetsy fetsy children, but I am more fetsy. Because this happened a lot last trimester and 300+ students can be hard to keep track of, I developed a system for students who leave answers blank and draw a big red circle in the blank space. Or if they forget the number, write the number in red and put a big red circle next to it, write X’s through the numbers of wrong answers or blank ones (and therefore wrong) So if students come to me after class and point to things on their test, written over big red circles, I know they filled in a correct answer that I just wrote on the board in front of them, even though they left it blank during the exam. As far as other errors, I double check and yes, its easy to make a mistake while correcting over 300 exams, usually pretty quickly, I don’t change grades. If I could trust them farther than I could throw them, maybe I’d consider it, but this is so far from the case. Some students tried changing their notes during corrections (I told them I needed the exams back because I hadn’t recorded the grades yet, so if the score was 11/20, they would, for example, draw a line through the last 1 and make it 17/20). Again, since I count the X’s and noticed that some of the scores were too high to have about 6 Xs on the front page, I wound up grading this particular class’s exams twice. Instead of flunking those that made the changes, I just took 5 points off their next exam. Also, one class that was a week behind the others (the one whose class was canceled because of the sports thing) took their exam a week later than others. Since I knew they’d look at the exams of their friends who’d already taken their exams, I changed it up a bit. Buahahahah. Sure enough, one kid turned in an exam with answers from the other test. Zero. And one girl actually brought her friends’ test from another class into the exam and copied answers from it, even though the tests weren’t the same, and this girl from the other class not only had a different test, she didn’t even do that well on it. Haha, ok, why would you 1. cheat and take a friend’s exam into the class when 2. you’re already smart and got a perfect score on your last test and 3. your friend didn’t even do that well on her own test, her own test that was 4. different from the one you’re currently taking, 5. did you not notice that the questions were different? REALLY!?!?!? And then she got pissed at me because I caught her, immediately took away her test, kicked her out of class, and after class, marched to the proviseur’s office to tell her about it. This student genuinely didn’t seem to understand what she did wrong and was mad at me that I took her test and gave her a zero (which I also gave to the student from other class who gave this girl the test). WTF? That’s like someone who gets mad at cigarette companies because he got lung cancer. Take an iota of responsibility instead of just getting mad at me that you got caught. Or feigning dumb. Seriously? Come on.
But that was my 5eme class (the equivalent of 7th grade in the U.S., but they range in ages from 12-17). My 2nde class (the equivalent of high school sophs., though ranging in age from 15 to 24; yes, some are older than I am) did very well on their exams. I made the tests easy, but I’ve given easy tests in the past and the students still didn’t do well, which concerned and frustrated me. I only flunked a few people for cheating this time around, as opposed to at least a third of them during the last trimester. Some tests could’ve been cases of cheating, but it was hard to tell so I gave them the benefit of the doubt. The way they are taught is so heavily based off of copying and memorizing, so much so that it could border on cheating and plagiarism. So when I got a bunch of tests with an example sentence that looked like it came from their text books (like references to London) and another bigger bunch with the same examples I gave in class, it was harder to discern cheating because that’s the way they are taught; look at the examples, copy EVERYTHING as it’s written from the board, and memorize it. And the examples were correct so, again, hard to tell if cheating took place, as opposed to getting a few tests with blatantly wrong answers, in the same exact order, same wrong conjugations, same misspellings, same wrong articles, same wrong word orders… cases in which it’s so blatantly obvious. But almost all of them improved at least a little, some drastically, from the last trimester, and from the first test of this trimester to the last one. I was shocked, and extremely heartened. Am I actually, maybe, possibly… getting somewhere with my students and having an impact here? Are they actually learning something…? Even though I have to fight through class sometimes (more so with 5eme though), did they actually care and take away something from class? ::GAAASP:: It was a great feeling that my time here is turning out to mean something, because sometimes it feels like it doesn’t. I’m not sure whether or not I’ll be working with the same students next year; some volunteers follow their classes and teach them for the full two years, others just continue teaching the same classes and get a new batch of students.
Also in June was Madagascar’s Independence Day. June 26th marked the fiftieth anniversary of independence in Madagascar, so it was a pretty big deal. Weeks preceding the fety, flags were on sale all over the market and people hung them outside their houses. A few days beforehand, again, classes were canceled and I was not informed (again) because students were practicing their marching (or défilé, as they called it) for the fety, during which they marched on the field, to music from a small marching bad (the Catholic school has one) in front of all the important people from town in the bleachers. Which is where I was seated, and I evidently missed the memo to dress up. Everyone else in the bleachers, local political people, other teachers, etc, were super dressed up; men in suits and ties and women in nice dresses and suits, with fancy handbags and jewelry to match it. I, on the other hand, showed up and couldn’t have looked more like a Peace Corps Volunteer unless I wrote it on my forehead: unshaven, sandy Chacos, faded cargo capris, ribbed tank top, sports bra exposed underneath. Haa. In my defense, the next day was laundry day and most of my clothes were dirty.
I was a little uneasy about the fety the night before; Gasy fetys usually just consist of lots and lots and lots of kabarys (speeches) and talking; they love their kabarys. But the event was over by noon and most of the time was just sitting around waiting for the thing to happen. It was great getting to see my students marching and the little kids from the pre schools were SO CUTE!! I have a bunch of pictures and took some video, again, when I get more mahay/patient with putting up photos, I’ll do it.
After independence day, students stopped showing up to class, but I was still expected to show up and teach. Their grades are due 2 weeks before the school year even finishes, so they have no motivation/reason to show up, nor do the other teachers have anything to teach and they don’t show up either. So the last day of school was kind of anti-climactic, as only a few students were actually around. I actually wasn’t around for the last official last day of school (but probably nobody else was either haha) as I’ve spend the past week either in Tana or the training center doing TOT (training of trainers) which I was required to go to, as one of the PCVs who will be helping to train the new stage that is coming soon!!!
So tomorrow I’m heading back to my site, cleaning up like whoa, as the spiders and other bugs have probably taken over, and doing lots of laundry and then heading out again because I’m taking a vacation!!!! My wonderful boyfriend, Matt, is coming to Madagascar and we’re traveling around Western M-car together: Morondava (so he can recover from his jet lag by the beach and pool), then taking him to my site and introducing him to my friends, and my town can focus on and scrutinize another white person for a while (haha). From there, canoe trip down the Tsiribihina River for a few days (pronounced SEE-REE-BEEN; while Malagasy words are intimidatingly long, you don’t pronounce half of them). It apparently means “do not dive” – “tsi-” as a prefix is a negative, because of the crocodiles that inhabit the river… No worries, PCVs aren’t allowed to swim in fresh water in M-car anyway, as we might get schistosomiasis (a nasty little parasite found in fresh water), but I wouldn’t be surprised if I already have it because of the knee deep water I had to walk through to get anywhere in the aftermath of the February cyclone. From there, we head to the Parc National de Tsingy de Bemaraha, hike around the tsingy for a few days, head back south and stop by the Kirindy Forest, which is supposed to have awesome nocturnal wildlife. From there, back to the coast, to Belo-Sur-Mer, a small, laid-back fishing village. So more of a trip than a vacation, especially for Matt who’s never been out of the states before and is going to be in for the shock of his life, haha. It will be interesting to see how I’ve changed, through another person and his reactions to things, to things that I don’t even think twice about anymore and are so natural to me. After the craziness that has been the past few months, I DEFINITELY need this and CANNOT WAIT!!! Obviously vaka details to follow in the next post!
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Newbies, this one's for you!
Hey hey soon to be PC/Mada trainees! Congrats on getting it an invite and surviving the craziness that is the application process. Maybe you’re scouring the internet doing Peace Corps research, some of it through reading Peace Corps blogs (which I did obsessively during the years I considered and applied for Peace Corps), so if you’ve happened to stumble across this blog, this post is to help you, as you may be running all over the place, buying stuff, racking your brains trying to figure out what and how to pack for the next 2 years of your life. In August, I’ll be at the training center helping with your guys’ training, so I’ll get to meet you all and offer more help re: being a PCV in Mad Land and impart some of my wisdom (tee hee). As far as helping now, I didn’t particularly come to Madagascar prepared, thinking I’d be in Niger for 2 years, so now I know what I would’ve packed, and have some things that are good to have no matter what country you’re a PCV in and I’m glad I brought them. So, here goes:
Great things I brought:
For women:
The Diva Cup – www.divacup.com - buy it NOW! Actually, maybe buy two in case one falls down a latrine hole. I LOVE it and was using it way before Peace Corps; I seriously can’t believe I ever used tampons. Best invention EVER!!! (or at least right up there with TV shows on DVD...)
Sports bras – taxi brousse rides can be, um… bouncy.
In General:
Quick Dry Towels – great when it’s humid/rainy season (Dec-April, even longer on the east coast, and it RAINS), so you can avoid mildewy towel situations
Nalgene – an extension of my arm and an object of complete fascination for everyone in my town, for what reason I’m still not sure. Its hot where I live and I talk a lot when I’m teaching (and sometimes yelling at mitabataba-ing students) so I bring it with me everywhere and even though its taken quite a beating, its still standing, probably always will be, and I love it! Get the sip guards too, so you don’t wear your water when you try to drink it.
Headlamp – I used it more in Niger than here, but it’s still a good thing to have whether or not you do have electricity and its better than a plain old flashlight because it keeps your hands free. I brought 2 in case one broke or fell into a latrine. I still use it during occasional power cuts, when I’m bucket bathing at the end of the day and its dark, or when I want to read in bed so I can turn out the lights, get comfy in bed, and don’t have to get out of the mosquito net to turn off lights when I want to sleep. It will also be of use when you are camping and doing night hikes in nat’l parks (i.e, part of my amazing vaka coming up but more on that in another post)
Cotton clothing – its easy to wash, dries quickly, and is durable; clothes can take a beating through lots of wearing and hand-washing
Solio Charger – again, used it more in Niger buts its still pretty nifty and I like it. The one I have only charges small things, phone, iPod, speakers for iPod (which broke so it doesn’t matter; another thing I recommend bringing) and there’s LOTS of hot sun in Western M-Car so it charges pretty fast here; I’m not sure about the highlands
Chacos – I LOVE them! I wear them EVERYWHERE and I have a fantastic tan line to prove it (when I figure out how/get internet that’s not painfully slow I’ll post the picture) Very comfortable, durable, and just plain amazing. There are discounts for PCVs.
LOTS of underwear – they’ll take a beating and get stretched out from so much washing, so bring a lot and seal some of them off in a bag and save them for midservice, maybe hide them somewhere in the bottom of your luggage so you won’t be tempted to use them after 2 months at site, and then you just have a ton of really stretched out undies by the time you get to midservice. Or have more sent from home.
Reading material and DVDs, or any hobby-related material – there’s a lot of down time here. The volunteer hostels have lots of books so you can get some there as well. I didn’t bring that many DVDs because in Niger, I wouldn’t have had electricity to constantly recharge my laptop. If you’re and education volunteer, you WILL have electricity. Also, I’ll be getting some neighbors near my site, so you and I can trade DVDs since I blew through mine already If you’re more tech savvy than I am, put movies/tv shows on a flash drive; I couldn’t figure out how to do that. A few people have Kindles too or other equivalents, so you can have lots of reading material without taking up space in your luggage. Again, I’m not that tech savvy and have a weird thing about not being able to comprehend what I read off screens. In college when profs put huge ass articles online I always had to print them out to read them, armed with my highlighters, so I could understand them. But that’s me, maybe you’re different.
French Press, if you love coffee – my boyfriend got me a cute, nalgene-sized French press as a going away present, so you can make coffee in the bush, no electricity or filters needed. Madagascar has decent and strong coffee (it grows on the east coast) so you can buy it here and make it in the French press. Or you can just make it with a coffee sock like Gasys do, but I think the French press is pretty nifty. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to drink too much coffee anymore, as my gastrointestinal tract often hates me.
Lots of pictures – to get all nostalgic sometimes and to show to your host fam and people at site
Anything that makes you happy, laugh, smile, reminds you of home – for obvious reasons
Whatever candy, snacks, etc. you like – squeeze it in your luggage somewhere and have more sent to you in care packages. Bring some packets of drink mixes too; it’s nice to drink something sweet once in a while instead of plain water
What I didn’t bring that you might want to:
Professional-ish clothes, if you’re an ed volunteer – thinking I’d be in Niger and covered in sand and sweat all the time (though, in Western M-car, I still am) and working as a health volunteer, I didn’t bring too many business casual-type clothing. Even though teachers at my school show up in shorts, jeans, and track suits, you should still dress somewhat neatly and professionally. You’ll be the center of attention for the next two years – enjoy!
Cute clothes – you can get away with wearing them here; PC/Mada’s not really a 2 year camping trip. Try to stick to fabrics that are easily washable though, and don’t bring anything that’s super expensive or that you’d be upset over if it got ruined.
Warm clothes – again, thinking I’d be in Niger, I only brought one pair of sweat pants and one sweat shirt. Bring MORE. The highlands, where the training center is and where you’ll be for the first 10 weeks, are FREEZING in the winter, which, in the southern hemisphere is now; again, when you’ll be training. Bring a jacket (like what you’d wear in fall or spring instead of a down winter coat, but you may want one of those depending on your cold tolerance), scarf, hat, I am NOT JOKING. Also sweat pants, sweatshirts, long sleeves, socks, and long pants. I brought leggings to wear under pants when its gets really cold and it helps. Bring a good raincoat as well; it rains a lot during the rainy season, especially when there’s a cyclone (during which the temperature will drop at least 10 degrees so, again, warm clothes). Even if your permanent site isn’t in the highlands, the coastal areas can still get chilly in the winter at night and in the morning. I bought a wool blanket at the market and sleep in sweats and am still cold sometimes. During the day, instead of constantly-dripping-sweat-can’t-breathe hot, its just hot and I still walk around in shorts even though the Gasys will walk around in down coats and dress their babies in fleece onesies with knit hats, even though its probably 80 degrees, haha.
Shorts and tank tops – not ok in Niger, though I did bring a few of each just to wear in my house, but I wear shorts all the time here, in public, and it’s ok, unless you’re in a predominantly Muslim area. If you’re a woman, you’re going to be undressed by the eyes by sketchy Gasy men about 10 times a day no matter what you wear. You’ve been warned. Also exercising, running/biking in shorts, is acceptable.
Don't Bring
Medical stuff - Peace Corps will provide you with all medical stuff, so save your packing space for other things. Upon arrival at the training center in Niger, we were given small brief case sized medical kits. If you go through something pretty quickly or are particular about something (i.e, me and Chapstick), maybe bring some of it, or just be really on top of requesting refills from PC far in advance (especially if you’re far away from the capitol, like me) so you don’t run out. If you take prescription meds, you need to bring enough to get you through training and then PC will refill it from there. I’m told contact solution can’t be found here, so if you wear contacts, bring enough to get you through training and have your parents send you more.
Ditto for toiletries – you don’t need to bring 2 years worth of soap, shampoo, toothpaste, etc. Maybe bring enough to get you through training, but you can get it here. If you’re particular about a brand, maybe bring more, or have your fam in the U.S. send it to you, but your standards WILL change. You can find American brand things in Tana and bigger towns but they can be pricey.
A ton of clothes – a week or two worth of outfits is fine, you can do laundry and buy more clothes here; frippery, or just frip (secondhand clothes from the U.S., why its called frippery I’m still not quite sure) is king in Madagascar, with piles of used clothes at markets for the equivalent of 50 cents per item. Frip can be hit or miss, usually the bigger towns will have better frip, and you may have to do some serious digging to find something good (i.e, tops from Old Navy and Express, instead of ridiculous 80s wear). New clothes are available as well but are more expensive and, again, more available in bigger towns. I’ve gotten great articles of clothing, both frip and new clothes, at my site and banking town.
Hair straightener, blow dryer, eyeliner, etc. – don’t be that person
That’s the general packing advice I have; as far as mental preparedness, you’ve done the research, you went through the mess of an application process, its normal to be nervous and anxious (or, as was the case with me, go from being extremely excited to freaking out about 5 times a day in the few days before leaving) but when you get to staging and meet your fellow stagaires (i.e, friends, family, support system for the next 27 months) you will feel more at ease, realize you’re not alone in how you feel as you get to talking and getting acquainted at your “last supper” (i.e, fabulous American meal before leaving) and during your long plane rides. When you get to M-car, you’ll start getting exciting about getting to be a volunteer, even though training can be tough at times. Bottom line: nervousness is normal but you’ll be fine, you’ve worked hard for this and when you actually get to the country you’ve been invited to serve in, you’ll be pumped and your nervousness will slowly dissipate. Can’t wait to meet you all!!!! Good luck with the final preparations!
As far as updates on me, that will (hopefully) follow sometime next week. Till then...
Great things I brought:
For women:
The Diva Cup – www.divacup.com - buy it NOW! Actually, maybe buy two in case one falls down a latrine hole. I LOVE it and was using it way before Peace Corps; I seriously can’t believe I ever used tampons. Best invention EVER!!! (or at least right up there with TV shows on DVD...)
Sports bras – taxi brousse rides can be, um… bouncy.
In General:
Quick Dry Towels – great when it’s humid/rainy season (Dec-April, even longer on the east coast, and it RAINS), so you can avoid mildewy towel situations
Nalgene – an extension of my arm and an object of complete fascination for everyone in my town, for what reason I’m still not sure. Its hot where I live and I talk a lot when I’m teaching (and sometimes yelling at mitabataba-ing students) so I bring it with me everywhere and even though its taken quite a beating, its still standing, probably always will be, and I love it! Get the sip guards too, so you don’t wear your water when you try to drink it.
Headlamp – I used it more in Niger than here, but it’s still a good thing to have whether or not you do have electricity and its better than a plain old flashlight because it keeps your hands free. I brought 2 in case one broke or fell into a latrine. I still use it during occasional power cuts, when I’m bucket bathing at the end of the day and its dark, or when I want to read in bed so I can turn out the lights, get comfy in bed, and don’t have to get out of the mosquito net to turn off lights when I want to sleep. It will also be of use when you are camping and doing night hikes in nat’l parks (i.e, part of my amazing vaka coming up but more on that in another post)
Cotton clothing – its easy to wash, dries quickly, and is durable; clothes can take a beating through lots of wearing and hand-washing
Solio Charger – again, used it more in Niger buts its still pretty nifty and I like it. The one I have only charges small things, phone, iPod, speakers for iPod (which broke so it doesn’t matter; another thing I recommend bringing) and there’s LOTS of hot sun in Western M-Car so it charges pretty fast here; I’m not sure about the highlands
Chacos – I LOVE them! I wear them EVERYWHERE and I have a fantastic tan line to prove it (when I figure out how/get internet that’s not painfully slow I’ll post the picture) Very comfortable, durable, and just plain amazing. There are discounts for PCVs.
LOTS of underwear – they’ll take a beating and get stretched out from so much washing, so bring a lot and seal some of them off in a bag and save them for midservice, maybe hide them somewhere in the bottom of your luggage so you won’t be tempted to use them after 2 months at site, and then you just have a ton of really stretched out undies by the time you get to midservice. Or have more sent from home.
Reading material and DVDs, or any hobby-related material – there’s a lot of down time here. The volunteer hostels have lots of books so you can get some there as well. I didn’t bring that many DVDs because in Niger, I wouldn’t have had electricity to constantly recharge my laptop. If you’re and education volunteer, you WILL have electricity. Also, I’ll be getting some neighbors near my site, so you and I can trade DVDs since I blew through mine already If you’re more tech savvy than I am, put movies/tv shows on a flash drive; I couldn’t figure out how to do that. A few people have Kindles too or other equivalents, so you can have lots of reading material without taking up space in your luggage. Again, I’m not that tech savvy and have a weird thing about not being able to comprehend what I read off screens. In college when profs put huge ass articles online I always had to print them out to read them, armed with my highlighters, so I could understand them. But that’s me, maybe you’re different.
French Press, if you love coffee – my boyfriend got me a cute, nalgene-sized French press as a going away present, so you can make coffee in the bush, no electricity or filters needed. Madagascar has decent and strong coffee (it grows on the east coast) so you can buy it here and make it in the French press. Or you can just make it with a coffee sock like Gasys do, but I think the French press is pretty nifty. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to drink too much coffee anymore, as my gastrointestinal tract often hates me.
Lots of pictures – to get all nostalgic sometimes and to show to your host fam and people at site
Anything that makes you happy, laugh, smile, reminds you of home – for obvious reasons
Whatever candy, snacks, etc. you like – squeeze it in your luggage somewhere and have more sent to you in care packages. Bring some packets of drink mixes too; it’s nice to drink something sweet once in a while instead of plain water
What I didn’t bring that you might want to:
Professional-ish clothes, if you’re an ed volunteer – thinking I’d be in Niger and covered in sand and sweat all the time (though, in Western M-car, I still am) and working as a health volunteer, I didn’t bring too many business casual-type clothing. Even though teachers at my school show up in shorts, jeans, and track suits, you should still dress somewhat neatly and professionally. You’ll be the center of attention for the next two years – enjoy!
Cute clothes – you can get away with wearing them here; PC/Mada’s not really a 2 year camping trip. Try to stick to fabrics that are easily washable though, and don’t bring anything that’s super expensive or that you’d be upset over if it got ruined.
Warm clothes – again, thinking I’d be in Niger, I only brought one pair of sweat pants and one sweat shirt. Bring MORE. The highlands, where the training center is and where you’ll be for the first 10 weeks, are FREEZING in the winter, which, in the southern hemisphere is now; again, when you’ll be training. Bring a jacket (like what you’d wear in fall or spring instead of a down winter coat, but you may want one of those depending on your cold tolerance), scarf, hat, I am NOT JOKING. Also sweat pants, sweatshirts, long sleeves, socks, and long pants. I brought leggings to wear under pants when its gets really cold and it helps. Bring a good raincoat as well; it rains a lot during the rainy season, especially when there’s a cyclone (during which the temperature will drop at least 10 degrees so, again, warm clothes). Even if your permanent site isn’t in the highlands, the coastal areas can still get chilly in the winter at night and in the morning. I bought a wool blanket at the market and sleep in sweats and am still cold sometimes. During the day, instead of constantly-dripping-sweat-can’t-breathe hot, its just hot and I still walk around in shorts even though the Gasys will walk around in down coats and dress their babies in fleece onesies with knit hats, even though its probably 80 degrees, haha.
Shorts and tank tops – not ok in Niger, though I did bring a few of each just to wear in my house, but I wear shorts all the time here, in public, and it’s ok, unless you’re in a predominantly Muslim area. If you’re a woman, you’re going to be undressed by the eyes by sketchy Gasy men about 10 times a day no matter what you wear. You’ve been warned. Also exercising, running/biking in shorts, is acceptable.
Don't Bring
Medical stuff - Peace Corps will provide you with all medical stuff, so save your packing space for other things. Upon arrival at the training center in Niger, we were given small brief case sized medical kits. If you go through something pretty quickly or are particular about something (i.e, me and Chapstick), maybe bring some of it, or just be really on top of requesting refills from PC far in advance (especially if you’re far away from the capitol, like me) so you don’t run out. If you take prescription meds, you need to bring enough to get you through training and then PC will refill it from there. I’m told contact solution can’t be found here, so if you wear contacts, bring enough to get you through training and have your parents send you more.
Ditto for toiletries – you don’t need to bring 2 years worth of soap, shampoo, toothpaste, etc. Maybe bring enough to get you through training, but you can get it here. If you’re particular about a brand, maybe bring more, or have your fam in the U.S. send it to you, but your standards WILL change. You can find American brand things in Tana and bigger towns but they can be pricey.
A ton of clothes – a week or two worth of outfits is fine, you can do laundry and buy more clothes here; frippery, or just frip (secondhand clothes from the U.S., why its called frippery I’m still not quite sure) is king in Madagascar, with piles of used clothes at markets for the equivalent of 50 cents per item. Frip can be hit or miss, usually the bigger towns will have better frip, and you may have to do some serious digging to find something good (i.e, tops from Old Navy and Express, instead of ridiculous 80s wear). New clothes are available as well but are more expensive and, again, more available in bigger towns. I’ve gotten great articles of clothing, both frip and new clothes, at my site and banking town.
Hair straightener, blow dryer, eyeliner, etc. – don’t be that person
That’s the general packing advice I have; as far as mental preparedness, you’ve done the research, you went through the mess of an application process, its normal to be nervous and anxious (or, as was the case with me, go from being extremely excited to freaking out about 5 times a day in the few days before leaving) but when you get to staging and meet your fellow stagaires (i.e, friends, family, support system for the next 27 months) you will feel more at ease, realize you’re not alone in how you feel as you get to talking and getting acquainted at your “last supper” (i.e, fabulous American meal before leaving) and during your long plane rides. When you get to M-car, you’ll start getting exciting about getting to be a volunteer, even though training can be tough at times. Bottom line: nervousness is normal but you’ll be fine, you’ve worked hard for this and when you actually get to the country you’ve been invited to serve in, you’ll be pumped and your nervousness will slowly dissipate. Can’t wait to meet you all!!!! Good luck with the final preparations!
As far as updates on me, that will (hopefully) follow sometime next week. Till then...
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