I've just departed (July 1), so I'm probably freaking out!!!  We went to Washington, DC to get all our shots on July 2.  Note the typical governmental foresight in giving us our shots and malaria medication the day before we leave (most vaccinations should be given a month or so before exposure...).  We then fly from DC to NYC to Paris to Dakar, where we take ground transport to Thies, Senegal.  This is where we spend 2 months of our training.  The third month will be in Mamou, Guinea (right close to the border of Sierra Leone, where there's that coup now).  Those who don't panic and flee (One drop-out estimate was 30%) will be sworn in as volunteers and placed on site.

The toughest time for volunteers is the first 6 months.  This has been described to me as "the loneliest time of my life."  Culture shock, isolation, and lack of easy international communication will be tough...  So, my dear friends, please, WRITE TO ME!!!  My addresses are listed below.

Living conditions will be slightly easier during training, as we'll be in a large town with electricity.  However, the training is intense, and I'll be living with a host family speaking French all day.  As far as I understand, I'll be doing language training half the time, and the rest is cultural, job-skills, and the like.  After training, I'll probably be placed in a large rural village without electricity or running water.  The official language is French, but only 20% of the population speaks French...most speak a native tribal language (Pular, Fulani, Malinke...).  Thus, in addition to brushing up on rusty French, I'll be learning a local language as well.

Malaria is prevalent in West Africa, as are various diseases, parasites, and gastro-intestinal problems.  As one person told me, "bowel movements become a daily, almost obsessive, topic of conversation...sort of like apartments for those who live in New York..."  So, I'll probably be sick often, perhaps seriously.  Health takes a lot of effort in Africa.

A lot of people have been asking me Why Did I Choose to Go to Africa?  I might as well tell everyone at once.  I've travelled quite a bit in my life, and seeing other cultures has become very important to me.  The Peace Corps seemed like a relatively easy way to spend several years in a very different culture.  By "easy", I mean simply that they take care of food, housing, money, health, transportation, job placement, and evacuation.  I'm really going to learn more than to give -- I see this as part of my ongoing education.  I've been told that those who enter PC with an idealistic notion that they're going to save the world are inevitably disappointed, as the results of one's work in the PC are often intangible or take years to show.  I also see this as a turning point in my life -- I could have entered graduate school (in Physics, at UCSC), but chose instead to embark on an adventure which will teach me a lot about the US, myself, and how to live simply and make do with what there is.