Away We Go...for real!

Everything is looking peaceful and beautiful in the Gambia and surrounding area so we should be all a go this time!
I'll be leaving Erie late Friday (the 30th) afternoon to spend the next couple days in Lancaster with one of my Grandmothers. From there my parents and I will be heading to Philadelphia to turn me in. I report on Tuesday (the 3rd) and fly out Wednesday (flight info below). It's looking like a good group of volunteers. Several married couples, an older woman (more common in the Peace Corps than you'd think) and a bunch of girls. I'm sure there will be more to meet upon arrival in Philly! I feel very ready to begin, I guess I should since I'll be leaving a year and 3 days after I received my first official assignment packet! Of course there are the clump of nerves that accompany a big life change/adventure, so continued prayers are still very much welcomed!
Also included in this post are a few Gambia related websites (some sent in previous updates) and a link to the USPS website for anyone looking to send mail (address below). Mail will always be welcomed and I will do my very best to send you something in return! Mind you, though, the process of getting mail to a volunteer is slow so don't send anything that can spoil. Trust me, stale cookies are just about as bad as no cookies!
My estimated return to the States is early January 2012 (maybe for your birthday Erin Georgic!).
I really enjoyed one more East Coast fall and am happy to skip winter and go right into 90 degree weather! Thank you to everyone for your support and encouragement. I will miss you all and am already excited to catch up when I get back. BUT I do want to know how YOU are doing too. Keeping up on folks back home will help me feel more normal and happy.
Take Care!
Katie

Flight Info:
Nov 4th
Depart Newark 6:35p
(7hr 15 min flight)
Nov 5th
Arrive Brussels 7:50a (1:50a EST*)
Depart Brussels 11:35a (5:35a EST)
Stop in Dakar, Senegal
(8 hr flight)
Arrive Banjul, Gambia 6:35p (1:35p EST)
*I think these times are right and adjusted for daylight savings

Mailing Address:
Katie Cahoon, (PCT or PCV)**
C/O Peace Corps/The Gambia
P.O. Box 582
Banjul, The Gambia
West Africa
**PCT goes after my name from Nov-Jan while I'm in training.
From January on, PCV goes after my name.

Websites:
Mail: http://www.usps.com/prices/welcome.htm
Gambia:

• Time, weather, and other random tidbits http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/city.html?n=30
  
• Time Converter for anyone like me who has trouble switching time zones: http://www.worldtimeserver.com/convert_time_in_GM.aspx
• (unofficial) Peace Corps Volunteer website for the Gambia. Lots of pictures, language lessons if you'd like to give it a try, and other day to day information http://gamlangs.googlepages.com/
• Official PC Welcome Book for the Gambia. Pretty much anything you'd want to know about the history, the programs, and volunteer topics http://www.peacecorps.gov/welcomebooks/gmwb635.pdf
• Other informational websiteshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gambia, http://www.gambia.gm/, http://www.lonelyplanet.com/the-gambia

Happiness is a really good black cat

FRUSTRATION

After Madagascar's cancellation, I was reassigned to Mauritania to leave June 16th. That was then postponed because the soon to happen elections there shut down administrative offices and our visas couldn't be obtained. While I waited for the new date of Aug 11th to arrive, I worked at a summer camp as a lifeguard and went on family beach vacation. Midway through the summer, I got a call that Mauritania was canceled. They didn't want to send us there with Al Quida being around...although they said it was because of the visas. So I've been reassigned to the Gambia and leaving in early November. Of course, already there is stuff going on there that makes me feel less than hopeful about leaving. If I don't go this time, I give up.

PUNK'ed peace corps style

Yesterday we all (37 of us) arrived at the hotel in Philly for our pre-departure staging event. We signed a few papers and sat down. In walked Rosie, the Associate Director for Volunteer Recruitment and Selection. She didn't look very happy and had the displeasure of telling us that as of that morning the political situation in Madagascar was too unsteady to send us. Here's a link to the news related to the issue: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7931293.stm
So we're all still here. The placement officers are diligently working to get us all reassigned. I hear we are "top priority" and should know soon. Tomorrow or this afternoon I will check in and perhaps have a new assignment. There actual Madagascar program could go on in the future but things there are just so unsteady that I could be waiting for that for a long time. The current volunteers are all safe and it sounds like they will be safer to stay put in their rural villages than getting to the capital or other major airport to leave. In regards to placement, there are still a lot of unknowns, but when I do know more, I'll pass it along.
Personally, I feel okay about it. The things that make it only "okay" and not "good:" I was ready to go, I don't want to go through good-byes again, I'm not sure what to do with myself in the waiting time, I got invested in one place and it is less than happy to have to change courses mentally..especially safety wise - as in, I felt like ecologically Mada was a rather safe place. The things that make it only "okay" and not "bad:" it really re-emphasizes that the Peace Corps holds safety first and makes me trust them even more (although some volunteers felt otherwise yesterday), life happens and things like this always happen for some reason, I'm still doing Peace Corps, perhaps I'll get to go to the Africa with Lions instead of Lemurs (although they would have been very cool too) which is where I really wanted to be in the first place.
I appreciate all of the well wishes and prayers. I realize that things like this could quite possibly be linked to all those praying for "safety" over this Peace Corps class. So I'm around for more visiting if you want to make it to Erie or if you have some greater destination I might be game!
I'm back in erie and will be completely crazy in no time I'm sure. Hopefully I'll know a new placement soon.

Happiness is in the adventure of it all.

Wait for it....wait for it...

Since last Monday (Jan 26th) I've been very attentive to the Malagasy news. There have been some political riots (I guess that would be the proper classification) which have caused the Malagasy government to be unstable. Through news translation, either about 44 or 100 people died in the initial riots on Monday, the President was over thrown by a mayor who looks, and was criticized for being, very young, and now the President is trying to be back in power but it seems like he's willing to work things out in a more calm manor. The good news about this, as it relates to me, is that the Peace Corps is very on top of the situation and has the safety of their volunteers at top priority. This means that the current volunteers are all safe and it sounds like some are hidden away until it all gets better and those of us waiting to go are going to wait a little bit longer.
Having an extra month is a good thing I suppose, especially if it means a safer situation for me and my fellow volunteers. My thoughts while waiting to hear our fate were filled with just as many nerves about my dental paper work going through as they were about our departure date. Now that I've been through the ringer with all this dental stuff (really earning my stripes if you ask me) and feeling under pressure to make the deadlines, I feel some more relief that there's now more time for everything to get processed.
I'm also glad to have another month with Buttons and Boo (although Buttons has made several attempts to sit on the keyboard as I'm typing right now and is running my patience low-it's a good thing she's funny and cute and can get away with it), telephone conversations: fortune and glory kid, fortune and glory, hopefully time to get to camp and work on a project there, more time with family, and more time to put on a few more pounds as Vicky is quite concerned about my low weight holding me through two years of rice! It's nice to feel like I'm doing the right thing by eating doughnuts and cookies! So I'll be trying to keep busy for this next month. I would like to get a job, but as I told Chris last night, I don't want to not be able to visit with people in this month because of work because I'll have two years of that excuse.
I also think the delay is okay because I'm not sure if I was really ready for departure as planned. I'm not sure what it was, maybe because my teeth were still potentially going to delay me even more. But I'm sure by March I will be good to go. I feel like I need to do more reading and last minute learning. This will be good. BUT, I am tired of the snow.

Happiness is safety first.

The Invitation!

On Saturday, November 1st, my invitation packet arrived. I knew it was on it's way, but wasn't expecting it to arrive for a few more days. Oh well! I couldn't believe how big the packet was. As I held it, waiting to open it, until everything was exactly perfect, I thought about all of the months of waiting. I thought about the epic journey to get my polio shot, and the physicals, and the papers, and the papers, the recommendations, the interview, and everything that put this ball in motion. I thought about telling people, and realizing that "it's time" and how much everyone meant to me leading up to this and how much they will continue to mean to me while I have good days and bad days, days when 2 years won't end soon enough and days when I won't want to return to the states. It took me a good 10 minutes to sit down and open it....that was a lot of thinking.
Before I could get the envelope open I saw the word "Madagascar" through the address window. Really? That couldn't be it? I was told Western Africa...I talked about Western Africa. I spent days watching films about the diamond trade and other atrocities preparing myself for the worst. But I went ahead. Opened it...that also took a while. It was a bear of an envelope to get into.
It really did say Madagascar. It was just some other country that processes information or whatever. My first thought was "OMG This is AMAZING....OMG, OMG. Madagascar, that's the country I did a report on in 7th grade. They have all sorts of crazy animals there. Bergman talked about it a lot in class. OMG!" My next thought was filled with laughter as earlier that week Chris and I were discussing the placement potentials and he brought up Madagascar in reference to the movie and suspected that the animals there are going to sound like Chris Rock. Of all the random countries for him to make jokes about, it was that one! It cracks me up still!
Next I felt both relieved and a little disappointed. I had worked so hard to get myself emotionally ready for Western Africa, and I was so looking forward to the difficulties that present themselves in that region. That's the Africa I've always wanted to see and be part of, so I felt let down. At the same time, yes, relieved that I wouldn't have to go to sleep every night worried that by sunrise there'd be a rebel group in the village hunting people down. God has a plan and God knows better. I've prayed about this so I know this is where I will be my greatest. My emotions were processed, kind of, I don't think they will be in full for about 4 more years, so I decided it was time to work down the list of people to call. I've been thinking about this list very delicately and wanted to break the news a little at a time. First the parents. They were out at a dinner with the church and the Dreyers so I knew there was a chance they wouldn't be there right away. I called Karen to fill in the time until Mom and Dad got home, but wouldn't tell her where exactly. Eventually the parents returned and celebrated the relief, and then mother started crying...of course...which is fine because ever since I found out my placement was being mailed out I've been a mess. They seemed happy for me and were very supportive. The irony (according to Alanis irony) is that I'll be leaving right around Ken's birthday and returning around Dad's. Also, I'll be back to see Karen graduate college which is really exciting. I wonder what I'll wear? Karen was telephoned next to get the final details and she sounded pretty pumped. The grandmothers followed and were glad to know it's a stable part of Africa and they were also very glad and had other good news from both sides of the family to pass along. Fall 2008 is a good time to be alive, despite the economic downturn. Next was young Christopher, a heartbreaking call, but what a wonderful friend. He sounded like he was waiting at his computer ready to look up all the interesting details for wherever I was going. Together we learned more about Madagascar...mostly about the carnivorous squirrels, over sized man eating crocodiles, and cyclones (basically all the things that would kill me). It doesn't look too bad to be honest, unless he was hiding some things from me! Then came some other friends, the Aaron's, Justin's, and Sarah's. There are a few more I would like to call, but it's now up on good old facebook.
It also sounds like communication with the American world will be tremendously trying and limited while I'm there. How often this gets updated will be a mystery, but as I can I will. I'll have to me more brief-good news for the readers!
Currently my greatest concerns involve what to do with my hair. I've look up some recipes and traditional foods and that is no longer a concern...fruit and rice. I think I can deal with that!
Now I have this mountain of paperwork to cut through to get visas and passports and declaring my beneficiaries. Does Buttons count?

Letting Go of the Sippy Cup and Binki

Evan called today!! He's nominating me for a position in Sub Saharan Africa, in a French speaking area, and the group leaves in February. Hot Damn! I'm pretty excited about it. His other option was in central Africa which would be pretty cool too...but I'm pretty excited about all this! It kind of gives me butterflies! Next is medical reviewing and then some more waiting! Pretty fantastic I must say!

Happiness is a new dance leotard that I won't buy because I know I won't need it where I'm going!

Potty Training?

Today I was accomplished...mailed in my last check for my car (shout out to G-mom), e-mailed in my loan info, and Vila finished his recommendation. This evening Evan (my recruiter) called me...that was fast! It was only a message and I'm to call him back tomorrow...it is amazing to be this accelerated with everything. It would almost be awesome if I didn't have to worry about a summer job, but I would like to be around for the move and have a chance to maybe go out West for a bit. We shall see...I'm sure it will still be quite some time before I'd leave!

Sidebar: Zimbabwe elections are going on...well have gone on...and they are still waiting for the results and the current leader is being not nice about stepping down. It made me really think of the instabilities in African countries right now and how real they still are. I guess, even after the Africa forum, I feel like those instabilities happened several years ago and they are still settling down these days. But, no. Exciting times we live in.

Happiness is in the rain that makes spring become summer.