Staging, part 2

Professor in the Peace Corps

Well, it's over. We've finished the staging and it is on to China tomorrow. The session started at 8:30. The main part of it was taken up by going over the biggest threats we will face over there. In no particular order they were: HIV/AIDS; Natural disasters/political unrest; depression and loneliness; smog related illnesses and bird flu (why these were treated together remains a mystery to me); theft; physical asssault/rape.; food related illneses. We are certainly getting the fear of God put into us. The main solution to most of these seems to be to avoid drinking. Drinking increases your likelihood to be a victim of theft and physical assault; it only adds to derpression; and it probably doesn't help with bird flu. It was also stressed to us that we should avoid political activity in any way shape or form. In the afternoon we broke up into groups and had to put together a performance. We had to assign ourselves to one of the following categories--Musicians; storytellers; actors; writers; artists; dancers--and perform an assigned task. I signed up for the writers group, which turned out to be the most boring. We were required to put together a letter introducing the upcoming volunteers to the country. Others got to perform plays, dance, tell stories, draw pictures. One group did a rap song, one performed a play; we wrote a letter. In order to make it interesting, the group decided to use alliteration.
We were also provided with more details of our journey. Once we arrive in Chengdu we will be split into three groups of roughly twenty each, which means that about forty of these people I will never see again. So in case I never see them again, here are a few of the folks I will remember from this session:Phil is a young man who I had dinner with last night who has a fondness for Marx; Thomas is a guy I met at dinner at the pizza place I stopped to have my last meal; Richard is one of my two roommates, probably about my age, and has also done some teaching in academia; Chris is a young guy from Texas, and this is his not only his first trip out of the country but his first plane trip; Steven is a volunteer who had to pulled out of Bangladesh when things went bad there in March (I don't even remember reading this in the newspaper).
We were supposed to get some ribbons to tie on our luggage and I forgot. I gather that Peace Corps trainees still remember fondly the color of the ribbon they had. Ours was red for China. Hopefully I'll remember to pick one up tomorrow.

Staging

I arrived in San Francisco via Los Angeles and made my way via Super Shuttle to the Miyako Hotel. Upon arriving I was met with a couple of unwelcome surprises. First, the room was not ready. Second, I would be sharing the room with not one but two other people. And if this weren't bad enough, there were only two beds for the three of us. I don't think Bush would approve of this! Well, we got a bunk bed up there quick enough and flipped a coin (I lost).

The meetings started at three. There are rougly 60 of us, and we are seated at talbes of 7 or 8. We started the meeting by having everyone introduce themselves--give a short biographical sketch: where are you from and what were you doing before this. The most interesting part of the whole day was when each group brainstormed about their "anxieties" and "aspirations" and had to draw them on a large piece of paper. Not surprisingly, most people came up with a lot of the same stuff. It seems most people are concerned with the infamous bad air of China, and with the difficulties of communicating in a language that few know, and with getting ill, and with missing loved ones. People seem to split on whether the spicy food is an anxiety or an aspiration (I voted for anxiety). And people seem to be excited about travelling and about learning Mandarin.

We went out on our own for dinner and I bumped into a nice young man recently graduated and we decided to stick around the area and have sushi. One of the group leaders warned us not to have bowls of noodles since we will probably be eating that for the next two years.

One last thing: age. At least I am not the oldest person here. There is one woman who is retired and who drove a bus for thirty years before becoming a teacher, and one gentleman probably about my age who taught in universities for a while. But for the most part, the profile of the average Peace Corps volunteer seems to hold: the average age seems to be mid-late twenties.

Also, we received debit cards with $160 on them which is supposed to cover our expenses while were are hare--a nice surprise. Well, tomorrow is another day (and we start at 8:30 a.m.).

Last minute preparations

Well, I've been down in Tucson for about three days trying to put everything together and fit it all into two suitcases and one carry on. My folks have been very helpful and supportive in this whole process and I couldn't have done this without them. So I thought I would give them a little nod here by including a photo of them. Unfortunatley, it is not the most flattering image in the world. Well, that's what happens when you buy the cheapest digital camera possible. Anyway, my flight to San Francisco is scheduled to depart at 7:20 a.m., so it's past my bedtime.

First Posting

The long and short of it is this: I am taking a two years leave of absence from my job as a philosophy professor to volunteer with the Peace Corps in China. I leave June 23rd from Salt Lake City, fly down to Tucson, spend a couple of days in Tucson and then fly out to San Francisco for orientation with the Peace Corps. There is not much to report right now. I am making last minute preparations to leave Ogden. I will check in as the situation develops.