AHHHH!

Holy crap - I defend in 2.5 weeks! Then its exactly 1 month until I go to Fiji. Someone pinch me. Then do my defense for me. It's 1 am right now and I've spent the last 2 hours reading the blogs of strangers that are already in Fiji for the Peace Corps. I can't stop! And I can't decide if it has made me feel more at east or more nervous!

Slacker McSlackerson Makes an Appearance

So it has been quite some time since I have posted on this blog that no one reads, so I felt the need to put something in. It's been a busy few months since I got my Fiji placement - but nothing in regards to Peace Corps stuff. I think in the last month I will start to have to do things again, like get my flight to LA booked for staging and all that. There are lots of questions people have been asking me about Fiji that I do not know the answers too and I'm sorry! Some I do know, and I think I should do a FAQ section here, so here goes ...

Q: When do you leave?
A: I leave for staging on May 19th which is in LA, but then on the 21st of May, I leave for Fiji with the whole group of volunteers. I have gotten in contact with some via facebook, but this is my chance to meet them all, get last minute immunization shots, and sleep in a comfy bed for one last time.

Q: Where will you be living in Fiji?
A: No idea. They will tell me when I get there and they have figured out an assignment for me. Well, I have SOME idea - it will probably be on one of the main islands. I found out that due to unpleasant situations, women are not placed alone on the outer islands - they only go there if they are married and with their husband in PC.

Q: What language will you be learning?
A: In Fiji there are 2 main languages: Fijian (duh) and Hindi. There is a 40% Ind0-Fijian population so I could learn Hindi depending on who I will be working with. I don't know which language I will be learning.

Q: What will you be doing there?
A: I have been put in the position of "Environmental Resource Management Promoter" and I do NOT know what that means. :) There is a wide range of things I could be doing from environmental outreach, environmental surveys of reefs or mangrove forests, or even just cleaning trash off the streets. Who knows.

Q: Will you come back in those 2 years?
A: Probably not. It will be too difficult to get back.

So those are just a few questions I have been getting - the main ones I guess. Meanwhile, I have been working on the old thesis (dubbed Jake), going to Jackson Hole for snowboarding, visiting family in Chicago, and currently relaxing just outside of Boone, NC with some close friends. Life is good, but just waiting for comments back on the thesis to turn it downward again!

Fiji Baby!!!

So it is official. I have been invited to join the Peace Corps in their Environmental Management Program in Fiji! I will be there from the middle of May 2009 until July 2011!! I am so excited and so damn scared you would not believe it. I accepted the invitation and proceeded to the bookstore to find what I could on Fiji. I was a little disappointed and only found a couple small travel guides telling me about the Fiji I will probably never see. I also found a book called Getting Stoned With Savages. It is about a man's travels to the Pacific Islands and is actually a sequel to his first book The Sex Lives of Cannibals (which I recently received as a wonderful gift from my friend Courtney!!). So hopefully I will get an honest look into what it is like to live in the islands. I also read the 109 page welcome book for all those traveling to Fiji with the Peace Corps. It got me pumped up and of course, nervous at the same time. Anyone not nervous to make such an enormous life choice is in for a big shock in my opinion. I look forward to the opportunity for growth, though. It is going to be an experience of a lifetime. I also can't wait to share with everyone all the exciting things I am going through. I can't be sure of where in Fiji I will be living until I get there, therefore will be unsure of my access to communication besides snail mail (imagine if you will, the slowest snail on the planet, put 10 pounds on his back, and THAT may be what is actually carrying my letters to you). But I plan on updating when possible and throwing some photos up here as well if I can. Of course, I have until May 2009. I am also noticing I am promising a lot considering the ease of internet access I currently have and the little I have actually update this blog. Im new to this - cut me some slack. Meanwhile, there is still this pesky thesis I have yet to write and have completely lost focus on - all I can think about is catching my own fish. And blue water ... and cockroaches ... and rain ... and coconuts ... and lush forests ... and gastrointestinal disorders ...

A smidgen of self-recognition...

Check me out - I am famous! Also read about LEEP and how wonderful this organization is!

Medically and Spiritually Cleared?

After a deferral scare, the Peace Corps has decided that I have no medical or mental health problems and that it would be safe for them to send me to a far off land! I am now waiting for them to officially extend an invitation my way for service in the Pacific Islands. WOOT! Apparently the process can still be competitive and someone else may be nominated for the position I was previously nominated for. Fingers are crossed, but I've done all I can. It's out of my hands now.

I've been going through an old movie phase and have watched a lot of Audrey Hepburn movies. I can't decide what my favorite is so far - but I am leaning towards Sabrina. Audrey Hepburn plays the part of Sabrina, a chauffer's daughter. She starts off being in love with a man she doesn't know. She also does not have a lot of confidence in herself at this early point in the film. So she takes the chance to go to culinary school in Paris and falls in love with Paris and becomes more autonomous. When she returns, she finds herself falling for a different man, the brother of guy number 1. This man she gets to know, and is not simply in love with the idea of him, but who he is. Lots of women get so caught up in trying to get a guy to like her (like Audrey Hepburn does with William Holden) that she does not take the time realize she has a choice, and she should not have to wait for a guy to pick her. In the end, she chooses Humphry Bogart. You go girl!! My other Hepburn favorites: Breakfast at Tiffany's (of course!), Roman Holiday, and Funny Face (ahh Fred Astair).

Eat, Pray, Love

So I've just finished reading "Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert. I found it to be quite good. I know it's a cliche "vagina book" as my friend called it the other day, but that doesn't mean it is bad. I have read plenty of non-vagina books and enjoyed them just as much. This book was recommended to me by my mom, who said it reminded her of me as she was reading it.

I've never been divorced nor have I ever lived in an ashram in India, but I do heart traveling. I would do exactly what she has done given the opportunity. I'm having trouble choosing the 3 countries I would pick to spend a year of life ... I loved Italy, but have never had any connection to it. Although, Cinque Terre was by far one of my top 5 places I saw in Western Europe. I also loved the Bavarian Alps (Home to Neuschwanstein Castle), but never had the desire to learn German. I loved living in Northern Ireland and my visit to the Aran Islands and could live there for a time, doing nothing but tending sheep and knitting woolen sweaters for tourists. Here the set back is that I DISPISE Guiness, with a passion. I could spend the first 4 months of my hypothetical year in Barcelona, Spain. I loved it there - mostly because of Gaudi, the famous architect from Catalan. I could hone up on my Spanish and just enjoy the relaxed culture, good food, and afternoon siestas. Italy is where Elizabeth spent 4 months studying Italian and searching for pleasure in food. Food isn't as important to me and I don't know if Barcelona is where I would find pleasure. I've always felt at home in the tropics, therefore my search for pleasure would have to start there somewhere. Isolated, but happy. Snorkeling.

Her next stop was for spiritual guidance at the Indian ashram. As someone of Jewish faith, I would take the next step in my religous education in Israel. I would enjoy spending some time living on a kibbutz with my family, studying the Hebrew language and some Jewish texts. To me, that is an obvious step. Gilbert does not hold back on the experience she has in India. I am impressed with how she presents her devotion. I thought I would hate reading that section of the book because it would be boring, but it wasn't at all.

Lastly, Gilbert goes to Indonesia to learn balance with a medicine man she had met years previously. I don't exactly know what the search for balance entails, even after reading her book. But the last stop on my tour - I would like to bike ride around the islands of Australia and New Zealand. I could find balance in my mind and health while balancing on 2 wheels. To me, this is one of the parts of my hypothetical year that I would very much like to see actually happen.

That didn't so much as review the book as talk about how my book "Snorkel, Pray, Bike" would pan out. But I was impressed with the book, and think the author did an excellent job of explaining the choices she made and the life she lived over that year. I'll end with my favorite quote from the book.

"There is much about my fate that I cannot control, but other things do fall under my jurisdiction. There are certain lottery tickets I can buy, thereby increasing my odds of finding contentment. I can decide how I spend my time, whom I interact with, whom I share my body and life and money and energy with. I can select what I eat and read and study. I can choose how I'm going to regard unfortunate circumstances in my life - whether I will see them as curses or opportunities (and the occasions when I can't rise to the most optimistic viewpoints, because I'm feeling too damn sorry for myself, I can choose to keep trying to change my outlook). I can choose my words and the tone of voice in which I speak to others. And most of all, I can choose my thoughts."

Jew trapped in a hippie's body ... or the other way around?

Last night was the start of the Jewish High Holiday's. Rosh Hashana is the Jewish New Year and is a time for reflection on your past year. I went to shul (services) today and thought about a lot of things. I've gotten to thinking about my current lifestyle, my future, and what kind of person I wish to be after I finish school.

First - a step back: I have to admit - I've been bitten by the travel bug quite a bit. It's my mother's fault. She has always enjoyed travelling and I can't get enough of it. Before arriving in college I had already been to Spain, Costa Rica, and Israel. I don't say this to brag, but only to show how lucky I feel I am. In college I wasn't happy with the University at which I ended up. So I travelled more - Northern Ireland, western Europe backpacking trip, Caribbean SEA semester, Morehead City field location. If I was allowed to go - I went. I also was single my entire college life. I never connected the two together until I asked a friend why we never dated in college. His response was "I was never surprised that you were single. But not because of your personality. Because you were always talking about travelling."

Now to go in a totally opposite direction - my Jewish faith. I love being Jewish. I've always been proud to be a part of a culture and group of people that have been through and survived so much adversity. My mother did an excellent job of raising me Jewish in a small southern town in which I had to drive over an hour to get to Sunday school. I never had a lot of Jewish friends though, and thus in college I kind of let it go to the wayside. Lately, I've found myself surrounded by some amazing Jewish people, and I've start to become reacquainted with my culture and faith. I love it. I wander around my new Jewish-run household and look at all the things I hope to one day have: sedar plates, kiddish cups, menorahs, shofars, etc. Then I think about my plans for the future - the Peace Corps.

I want desperately to be in the Peace Corps - I want to travel to an exotic locale. I want to emerse myself in another culture to the point where I feel like I have lived there my whole life. I want to be able to use my education to help people who want my help. But how does that get me close to my other dream - being a Jewish wife and mother and having a Jewish home that I can be proud of. Is there no way to have both? Has my love of travel and desire to make myself more cultured, interesting, and to see places some people only read about kept me from meeting a man that could fall in love with me?

As a follow-up to my last post - Wicked was excellent! Highly recommended to all. I hope to see the musical one day - perhaps when it comes to Atlanta in October.