About 200 people gathered last week to do their part in lifting the hypothetical laddle with  monetary contributions at the Girl Scouts of America Headquarters. LaVera invited me to the envent, and after only about 3 hours of socializing and free food and drink, the event surpassed their 12,000 target with a whopping $21,000 dollars [...]

If donors and funders gave money only on the condition that 1% of taxes would go to operating costs of that particular venture, be it library, or performing arts center, or community center, then…..people would be pissed, but, society would be closer to becoming a more fulfilled cultured together society.   Shame-the Steve McQueen directed [...]

The silver subway cars that move below the city transport millions of passengers a day. They read N, 7, L, Q, S, etc. The express cars zip by the local stops. Who expects all 468 stations to be visited by every single car? Surely not the fly by the seat of your hat New Yorkers. [...]

After much delay and procrastination, I’ve finally committed to signing up for a half-marathon. The Philadelphia Marathon. The race starts at the Museum of Art, winds through the historical city, down to the river, and then comes back to finish on the glorious “Rocky” Victory Steps. I can’t wait for that moment, when I cross [...]

Just moved to the Big Apple. That’s right Manhattan. Weeee. Here I go!

Greetings from Mozambique! Where I’ve been for about the past almost four months! I made a few video blog entries that are on my flicker page, but after my camera died week 5 into my service here, I gave that up. =( Internet has also been a lot more spotty than I would imagine, but [...]

It’s true. Even though there were many signs that this wasn’t completely out of the cards for us, finding out on Monday August 10, 2009, that it had become official the previous day, was overwhelmingly shocking. My experience to the end of my Peace Corps service was also quite different from the majority as I was [...]

I’m sitting in my old university’s library right now. I love libraries. A few thoughts I’ve had lately: I’ve now been back in the US for one week and one day. How am I feeling? Well, one week is about what it takes to start to reacclamate, but at first I was head over heels overwhelmed. [...]

So, i’m writing this entry after so much has gone down with Peace Corps in this country, so much. Reports of bad news have just been pouring in since at least a month ago, and this is all aside from the choas of elections, although it seems, that those elections may actually finally take place [...]

today i left aleg for 3 weeks of upcoming travel.  tomorrow morning i’ll be celebrating my birthday in the lovely beach town of saint louis senegal, and from there, i’ll make a big pac man shaped circle. First up will be Selibaby, supposedly one of the most beautiful and green sites in Mauritania. From there, [...]

Two days ago, my counterpart’s sister held in my honor what is called a Muhadar, or at least an informal version of what Muslims attend when they have questions or want more information about Islam. The word I looked up that sounds like what I heard, actually translates to Lecture, if I sounded it out [...]

Today was SOO windy. The sound actually woke me up in the middle of the night because I coulda sworn a tornado was coming. (I have never actually been in a tornado, so the way it sounded may or may not accurately resemble tornado noises). Regardless, as soon as I looked out my window, the [...]

I took a trip to my friend Becca’s site this past weekend. It’s a town in the South called Lexaba. It’s beautiful down there, with an abundance of trees and rivers and gardens, the people are more warm and liberal. When Tanya, Becca’s site mate came out to greet me in a tanktop and with [...]

I have indeed neglected this a bit, but just take it as no news is good news. Seriously have been downright busy this past month. December just about flew by as I moved in with my new host family. Took my first real trip to Senegal to celebrate New Year’s Eve in the absolutely aaaaamazing [...]

Yesterday I was entirely too full of meat, so sick to my stomach that even the smell made me afraid. Today I have recovered. Two days ago I ate at least, easily, two pounds of sheep. Tabaski. A fellow volunteer asked me yesterday if I remembered when Africa was [...]

Now has officially been the longest time I’ve ever been away from home. Without seeing a familiar face or place. It’s strange because although the homesickness has been finally setting in more, that first fact doesn’t seem real. Second week of GMC down. What an improvement. Today and yesterday were pretty great. Today I brought Monopoly [...]

I had one of my mexican friends come visit for the weekend, hence the title of this post. So, the GMC is now open. We have now officially had a full weekend of classes. The turn out was a bit lower than I expected or could have hoped for, but with each day, I see what [...]

of how my GMC opening went, which probably from an outsider’s perspective, went alright, but since this is my blog, and I’m feeling very honest, I’m going to give you the total raw inside scoop of everything I really felt. Hands down, this was probably one of the scariest things I’ve done in my entire life. [...]

I’ve been hearing that phrase from Mauritanians everywhere I go since two days ago. If you translate it literally, it means Obama and then the past tense of “to come.” But what it really means is he won. I’ve been working in this copyshop since the beginning of this week, since that is where my [...]

The point of this five day animation is to amend a health book for adolescents put out by UNICEF and UNFPA called Grandier en Harmonie. The book is targeted to Africa as a whole; our job is to make it Mauritania specific. I attended day 4 of the 5 day conference yesterday. It was held in [...]

I FOUND A PLACE TO LIVE! IL HUMDULILLAH HATTE! So I am going to move out tomorrow morning. It will be sooo good to start living with a family again. I swear I can forgo a refrigerator, shower and Internet for some peace of mind and quality integration. Ok, I just need to write, one thing that [...]

Alright, let me take a second to break it down. Il iid il Vetr So, for those that have been reading this, you know it has been Ramadan. Ramadan is a time for Muslims to reflect on the poverty of others in this world, namely those who don’t have food to eat whenever they please. So [...]

I’m going to try to update more often with more picture posts. In order from top left counterclockwise: 1)Beyti: the kitten Janna adopted when we thought we were going to see a room for me to rent (chambre can sound an awful lot like chat over the phone). Her name means Room in Hassaniya. 2)North [...]

THe amount of insects that have recently shown up, is quite frankly, just completely ridiculous. There are blister beetles, june bugs of every known size, stick bugs, and those are just the ones I’m able to identify. Oh yah, there are also locusts and frogs (1/5 of the plagues that were brought down on Egypt, [...]

Damien (right under Obie-our country director) sent all the PCVs this article. I thought it was worth sharing here: The Technologies of Peace N.J. Slabbert is International Editor of Truman Publications, a Brussels-based group focusing on geopolitical, technological and economic analysis. He also writes on urban thought and policy for the Urban Land Institute, a research [...]