Staging

So I've made it to Philadelphia. It is so ridiculously hot here. And humid. Did anyone bring shorts? Nope. Are we allowed to wear sleeveless shirts? Nope. We're all "smart-business-casual." That doesn't translate so well in this weather. I guess I'll need to start getting used to it. But, this time tomorrow I will be en route to Accra (pronounced uh-CRAW).

Where should I start? I should first say that I am having a great time. My anxieties are being supplanted with excitement.

The plane ride was less than pleasant. Portland to Phoenix wasn't so bad, but Phoenix to Philadelphia was rather uncomfortable. It seems to me that US Airways has packed as many seats onto a tiny plane as possible. I began to feel frustrated during the flight, but in the spirit of the new journey I decided that I can't let the little things bother me. Or, at the least I need to develop some strategies for patience. So, I ordered some whiskey, blasted Sleater-Kinney in my headphones, and proceeded to play the air guitar for the rest of the flight. That made me feel much better.

Rocking out to Sleater-Kinney (a PDX band, for those who may not be familiar) certainly invoked some feelings about home. Not just homesickness, but pride. Portland is such an amazing town, and I feel so lucky to have lived there. Listening to Corin Tucker wail about Burnside, the MAX, Joan of Arc in NE, and punk rock clubs definitely struck a nerve. Throughout the past few days I have found my self talking ad nauseum about Portland and how wonderful it is. I have realized how much I have taken it for granted (especially after talking to so many people from the mid-west).

Interestingly, I have met a few other people here who are interested in medical school and also plan on applying from Ghana. It was a bit surprising to get their perspective on the process. For me, my entire college career and most of my activities have been focused on medical school, on ensuring that is how I want to spend my life. I want to be the best applicant possible, and I want to be confident in my decision to follow that path. The work is demanding, and a bit exhausting, but I have enjoyed it immensely. I assumed that most other applicants have had similar experiences, but I'm coming to see that is not quite the case. Maybe I shouldn't say similar experiences, but a similar level of enthusiasm, commitment, and excitement. My passion for medicine seems to be a bit more unique than I had originally thought. It is refreshing to meet people who have not shaped their lives around medical school, but at the same time, I feel incredibly reassured that I am heading in the right direction.

I spent Saturday morning exploring the Historic District of Philadelphia with another Volunteer. I also ate my first cheesesteak- pretty tasty. Staging officially began yesterday afternoon with the typical slew of orientation activities. I was fairly nervous about meeting this large group of new people (35, including 4 50+ Volunteers and 2 married couples), but I am quite reassured now that I will have a great support system there. These are people who share similar values with me, who are adventure seekers, who want to make a difference in the world (however small). The feeling I have is very similar to the feeling that resonated with me throughout Student Leaders for Service at PSU. I don't often find people who have such a level of dedication to service. Service and volunteerism have been such a large part of my life, all the way since the Youth Commission back in Salem. It hasn't been something that many have been able to relate to, or understand that it wasn't just about pumping up my resume. Anyway, to get off my soapbox, it's just a wonderful feeling to be surrounded with these like-minded folks.

One of the activities we had to do today was to get into different creative groups based on our interests (I chose the "Musicians and Poets" group). We were given the assignment of writing and performing a song that could convey the Peace Corps theme of cross-cultural understanding. These are the lyrics (to the tune of Beethoven's 9th Symphony):

"Akwaaba and welcome to the Peace Corps Ghana Twi for All!

Keep in mind that Twi is one of over 70 languages.

Different backgrounds/styles of teaching/this hot climate/makes me sweat.

Our new friends are people wearing clothes that are made of Kenta cloth.

All this fu-fu makes me poo-poo/prophylaxis/crazy dreams.

We are Peace Corps Volunteers and crossing cultures is our theme."

The first two lines are the intro lines of every single Twi lesson tape were given (over 30 tapes- needless to say everyone recognized that line). It was pretty summer camp, but a good time.

And speaking of prophylaxis, we beginning our malaria prophylaxis tomorrow. I'm not so excited about that. You will actually get sent home if you do not take your medication (officially, "Administrative Separation," or in the land of abbreviations and acronyms, "AdSep"). Apparently common side effects are night sweats, anxiety, decreased hunger, and crazy dreams. Sounds like fun. We will also begin our immunizations tomorrow, which will likely include:

Measles-Mumps-Rubella

Polio

Tetanus-Diphtheria

Hepatitis A

Hepatitis B

Typhoid

Yellow Fever

Rabies Pre-Exposure

Meningococcal

Japanese Encephalitis

Tick-Borne Encephalitis

PPD

Influenza

Pneumococcal

My arm hurts just thinking about this.

I should also mention that after tomorrow my internet connection for the next 3 months will be rather sparse. However, cell phones appear to be the new fad in Ghana. It will cost about 3 month's salary to purchase one, and phone calls out are just as expensive. Luckily, incoming phone calls are free! Service around the country isn't consistent, but hopefully it will work out to chat for a bit. I'll try to post my number, or at least give it to my parents to hand out. I feel a bit conflicted about getting a cell phone at the moment. It doesn't make much sense to me why people would purchase a cell phone when they may not be able to afford food. And also, didn't I just sign up to rough it in Africa for 2 years? I'm sure I will get one though, at the very least to appease my mom.

So what's next?

We will be staying in Accra for 4 days for an in-country orientation. "Electricity and running water are intermittent," so I'm told. After our time in Accra we will each (individually) embark upon a "Vision Quest." Does that mean they send us off into the jungle with some peyote to find God? That's what I thought, but apparently that's not the case. We'll actually each travel to a current Volunteer's site and shadow them in their community. The purpose is to ground ourselves in why we came to Ghana and to create a positive vision for the "life of service" we are about to enter.

After the Vision Quest we will meet in Kukurantumi (about a 2 hour drive from Accra) for the remaining 10 weeks of training. There we will each live with a home-stay family. Training will consist largely of language (Twi right now, but an additional language once we receive our site assignment), technical, cross-cultural, health, and safety, 6 days/week. I have been rather impressed with their level of training so far. It's a bit draining, but I think that is a reflection of its effectiveness. From what I understand, training in-country will be much more interactive and community based. I suppose there's not much of a reason to reflect too much upon it now.

Finally, we will receive our site assignments sometime in the middle of our PST (pre-service training). You can definitely tell PC is a government agency by its astounding amount of acronyms.

Well, I think that's been a lot of information to process (if you made it this far). I'm sure I'll have lots more to write about soon. I am so excited, though it's a bit bittersweet- I miss you already. I hope you're cooking up some good stories to share with me! Cheers!

P.S. Thank you to my wonderful friends who put together the going away book for me. That was so special.