My First Days...

Here I am near the beginning of my journey.  I'm actually on my way back to Philadelphia after visiting Halley and Karim in Oakland, California with a great stay seeing my folks and sister in nearby Davis.  While in Oakland, Halley threw a wonderful picnic at the Merritt Lake Park near her house and invited a number of her old Peace Corps pals to join in.  We chatted, ate, and discussed experiences they had had while in Turkmenistan and I got a lot of advice on what I might expect when I ship out. 


In Davis, I was very pleasantly surprised when my brother, Kim, drove all the way up from L.A. to visit and make us a family of five (sorry Sheena, you got a bit cut off!) which we won't be occasioned to have happen again until I return in a year.  Yes, I really am going to go to Sierra Leone to join the Peace Corps.

Once there, I will be what is known as an English Lecturer at Njala University (pronounced in-ja'-la) and teaching teachers how to teach reading and writing much like I did at West Chester University.  I suspect, however, this is where all similarities will end.  We were told we will have no running water, no internet, and only a few hours of electricity a day powered by local generators.  It's going to be rugged but I welcome the change and can't wait to be on my way.

I've never done a blog before and quite honestly have only read a few examples of them before.  So this is going to be another steep learning curve for me.  I look forward to keeping you all abreast of what is happening in my life in West Africa and learning about what is going on state-side.  More soon...