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Day 47 - 19 August 2005 site announcement interesting week. if site speculation was intense last week, it’s only gotten worse...lots of speculation flyin around mixed with high emotions as trainees are finally startin to realize there are certain islands or cities we want to be in and certain ones we don’t wanna be in. of course, how educated are we in which places provide what or which places need us for which reasons? we’re still so new and unknowing and have our closer friends that of course we want to be closer to when we get to site, but do we really have any say? I mean, we all came here to do a job, to help a community and we all expected to do it alone. maybe the past 6 weeks have just been toyin with us, makin us develop stronger relationships knowing full well that in 3 weeks, they could cease...no WILL cease to exist in the way they have here at training. as friday approaches people begin forming their opinions, maybe even telling our training director during our interviews that they need to be in these places and not in those. I have a few places I’d prefer to be, but there’s one site in particular that I’m focusing my emotional and thus, oral attention on, just to prepare. it’s the only site with no running water and no electricity and is in the middle of a beautiful green valley very far from everything. well, as far as you can get from anything. there’s a series of hiaces you need to just to get to and from there and a bit of a commute to reach the community I’d be serving. the challenge sounds incredible and is what I was expecting when I heard I was goin to Africa. of the other 20 or so sites, I’d rather be on a certain 5 of them on two different islands than this one "tough" site I’ve been tellin everybody that I want, but I’m keepin that to myself. and guess what? it paid off...I didn’t get the "tough" site, and got a site on my first choice island, right where I wanted to be. I’ll be in the perfect location considering what access is available there. PERFECT! how that worked out, especially with my luck, I’ll never know. and guess what? one of my best buddies is on the same island and three other really cool volunteers are not too far away either, most of them girls. me & the girls...are you surprised? fated to be surrounded by the opposite sex no matter where in the world I go. "darn" and what’s really exciting is that there are 4 really cool volunteers that I’ve met (cuz they’re workin at training) starting their second year up on my island! SWEET! and my island is apparently the most beautiful with evergreen forests and lots of mountain hiking to be had. I can’t wait! only 3 weeks to go...so site announcement was not full of surprises, but not entirely predictable for all either, and apparently there were a couple last second switches- a mini-conspiracy is brewing as to why this would happen. all in all, it was a reason to celebrate and I broke my 3 weeks of sobriety for a couple beers to cheers with. <--- week 5 nutshell Tarrafal ---> |