Me in the peace corps

So I graduate in August (whooooooooo hoooooooo!!!!) and can't wait because being in school is so old. I'm weighing my options as to what I will do afterwards. I've thought of working for the government, private industry, heck maybe even helping someone with research (if I'm desperate enough).

However, my mind has started going back to conversations I've had with my mother from time to time. She would tell me stories of when she was my age. How she'd tell her mother she wanted to join the Peace Corps (PC) and her mother (my grandmother) would cry, "Oh baby don't go over there to Africa..those Africans killing each other baby..please don't go over there!" Listening to grandma, my mother didn't go and deferred her dream. It made me think how awesome it would be to be able to help people and get to travel all at the same time. But I quickly dismissed the idea because I thought it would be foolish to join after finishing graduate school. The most common occurrence is joining following completion of a undergraduate degree.

However, I've been thinking again about applying. I actually have started my application on the website.

Why, you may ask...I've got several reasons.

1. I would love to be able to aid in the development of a developing country. To know that I had a hand in starting or continuing a program which would aid the people of a village/town would be amazing. It's like affecting change on a bigger, more visible and tangible scale. The problem with most volunteer opportunities is that you sometimes don't feel like you're affecting change in a big way.

2. Being able to learn about a different culture. They say the best way to learn something is through immersion. Boy, is the PC the ultimate immersion program. Although they do teach you basics of a language they also put you in the home of a host family with which you have to learn to communicate. And, once the 3 months of training are over, a volunteer is basically a member of the community in which they are serving. It's great! I could just imagine it now...

3. I'm a glutton for the basics...well not really. I love a nice warm shower, air conditioning, indoor plumbing, and microwave meals as much as the next gal. However it would be refreshing to experience life stripped down to only the things I really need. I'm sure this is how it would be for me since my industry is agriculture. I will most likely be placed in a farm village or something. That could mean...using a squatting latrine, pumping my water at a site any distance from my home, taking bucket baths, falling in love with mosquito netting because I'd have to keep the windows open at night to avoid drowning in sweat, having to sweep out my house every day because dust will be a daily occurrence...the list could continue for days. But, nonetheless, it would be a worthwhile experience.

4. I'd absolutely love to be placed in Africa. Not only because it's the homeland of my forefather (literally), but also because it is where his relatives currently live. If I could use my vacation time to visit my family in Nigeria I would be so grateful. I'm not sure if another opportunity would arise to finally see them.

5. This isn't my primary focus, however it is a truth (at least I think it is). The PC would look great on my resume and will hopefully be some of the required "experience" job applications desire.

Okay, that may be all. I just need to get together my recommendation letters and write my essays for my application and I'll be starting my journey although there's a lot of waiting..I'm willing to do so.

Some things never change...

It's really beautiful to see that no matter how "hard" and "cold" the world gets some things will forever remain the same.

Today was a beautiful sun shiny, cool day, so while playing with my little cousin at his house, he decided he wanted to go to the nearby park. So we rode over and I placed our bikes by a tree at the entrance of the park. I had second and and third thoughts about leaving our stuff by the tree, but told myself that nothing should happen. There was a group of three near teenage boys that entered the park right before us that I felt wanted to keep my eye on. Just to make sure. Sometimes teenagers in a park isn't a good thing. After a little while I realized these boys seemed to have genuinely come to enjoy the park and nothing more. So I let that go and thought it was particularly refreshing....here they were 11-13 year olds coming to a park and asking for each other's help with the swings.

There was a grandmother there crocheting a Christmas tree skirt while watching her two granddaughters play. Of course I had to offer that I crochet a few things. She seemed surprised. Then we began making small talk about crochet and the park...you know two things that naturally go together. I made the comment that although there was no trashcan out there the park seemed to be kept up very well and she agreed.

I pushed my cousin on the swing until he joked that I'd pushed him high enough and he was getting "sand sick." Then we slid down a jumbo sized slide and played in the sand a lot. He used his imagination with is building pretending he was making a Superdome and a volcano. He seems to need to turn everything into a contest though, but I guess that's just his nature... he said repeatedly, "my [insert sand creation here] is bigger than yours!".

A little girl was passing behind her mother and her mother's friend. She started playing in the park as her party passed. When she came over to the slide she stopped to play in the sand with us. I made small kid talk asking her what she was making and praising it. It was fun.

In the end my cousin and I rode home, but I felt compelled for some reason. Compelled that no matter what (probably even where) kids will be kids. Even though it is said that kids these days are loosing touch with what makes them kids, apparently some are still in touch with their kid-ness. For some reason that makes me feel great. Perhaps because whenever I have kids of my own, I'd love for them to go through a genuine kid phase and not feel like they need to harden for the world.

On a side note I thoroughly enjoyed riding that bike. It brought back great feelings of childhood...the wind blowing through my hair, putting my feet up on the handle bars...good times. I rode that bike for at least 2 hours with a few breaks in between. It was great.