A whole new wooooooorld

 When we finally landed in Banjul, the entire group applauded. WITH GOOD REASON after such a long wait for all of us with obstacles more frequent than a horse show (for example, it took me 15 months from the start of application until now) to be in country! I exited the plane and immediately breathed in the humidity, already feeling the sheen of sweat glazing over my forehead. It was humid hot but cloudy and probably somewhere in the low 80s. The land was stretched flatly as far as I could see and the only building around me was 100 yards away, the Banjul airport. The architecture on the outside was really nice! Miraculously, NONE of our luggage got lost and the wonderful Peace Corps staff (and current volunteers) who met us were masters at over-sized luggage Tetris. Next thing we know, we have 25 current volunteers/trainees snug in a van (with AC by the way... praise the lawds) and over 1000 pounds of luggage in the other car... and set off to the Peace Corps transit house!

So here's a couple of things I noticed:

1. Flat landscape. Abundant amount of greenery (grass, trees) everywhere and termite mountains. Legit, mountains. I'm convinced I saw the Himalayas of termite mounds.
2. A generous amount of billboards displaying Gambian cellphone providers – in particular Africell.
3. A PUBLIC HEALTH BILLBOARD: “Don't take risks. Be smart. Use a *picture of a condom*”
4. Nice cars and not so nice cars. But really, some cars were really nice.
5. I saw a total of one building with Chinese characters on it (which is one more than what I was expecting) and that was really surprising. I'm pretty sure I made a bet with my mom saying that I wouldn't find any other Chinese people in The Gambia aside from PC volunteers and I'm 100% sure I won't be telling her she's right lol
6. Women with really gorgeous dresses with the most vibrant colors
7. A plethora of people staring at our PC car because there were lots of white people on it

The transit house, to put it frankly, should be on the MTV show 'Cribs'. It's a house where all The Gambia PC volunteers stay whenever they're at the capital to do business/attend meetings/etc. I have no idea what I expected but it's fantastic. AC, wifi, computers, food, fully equipped kitchen with spices and cooking stuff, bunk beds, TV with movies, booksbooksbooks, photography, crafts that people made, lockers, showers (some even with HOT WATER GOODNESS) … Nice, tiled floors and arches all around the house! It was so nice. We conversed with some current volunteers to review logistics and house rules before digging into dinner... which was some kind of tough grilled chicken, mayo-less/sauce-less coleslaw, and last but not least the most scrumptious fries EVER! I'm definitely guilty of standing in the kitchen and eating more and more. After dinner, I called a couple of people to update them of my mortal status, forced myself to stay awake past 9:30 PM, and promptly passed out.

I woke up at approximately 7:10 AM and it was such a sweet reprieve to lay out and sleep in darkness. For my first breakfast in Gambia, I had a sandwich with Nutella, banana slices, and peanut butter aaaand a cup of apple juice. AND A HARD BOILED EGG. I love eggs, it was clearly a stupendous start to my morning. After I breathed that in, I embarked on my first day of training! Saturday, October 19. We got to the Peace Corps office in less than 5 minutes by car and immediately began with introductions. The Peace Corps staff introduced themselves, the Americans introduced themselves (I even got an applause!), and we jumped right into our sessions. My group of 18 were split up and rotated between three sessions: Medical Immunizations, Site Selection Interview, and Language. First, I met with my Program Manager and Technical Assistant for the Health sector about where I would be placed. Here, I excitedly found out that the entire Peace Corps staff in The Gambia *DID NOT EVEN GET MY FILE* until 1.5 weeks ago, awwwwwwwww yeahhhhhh -_- However, the interview was really chill and the next thing I know, I'm headed downstairs for language class!

The entire day, I learned a fraction of greeting people in Mandinka and Wolof. I was also poked with some immunization shots and received an early Christmas present from the Medical office – a metric boat load of medicines and more importantly, my malaria pills! The main doctor was out but dayum did the nurse know how to give shots because I barely felt a thing. Also, lunch was rice with this delicious oily chicken curry. Anywho, I got my cellphone afterwards and it's this sweet old-school brick, sky blue Nokia phone equipped with T9, my phone number, and my bank account! ALSO today... you people are not going to believe this...

For all of you who don't know, I graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a Bachelors of Science in Public Health (and four minors in Anthropology, Sociology, Psychology, and Kinesiology and a certificate in Culture, Health, and Science) this past May. Well, the Country Director for the entire country of The Gambia pulled me aside and guess what he told me? That he ALSO attended UMass Amherst for graduate school for none other than... PUBLIC HEALTH. Even more outrageous – his son is a JUNIOR right now AT UMass Amherst studying engineering... which is RIGHT across the street from the Public Health kingdom. And THEN I found out the Country Director lives in a town 1-1.5 hours away from my old place... whaaaaaaaat. Can you believe this surreal-ness right now?! This fact alone got me SO pumped throughout the day. The world continues to surprise with how small it is.

When I finally returned to the transit house, two trainees and two current volunteers and I walked to the beach - literally a 10 minute walk away tops. It was already dark but the breeze was refreshing and I tried my first Gambian beer! Julbrew. I got lots of tips from the current volunteers that I definitely wouldn't have if I opted to stay in the transit house and touched the Atlantic Ocean. It's crazy to think that on the other side of the water is New England, Massachusetts, BOSTON - the other end of the Atlantic which I touched just before I left. Aaand then I definitely paraded around the transit house after the beach blasting Gimme More (Britney, bitch), SexyBack, and Single Ladies, and pretending to dance.

Tomorrow will be my last day at the transit house – which means last day of wifi, AC, showers, and relatively western-ish lifestyle for two months! They're shipping us three hours away to a village called Jenoi where we'll be doing intense training. Jumping out of my seat excited. We'll be getting a feel for “the real Gambia” and none of this fake Gambia stuff – ain't nobody got time for that. We'll hopefully discover what language each of us will be focusing on for the rest of our service, maybe get our bikes, and just settle down. In the meantime, I'll be writing in my nifty Hello Kitty journal that my best friend gave me (thanks girl ;)) and updating all of you in... 2 months! Call me maybe? +220 206 2922

I have no idea how to rotate this

Staging and Airplane Mode

Staging:

Staging reminded me so much of RA training - different topic but similar techniques. The Gambia's Envi/Health group held staging in Philadelphia, PA unfortunately far away from the Reading Terminal Market! I'll have to go back. Anyways, it was about 6 hours long and although it was extremely exciting finally meeting my colleagues in person, it was exhausting! We had a multiple overviews of the PC mission and goals, ice breakers, paperwork, big white paper sticky notes with markers, skits, etc. For all you RAs out there, I probably just listed all of RA training all over again for you. Like I said, the best part about orientation was definitely meeting my colleagues and I'm intimidated in the best ways.

We are a motley crew of 18 hoping to complete all 27 months together. Some might extend their service for longer! There's a surprising amount of people from California in my group and a surprising LACK of representation from New England... in fact, I think I'm the only one. C'mon New England. Ages vary across the spectrum - but did you know the average age range is like 26-28 to serve? Within the Health/AgroForestry Group (my group), there's more women than men and more Caucasians than people of color. I feel like everyone has a super unique story and I'm excited to learn more about them with time.

One of the exercises we did in staging was drawing out our aspirations and anxieties. We went around the room and I feel like other people's anxieties are adding onto mine haha. I guess my mind overlooked the possibility of lost luggae, political unrest, etc. I secretly wonder if I'm naive to these possibilities or if I'm just not letting them strangle me with anxiety. I think personally, my fears are intangible things. I'm afraid of missing important milestones with friends and family (one of my good friends is getting married - TWICE in two countries and I'm still missing both haha), drifting away from close friendships, and not making any close friends in The Gambia. It's scary for me - the last one anyways - because for me, people breathe life into a place. Relationships are so crucial for me to feel comfortable and successful. In one of the closing exercises, I was asked to think about how I'll define success in The Gambia. I answered, it would be when I can make a really god friend. Or lots of friends. Language can clearly be a barrier, but I always recall the years where I played perpetual charades when I started learning English as a kid. So if 4 year old Jess can do it, 22 year old Jess can do it, dammit. Then at this point in my thoughts, I wonder if my fears are too sentimental and whether or not I should be scared of more tangible things like, bugs all up in my personal space AKA getting UNDER MY SKIN, getting incurably sick, snakes, military check points, transportation, etc.

Airplane Time
US > Brussels
So after hauling our outrageous amount of luggage to the bus from our hotel, my group set off for JFK at 8:30-9 AMish. Good thing we didn't get there until 1:15 PM -_- There was one of the most terrible accidents I've ever seen in my life! Then as soon as we get to the airport, I had a nightmare with the airline! It was this big fiasco with overweight carry-ons because I totally followed the guidelines Peace Corps provided and they did not coincide with the rules the airline counter had. Some people had to pay a lot extra :( Anyways, after some finagling and since I was the last in line, I got separated from my group and they were all at the gate waiting for me. Unfortunately I got them really worried and I had no way of contacting them telling me I was okay. And also unfortunately, this won't be the first time on this trip >_>

The flight was super easy. It was around 6-7 hours and I was super engrossed with Now You See Me, two episodes of New Girl, Black Swan, some documentary about African climate, and The Heat so the time flew by. When we landed I almost lost a shoe and was just crawling on all fours making people wonder 'WTH Americans..." trying to look for my lost companion. Luckily I found her. Anyways, as I'm exiting the plane, I got so engaged with another volunteer about our near identical in-flight movie list and Game of Thrones that we totally went the wrong way, arrived at customs, and realized we lost everyone. I wasn't too worried since we had awhile until our next flight to find the gate and we were at the airport anyways but we definitely gave the rest of the group a bit of a scare - dammit 2 for 2 for me. I was officially that girl hahaha

THE GOOD NEWS is that we found the other half of the group. They were divided up into two - one of them went to the bus waiting area while the other we ran into and sat down for fun conversations. So what seems like the next 1-2 hours, we listened to random early 2000s hit pop songs, our academic theses, menstrual cups, nurses, old people, tampons, public health, the scrumptious-ness that is Stroop cake/waffle, then we hopped off to the bus for our gate. When we got there, we did basic yoga at the waiting area and played bananagrams which I kept on getting Spanish words... and the Japanese word for gay porn. After the third round, we all officially hit "the wall" since it was 3 AM (witching hour) in Eastern Standard Time and immediately became zombies. At last, boarding time finally came and we were off to our final destination... Banjul, The Gambia.

ABCs of why I joined Peace Corps

HI READERS!

Okay so it's almost obligatory (I think) to start a first post with reasons about why I'm going to The Gambia with the Peace Corps (PC). I thought it would be really cute and creative to do an ABCs type writing exercise because my reasons for joining the PC is kind of like an impressionist painting - every little stroke painted a clearer path to me applying.

A is for Awareness. Cultural, geographical, musical, food, everything under the sun (which will be very hot in The Gambia). I want to be more aware of the inhabitants on this planet in exchange for other inhabitants getting to know more about me and where I come from.
B is for a Boring life - something I don't want at alllll.
C is for a Challenge.
D is for Direction.
E is for Exploring because I love a good adventure.
F is for Friends. I want to make SO many friends in the Gambia from the natives, my fellow American volunteers, and people from around the globe in the next 27 months.
G is for "Going big or going home". I think Peace Corps is one of the most intense service organizations at the core of its purpose and if the volunteers have the right heart for it.
H is for Helping people however I can and as much as I can. Cliche, I knowww.
I is to Inspire and to be Inspired.
J is for Jessica. I mean this in a sense that I have two names - the other being my Chinese name - and I'm ready for a new one (which I'll get in The Gambia) along with a new identity/slate.
K is for Kicking ass, a favorite past time of mine.
L is for Learning. Aside from the inevitable where I'll be learning from others, I can't wait to learn more about myself and what I'm capable of doing.
M is for "Make Me Proud" by Drake... I had to think for this one haha. I really want to be proud of myself when I look back at my 20's and I want to make others proud of me too!
N is for Normal. I feel like I take for granted a lot of things that are normal for us, as Americans, and that's a thing of privilege. I forget that what is normal for us is the extraordinary for the majority of the world. Time for a reality check!
O is for "Oh shit I'm 23, what have I done with my life?"
P is for Passion. For me, without passion there is nothing. Eventually, I want to go into Grad school but I would like to be fueled by experience to make the most of everything (and find a suitable program, school, etc etc).
Q is for the Queue of things on my bucket list I want to complete before I'm 30 - working abroad being one of them.
R is for Regret. I don't want to look back at this point in time and regret not doing something like Peace Corps while I had nothing holding me back.
S is for Stories. I like hearing other people's stories and I also want to be a part of someone else's - if that makes any sense. I want to complete my service with a million different stories to tell.
T is for Travel. I thought I would never need to until I studied abroad in Thailand and I've never proved myself more wrong.
U is for Utilizing my privilege purposefully for someone else's sake.
V is for Validating the space I take up on earth, as someone very wise once told me :)
W is for a Wish that I have. I want to be unforgettable to at least one person in another country - in a good way of course.
X is... jeez. Nothing begins with X aside from Xerox, Xylophone, and X-Ray. I want to live...X-tremely? I tried and you can't blame me for trying.
Y is for being Young - I want to take full advantage of this fact.
Z is for Zeroing in, finding a direction, a focus, a clearer vision of how I want to shape the rest of my 20's and set a super/awesome/exciting precedent for years to come!

Well, it's exactly 11:43 AM and Staging (orientation) is at 1 PM sharp. I've got to get some food in me, ASAP. Time for some good ol' chain restaurants before I don't see them again for the next 2 years.