Welcome packet

Macedonia, here I come! After months of mental readiness and waiting, I have a departure date of September 15, 2009 and suddenly there is not enough time to tie-up loose ends, compete all the paperwork, meet all my friends and extended family and decide what to take and what to leave behind and pack before I leave! There are movies I want to see, foods that I want to savor, read the books that I have already purchased, leaf through the magazines and newspaper that come to my door and make that final visit to the beach, the library, the coffee shop and the ice cream shop in town! These are the familiar sights that I will miss, maybe even yearn for, though in themselves their hold is so tenuous that I have no qualms of leaving them behind.

Last night, we bid farewell to a Chicago Cultural Alliance Board member, at a typical American BBQ with the host providing the backyard and a grill to take care of the meats; the guests bringing the appetizers, salads, one too many sweet desserts, the wine, beer and the drinks in a formal/informal environment. This familiar culture setting and friends is what I leave behind.

Why do some people leave what we love for new unfamiliar horizons? What is it that drives some of us to stay and others to leave? It is more than the emotions of excitement of new seeking new horizons and unfamiliar environments or of casting aside the old to renew our faith in ourselves. When I have the answer I will share it in this space.

Back to the welcome packet! Lot's of reading and re-reading. There is the invitation letter, a number of bound books and a booklet which states "Your Assignment". There are a lot of words in my assignment, which can be said in a couple sentences! Though my work will be NGO development, my assignment is really an open mind and a flexible attitude towards anything that I will end up doing in Macedonia. Training will be primarily culture and language and some technical skills for working with a specific NGO.

I am instructed to be prepared to explain what my assignment is when I call within 10 days to accept the invitation. If I fail to call, another volunteer will be sent in my place! At this time however, I am overcome with emotions of loss and gain, of excitement and trepidation, joy and sorrow, so I quickly make that call. I am prepared to say more than those couple of sentences as I have not only read my assignment book a couple of times, but highlighted it extensively to help me recall what I have read. Excitement, emotions have a way of ruining my memory. During my call, I learn the name of my Country Officer, Rebeccah Gross and she is the person who has all the answers to my questions, which were limited to the medical team this past year while I was on medical hold! I have to introduce myself through the means of two documents - an aspiration statement and a resume. Both helped me reflect on all the work I was doing for the past year and also made me realize what I enjoy doing the most and what my professional attributes are! I will be sending these out today, within two weeks of receiving my welcome packet.

I called Sato Travel after accepting my invitation, as I have a Peace Corps passport from last year. Thus the fedex envelope contained only my visa application for Macedonia with 2 pictures with a sticky note to MB that I spoke with MH, who had tracked down my passport from last year and that this is all I have been instructed to send. MH also tells me that I am in trouble if I get a call from them! However, the following day, the email from peacecorps informs me, with the link to my toolkit that my application has been updated. I am all set - I filled out those forms correctly and they are pulling my papers together!

I have to concentrate on the other items in the welcome packet. I read about insurance for my belongings - that is what I am going to work on, as I am taking all my electronic gadgets, laptop, camera, cell phone which will need insurance. Macedonia is a broadband, internet country, with all it's 540+ schools on the web! So I am lucky, I might have 24 hr internet connection! That will mean more blog posts!

Musings on Reading

Reading Nabokov (Lolita), Pamuk (Snow), Cather (My Antonia) and now Barbery (Elegance of a Hedgehog) in the space of this month left me depressed, exhilarated, reflective and excited respectively, not to mention a whole host of other feelings!  These authors offer so much to the human condition.  So rich in style, in substance and the ability to articulate the thoughts and feelings of people whom I may never encounter. 

Sometimes, I just want to stop and see if I can be a writer of such compelling stories!  Then I stop my delusions and feel quite grateful that I have access to a well stocked public library - which is now offering me an option to read using the internet.  I have yet to download a book, still preferring paper.   

   

Being read to - this is an activity that has long been lost to me.  When did my mother/father stop reading to me?  Soon after I learnt to read myself or much later?  Why do most parents stop this reading at this time?  Is it because we encourage independence when children learn new skills?  Is reading equivalent to feeding oneself, or crawling and learning to walk without help? I last remember reading the first Harry Potter to Gita, when she must've been about 9 or 10 years old.   All memories of reading to my children conjure up the big King size bed with them huddled about me listening intently, not wanting to me to stop or save the remainder of the novel for the next day.

Audio books have filled in this gap, espcially during the vacation-by-car.  A good story made the journey pleasant and shorter than the long distances we covered - from northern illinois to Nebraska, to Los Angeles, to Florida, to Washington D.C. and to Boston to name a few!  I am sure that the traffic was a bane for the driver, though.  Haven't we all found ourselves in the garage after a long journey still listening to an intriguing interview or newstory a few minutes after we arrived home, but loathe to turn off the car radio?  This reminds me of the young adult book by Avi about a young girl and pirate ships held Sheena and I spellbound during the drive to and from Evanston for the  summer enrichment classes during her early teens! 

I have however, been seduced by the mp3 audio book format. I didn't really read 'My Antonia'. I was read to during the one-hour train rides to the city, the shorter drives to my appointments in the car, but mostly sitting in bed (my favorite spot) with my feet under covers, with the player propped up - just like my posture when reading an paper and ink book!  It was over 8 hours of reading.  It is wonderful to be read to in a rich, expressive voice in without distractions.

This new format of audio book - with headphones eliminating all extraneous sound for the person plugged in was at first a novel experience - listening to a story and not music - but like most new gadgets we own, I have not only learned to use it, but come to like it as well. This will give me impetus to load books along with music on my ipod!

However, I have yet to read a book from front cover to back cover using the internet.  Up until last year, I had only a desktop and to to sit and read a book in a work-like situation did not excite me at all.  Having purchased a notebook last year, I could easily try it, but the small laptop still does not permit me to be as comfortable as with a book propped up on my lap.

I am intrigued with the idea of Kindle2 or the sony reader as an alternative to reading an ink and paper or even the audio book, especially as they advertise the number of titles that this format can hold and which can be loaded ahead of time.