(Dove) My first post

I can't sleep.

This has been a problem since Friday, when Josh and I received our official invitations to serve in Cape Verde, Africa with the Peace Corps.

And to top it off, I'm blogging.

Anyone that knows me knows my distaste for this particular medium. I have always thought blogging was extremely narcissistic (for the most part - there are of course exceptions, and of course, this is one of them) and besides, who in the world cares about you and what you think? I don't quite get the concept of why people think their lives are important enough to be self chronicled and published to the web; it's like sending my diary to a publisher and asking them to try and sell a million copies. The exceptions of courses are travel blogs, informational blogs, political blogs and blogs like this - blogs that keep your friends and family up to date while you are living in small African countries for two+ years :o) (NOTE: although it is true that I'm not a fan of blogs, this is all meant to be tongue in cheek). And who reads these things anyway?

Apparaently I do. Apparently I spend all night reading other volunteers blogs and get up two hours before work to finish them. I do this night after night and sneak peeks during work too. Reading other Peace Corps Volunteers blogs has been an awesome experience and has already started to prepare me for the next two years of my life. So, aside from using this as a way to stay in touch with family and friends, I hope future potential Cape Verdean Peace Corps Volunteers get something out of my thoughts and experiences.

So...this is my first post :o) As I said before, on Friday, April 25th, 2008, Josh and I received our invitations for Cape Verde, after spending 17 months navigating the application process. While I applaud the thoroughness of the Peace Corps' application process and appreciate their desire to weed out folks who may think they want to serve but aren't really up for the major challenges of even getting medically cleared, it was a little...frusterating to say the least :o) Some of you know that not only were Josh and I applying as a couple but that I was initially medicially denied and had to appeal the decision (which we obviously did succssfully!). Note to future applicants: if you want it, go get it. You and only you can make this happen.

Over the weekend we read our Welcome Books and job descriptions, and yesterday we accepted our invitations. The preparataion process has begun. We've started learning Portuguese, we've been listening to Cesaria Evora (a famous Cape Verdean blues singer) as well as reading everything we can about the islands and watching YouTube videos that travelers have filmed. Our current resource list includes:

The Fortunate Isles: A Study in African Transformation By Basil Davidson
Cape Verde Islands, 3rd: The Bradt Travel Guide
Between Race and Ethnicity: Cape Verdean American Immigrants, 1860-1965
Essential Portuguese Grammar
Larousse Concise Dictionary: Portuguese-English/English-Portuguese
501 Portuguese Verbs
Transparent Languages Complete Portuguese Learning Suite
Numerous Cesaria Evora cd's
A list of movies in Portuguese to watch
(although I realize we will primarily be speaking Kriolu in Cape Verde, I figured it wouldn't hurt to get a head start on Portuguese; even if we don't speak it regularly, it may come in handy for translating purposes or writing grants/proposals while in country)

I'm also starting to re-compile my youth development resources from my Americorps days. I'm so unbelievably happy that I was as organized as I was with all of those projects!

That's all for now (though I know no one is reading this yet). I'll end at the beginning: I can't believe I'm blogging. And I'm actually enjoying it! Probably because I'm too excited to do anything else but think about Cape Verde right now, and I need another outlet besides reading about other people's experiences, but it's too soon to pack.

The countdown begins: 76 days to go!