I'm going to do my best to tread lightly in this particular blog entry. Tis a dangerous subject, but I don't think I can let it go by without saying something.
On Tuesday I got up early and left Lusaka to hitch my way up to Mkushi, a town in Central Province where i was going to ATB Lodge to meet up with about 35 other volunteers to witness history, for better or worse. Peace Corps Volunteers tend to be current events/politics junkies, and if they're not when they leave the states they usually become one while they're here. As most of you already know Peace Corps tends to have a reputation of being a group of liberals, and while I can confirm that there are in fact conservative Republicans in Peace Corps Zambia, every one at the lodge was an Obama supporter. So as you can imagine, it was a fantastic night. Sleep was of course not an option, seeing as how the first polls closed at about 1 am here. Things first got interesting around 3, when Pennsylvania was called for Obama. As the next three hours rolled by and state after state turned blue it became clear that Obama was going to win, and not only win, but win easily. At 6 am, when thousands of Chicagoans in Grant Park erupted, a group of smelly, dirty, and above all tired 20-somethings in the middle of nowhere in Zambia had our own celebration, maybe lacking in quantity but certainly not in quality. Two things came to my mind at that point that I thought I would touch on. I know that everyone who reads this has widely varying political views, and many do not share the same views as me. And to you guys, I'm sorry. I think the American people invested themselves more in this election than any in a long time, certainly in my lifetime, and when you do that, only to feel you came up short, it's pretty devastating. I know I'd be pretty down this week if things had gone the other way. But, regardless of your views, I think there are two things all americans can get excited about.

1. We just elected an African-American head of state. And yes I know we all know how important this is and historic this is, but seriously folks, no other major world power has done something like this. It's a pretty amazing testament to how far our country has come concerning racial reconciliation. The highest job in the land is no longer out of reach for people who aren't white males. This was one of those events that everyone kind of figured would happen eventually, but it also seemed like it would never come (it's like a 16 seed beating a 1 seed in march madness). This is something that all Americans should be proud of, the fact that we live in a country where Obama's story is even possible.

2. Tomorrow I'm going to go back to my village and everyone, EVERYONE, is going to want to talk about Obama. I'm sure you all saw the clips of the celebrations in Kenya. All of Africa is excited. Obama hasn't just given hope to African-Americans but this entire continent. And I really think that this election will, for the first time in a while, remind the rest of the world of why they used to be on friendly terms with America. The last 8 years turned global politics into "us v. them", we became unilateral renegades who did whatever we wanted for the most part, regardless of what the rest of the world thought, a dangerous attitude if ever there was one. But now that we have a president elect who seems intent on fixing broken relationships instead of pushing our former allies farther away from us, maybe we can take our place again as the watermark for democracy and good governance and freedom and justice, not because we tell the world incessantly that we're a great country, but because we actually do great things. Imagine if the rest of the world decided by themselves that America was an ok place by themselves, without us having to constantly remind them. We can't afford to push the global community away anymore, and Tuesday night was a good start.

The other day I got online and received an email from my mom about how she had just been outside and it was "a perfect fall day" and then preceeded to read a facebook note from a friend about how she had walked outside that morning and the crisp air hit her face and she knew fall was on its way. A sharp pang of jealousy hit. As I was reading those it was about 8 am, I had just woken up and was lying in my bed in a puddle of sweat.
It's hot season.
Zambia has three seasons a year. When I arrived in February it was the middle of the rainy season, though by that point in time most of the rain was already done. Around May, about when I got posted, the cold season started. Cold season was pretty nice. In the afternoon it may get warm enough for you to wear a t-shirt and jeans, but in the morning and night you're in sweats, and sleeping can be chilly, but the kind of chilly where you bundle up with a couple of blankets and you're really cozy. It's comparable to the beginning of fall, or even some of summer in the northern U.S. Around the week before I headed to Lusaka for IST things started to warm up. I was gone for a couple of weeks and came back to discover that the cold season was gone. My site is in a valley, which makes things hotter. So I spend most days drenched in sweat, trying to find places to stay cool, like the stream behind my house where most boys tend to swim every day during hot season. I bathe and immediately start to sweat again, and I go to bed marginally sweaty. Once the sun goes down it cools off a little.
So please, all of you living in a temperate climate, enjoy the fall, the cool air, the leaves changing colors, being comfortable in a sweatshirt and jeans. Because in a few months I'm gonna get on chicagotribune.com and the temperature is going to be below zero, and then it'll be your turn to complain.

I've mentioned on this blog before my disappointment at having to miss so many of my friends weddings while I'm here in Zambia. Matter of fact I believe there's one this weekend (hope it goes well Chris and Melissa, wish I could be there). Now of course it's not that I don't love these people enough to be at their wedding, it's just not feasible. But there's one wedding I will not miss.
Last Sunday I was hanging out in my hut, listening to the news on my shortwave radio about to go to bed at all of 8 pm when I get a phone call from the states. That's usually the time mom and dad call so I assumed it was them only to be surprised to pick up and find my brother on the line. Why? Because he wanted to inform me that he had just become engaged. It was a phone call I had been expecting for a while, but it's still a pretty significant occurrence when you find out your brother is getting married. They had not set a date yet when we spoke, and I believe they have by now, and I'm not sure what it is, but I think it's next summer, which means Derek is coming home for a while next summer.
I'm so excited. When I tell my friends here that my brother is engaged and they ask how old he is and I say 20, usually a look of surprise follows. For the average Peace Corps Volunteer (including myself) marriage is a long way off, and we're all at least 23 or 24, so a 20 year old getting married can sound slightly crazy. but talking to Brendan last week it was more than obvious that he's ready to get married, and I can't wait to be there for it.

The rest of the week in Malawi was pretty much the same, save for Thursday night which was so absurd it would be impossible to explain on this blog. Early yesterday morning we got a minibus out of Nkhata Bay and began a 12 hour journey back to Zambia, in conditions better than the way there, that ended at about 6 last night in Chipata, the capital of Zambia's eastern province. Which is where I am now. Every province in Zambia that has volunteers in it has a house where they can stay for a few nights a month for r&r and I'll probably be there until thursday. It'll be a good time to get myself back into gear for village life, but there are other reasons as well.

As you may or may not have heard, two weeks ago today Levy P. Mwanawasa, the president of Zambia, died at the age of 59. He had a history of health problems and had a stroke at the end of June that he was never able to recover from. Tomorrow is his burial, and it will be a Zambian national holiday. I really haven't been able to see what the country has been like in the wake of his death, with being in Lusaka at training and then in Malawi, but there has definitely been a somber mood throughout the country. Mwanawasa was by all accounts a good president who worked hard to fight the corruption entrenched in Zambia's government, due in large part to the less-than-moral presidents who preceeded him. A 60 day mourning period follows his death, at the end of which Zambia's political parties will announce their new presidential candidates. A 30 day campaign follows, culminating in a presidential election which will take place about 2 or 3 weeks after the American election. Zambia is a peaceful country and there are no expectations that the current state of things will lead to any unrest like what happened in Kenya, but please keep Zambia in your thoughts and prayers as they make a decision that will greatly affect the future of the country.

OK let's see here. The four weeks from the last post I wrote were pretty uneventful. Mostly spent in the village. Last Sunday I went in to Lusaka for In-Service-Training. 5 incredibly long days of workshops. It was pretty good, but I was surprised by myself a few times. For the entire past three months I couldn't wait to go to IST and see my friends and eat good food and have hot showers, and those things were definitely nice, but there were several moments where I found myself missing my village. To be honest I never thought that would happen. It was just an overwhelming week. A lot of people around, a lot of information thrown our way. It's easy to get overwhelmed when you're used to the pace of village life.
On Saturday morning 12 of us caught a bus or hitched a ride that began our 2 day journey to Malawi. Two solid days of transport across southern Africa in situations that at times could only be described as hellish, including at one point a man having a seizure right in front of me on a bus. But on Sunday night, very exhausted, we arrived at Nkhata Bay on the northwest side of Lake Malawi and realized immediately it was worth it. We're staying at Njaya Lodge, a guest house right on the water. We have a large stone beach house for the 12 of us. The water is pristine and just the right temperature. The pace of life here is slow, and the hardest decisions to make are what to have for dinner and whether to stay on the beach or jump in the water. Last night some guy we met on the beach cooked us freshly caught fish and chips over an open fire, which was delicious. After that two guys named chicken pizza and happy coconut (no joke. i couldn't make stuff like this up) brought over a couple of djimbes and played for a while. they let me try and i managed not to make a total idiot of myself. this morning I came to the internet cafe and met a guy from the states who has been in Nkhata Bay for 4 months. He didn't plan to, he just didn't wanna leave. I can understand why.

It's been a really long time. I haven't seen a computer in a while. Looking back my last post was kind of depressing. This one shouldn't be. As expected life in the village has gotten better and much more comfortable. I finally moved into my house two weeks ago, which alleviated the stress level significantly. I'm getting to know the people in my village, the clinic staff, the teachers, the people at the market I buy bread, fruits and veggies from everyday, the boys at the taverns who want to play the white man in pool. I'm meeting with a teacher from the school who is teaching me nyanja, the language most commonly spoken in my area, and we're becoming pretty good friends. I've amassed a fan club of little kids who seem to instinctively migrate to my front yard when the guitar comes out. I'm slowly getting less hygenic as the cold season makes it increasingly difficult to bathe outside. Lot's of strange things still happen. I had a kid bring me a bag with a dead rat in it a couple of weeks ago. Not sure why.
I'm still in community entry, which still means I'm not really working. I help out at the clinic on busy days, go to meetings and clinic outreaches when they have them. In Mid-August I go into Lusaka for In-Service-Training, which will be a week-long workshop that ends our community entry period.
After that, we can travel. The travel bug is killing me right now. There are so many places to go in southern Africa and I can't wait to see them. At the end of IST I'm going with a group of friends to Malawi, Zambia's eastern neighbor. The entire eastern border of Malawi is Lake Malawi, a beautiful freshwater lake with warm water and some of the best snorkeling in Africa. And it's really cheap. I'm also planning to go to Zanzibar, off the coast of Tanzania, around christmas time.
I think that's about it. love and miss all of you.

Some pics of my village and down along the Zambezi River:

I've been in my village about four weeks. This weekend I had to go to Southern Province for the twice-a-year house meeting. I'm not quite sure how to sum things up. Things definitely aren't bad. But I also can't say that I'm loving everything about life in the village. I think more than anything it's just...difficult. And I'm sure you're all saying to yourself "duh". You just moved into a village in the mountains in Southern Africa. Of course it's difficult. I know, I know. But I've realized that expecting something doesn't necessarily make it easier. I have a lot of free time, which is nice at times, I read a lot. And I have my moments I enjoy, like starting my day on my porch with real coffee looking at the mountains, or listening to the news on the Voice of America every day to stay just a little connected with home, or going with my clinic staff to a clinic outreach last week. But it's just tough to be so isolated. It's way more alone time than I've ever had, and some days it's hard. But I really like my village and the clinic staff I'm working with. They seem genuinely concerned about the well being of the people in the area and work hard to raise health standards and change behavior to lead to a healthier lifestyle. I think as I continue to live there and get to know the community these things will subside.

I'll let you make your own captions.

I'm still in the southern province, hanging out at the Provincial house in Choma. Each province, except mine, has a house where PCV's can go hang out a couple of days a month and watch movies or work on a computer or whatever. That's where we're holed up until our sites are ready. Most everyone has been posted by now and, while hot showers, refridgerators and movies are nice, I'm ready to get moving. Hopefully we'll be out of here beginning of next week. In the mean time, a couple of things:
-If any of you are feeling ambitious enough to send me mail or whatever, the address that had been on the side of this blog is no longer in service. There's a new one, but here it is again:
Derek Warren, PCV
Care of: District Health Office
P.O. Box 25
Chongwe, Zambia
If you sent stuff to the other address it'll get to me, eventually.
Also, I was talking to a friend a few weeks ago who suggested posting prayer requests, for those of you who would be interested. Seeing as how that's a great idea, here are a few off the top of my head:
That my site would be ready soon.
That I don't have a breakdown once I get there.
That I can get through the first couple of months. This is the community entry period, which means I spend my time gettting to know my community and letting them get to know me, so I'm not working on my project yet, but moving into a village in Africa where I barely know the language and don't know anyone will make for a pretty rough couple of months.
That during these months I'll be able to get a good idea of the needs in my community and I'll be able to do my job once community entry is over.
As always, for the country of Zambia and the south African region in general.
For the election mess in Zimbabwe.
That's all I can think of right now. Love you all.

And...done. As of about 1:00 pm Zambian time on Friday I am officially a Peace Corps volunteer. To say I'm happy is a gross understatement. It was hard to leave my host family, and it was tough to leave all the other trainees/volunteers, but I'm finally able to do what I came here to do. Sort of.
See, what's supposed to happen is that we swear-in and the next day everyone heads off to their provinces to shop and at the beginning of this week they take us all to our villages. Well sometimes, due to any number of reasons, the villages aren't ready when they're supposed to be. In short, I don't have a house right now. Terrible, right? Well, not quite. See since I don't have a house yet they've shipped me to the provincial house in Choma, Southern Province, with all the new volunteers who are being posted there. So we're gonna hang out there until my village is ready for me. It's not bad, but today some of the volunteers had to go meet district counterparts in Livingstone, so we've all come to Livingstone for the day. Livingstone just happens to be where Victoria Falls, one of the biggest waterfalls in the world and one of the 7 natural wonders of the world is. And today we went there. It's absolutely unbelieveable. Niagara Falls is impressive, but even that seems rather tame compared to the sheer size and power of Victoria. There's a bridge that runs across the front of it that you run across and just get completely drenched. It's incredible. I took some pictures and I'll post them at a later date, but they can't come anywhere close to doing it justice.

I've decided that I don't really like doing these posts. It's hard. you sit down at a computer for the first time in a week or two and you have a ton of crap you wanna talk about but if I really wrote all that stuff my head would explode. I'm gonna keep blogging but consider that an apology if these entries sound confusing, forced, trite, etc.
I just got back from second site visit. Last Sunday the two other health volunteers staying in Lusaka province and myself went to stay with Keli, an education volunteer working in the town of Luwimba. We spent three days there and the volunteer who will be working there, Ruben, got to meet his clinic staff and stuff like that. Thursday we went into Lusaka to try to open a bank account (didn't happen) then headed east to the town of Chimusanyu to stay with Eric, another education volunteer in Lusaka province. On Friday I got to visit Lukwipa, the village I'll be working in. It was awesome. It's in a valley in the middle of these gorgeous mountains. I met the staff of my clinic and I was very impressed. The clinic is very well organized and seems to be pretty effective at meeting the health needs of the community. My house is not built yet, but they showed me where it will be, and its in a great spot close to everything I need to be close to, like the clinic, the school, and water. I'm really excited. I've also learned the Zambian art of hitching a ride, which, while it may take a while to get a ride, is still pretty awesome. Nothing like riding through mountains in the back of a pickup truck.
We've entered the home stretch of training. Two more weeks of classes, then tests at the beginning of the next week, and swear-in in three weeks. I'm so ready to be done and get to my village. I miss you all lots and hope you all are doing well. I'm gonna end a lot of emails/posts with that, but its true.

On Thursday we got out site assignments. I am posted in the village of Lupwika, which is located in Lusaka province about 40 KM west of the Eastern province border. I'm in the middle of the Muchinga Escarpment, which is a mountain chain that's supposed to be gorgeous. I'm pretty excited. Tomorrow we leave for second site visit and during the wekk I'll actually be able to see my site. If you're wanting visual aids for any of that, I'm gonna let you go ahead and google that stuff cause your connection is faster than mine and you're probably not paying by the minute.

We are at the end of Week 3 of nine weeks of training. When we were on first site visit PCV's kept saying, "don't worry about training, just get through it, your two years are nothing like it." We all wondered how bad it could be, but we understand now. It's not that it's totally awful. It's just really long and draining days combined with the stress of living with nationals. My family, the Tembos, are awesome. My food is good, they take way better care of me than anyone should expect, but it's difficult to live with people who don't usually speak english and are from a completely different world. I'm slowly learning the language, which is Soli. I can greet people as I ride past them on my bike. I chase chickens out of my bathing shelter. I wake up at least once a night to the sound of a cowbell (and by that I mean an actual bell on a cow) or a goat. I'm definitely learning a lot and it's already obvious that my time as a PCV is going to push me and challenge me in ways I've never come close to before. All that being said, April 25 can't come soon enough.

Quick rundown of the last week and a half:
Flew out Wed at 6 from Spfld to Chicago to DC spent three days in Georgetown meeting people going to sessions and eating good dinners on the Peace Corps bill. Fri flew from DC to Johannesburg on the longest flight ever can't sleep on planes made for a long night flew from Joburg to Lusaka arrived on Sat night really tired didn't sleep very well woke up I'M IN FRICKIN AFRICA had sessions all day picked my language I'm learning Soli so I'll be in Lusaka province Monday went to get shots and stuff went into Lusaka to buy Cell phones Tuesday left for our site visit stayed in Luapula province with PCV Christina learned how to take a bucket bath and all about diarrhea (I wish I was kidding) now its friday I'm in the Luapula Province house tomorrow we move to our host familys and start training.
That's about it.

I'm out. Later. Maybe this will be updated in the near future, maybe not again? We'll see.

I indulged myself in one last grand finale concert for two years. I saw Wilco, one of my favorite bands, in Chicago on Saturday night. If any concert could hold me over for two years, this was the one. They played over 30 songs and for almost three hours. It was the third time I've seen them, and this was the best. I was gonna take pictures, but I knew if I did I'd spend too much time taking pictures and not enough enjoying the music, so I did that instead. I had a Ricobene's breaded steak sandwich for the last time for a while, and got to Springfield around 4:30 am. I crashed with Stew and went to church with him, then said goodbye and finally made it home after a 22 hour epic concert trip.
Since then I've been running around doing things I've been putting off. It's Monday night, I haven't packed yet, I leave Wednesday, but all my errand running is done, so tomorrow can be exclusively devoted to packing. Some friends of the family are coming over for dinner tomorrow night, which will be nice.
Tonight the Presbyterian Church in town had a talk given by three RPCV's and one former PC staff. It was a couple who met while serving in Azerbaijan, and a girl who served in Ukraine and the Language instructor who she married. I must confess I wondered how worth my time it would be, but I had to give it a shot, plus it was a way to put off packing a little longer. It was great. The presentation they made was a little more geared toward the culture of the two countries they served in as opposed to the Peace Corps itself, but I still learned a lot. My mom came with me, and afterwards we started talking to some people, and naturally it came out that I'm going into the PC, and we ended up talking to the parents of one of the girls who presented and well as a couple who's son in in Botswana right now. I got to talk to one of the girls who presented and it was really encouraging and great to hear what she had to say. I think it was also good for my mom to talk to people who are going through the same think she's headed into.

NIU?
Holy crap. It seems like as these types of shootings continue to happen, they seem to keep hitting closer to home for me. When I was in 8th grade or so and Columbine happened, along with a couple of others, I wasn't in High School yet, plus they were in other states and of course, that stuff always happens to other people, never to you or people you know or in places you know. But then Virginia Tech happened. All of a sudden college, a place that seemed totally secure from these kinds of things, was not bulletproof. We all realized how easy it would be for someone to come in to the lecture hall full of students, maybe us, and open fire. But still, even though it was college, it was somewhere else, with other teachers and students. But then a couple of weeks ago a guy walked into a Lane Bryant store in Tinley Park, IL and killed five people. The store is about 20 minutes away from where I grew up and about 5 minutes away from Camp Manitoqua, where I worked for two summers. And then the shooting at NIU. Everyone who graduated from a high school in Illinois knows at least five people who went to NIU or still go there. One of my lifelong friends is in grad school there right now. It's scary. I think of my friends who are still in school or in grad school and know that this could have easily happened in Foellinger at U of I instead. Please keep the NIU community in your thoughts and prayers at this time, and if you want to read a great commentary on these types of situations I strongly suggest you click on the content magazine link on the left.

Pictures of my handiwork:



You can kinda tell from looking at it that the passenger side of my car hit the passenger side of their car (that's how far I had swerved). Hitting on the corners instead of head on was probably the difference between all people involved walking away from the accident and a serious injury or worse.
Onwards. Today Dad and I are taking care of business stuff. Insurance, power of attorney, student loan deferrments, taxes, etc. Tomorrow I'm going shopping with my parents for stuff I need. I consider myself very lucky who have parents who are not only OK with me going to Africa, but are very encouraging and supportive. They spent a year in Europe when they first got married, so they kind of have the adventure bug in them. Also my brother leaves tomorrow for a mission trip in Mexico. I'm really excited for him. It's his first time out of the country, except for Canada which doesn't count.

So I had like the best weekend ever and then it all came crashing down in a matter of about 5 seconds, in a very literal way.
I flew into the airport in St. Louis, which had some delays due to weather. It was snowing, lightly but there were ice issues too. I got to my car, made my way out of St. Louis and was headed home on Route 67, which is a two lane highway that runs basically from St. Louis to Jacksonville, my hometown. I was doing fine, just ready to get home and stop traveling and sit and relax. All of a sudden, somewhere in between Jerseyville and Carrollton, I hit a patch of black ice. I totally lost control of the car, both brakes and steering. I try to get the car to stop but it doesn't. I swerve into the other lane and crash into an oncoming car head on. It was the most bizarre, surreal, terrifying, and in a way exhilarating second of my life. The airbag went off so I barely moved. It took me a minute to process what happened. The feeling afterwards was something I had never experienced before. So many questions go though a person's head: Is anyone hurt? Is anyone dead? How's the car? Oh Crap this is my fault. Is this going to jeopardize my going to Africa? Where are my glasses? Oh crap they're broken in the road somewhere. Once I got my bearings I discovered some amazing things. First of all, no one was hurt. The car I hit had a guy and a girl in it, and they were both cut a little but nothing serious. I didn't have a scratch. Even the glasses I was wearing I eventually found behind the driver's seat, unscathed. I couldn't believe it. I called Dad and he was on his way to pick me up immediately. We had to sign refusal of treatment forms, and then I waited for my parents while the firemen and policemen helped me get whatever i needed out of the car, which was then towed away and will probably be totaled. Eventually mom and dad arrived. I don't think I've ever been so glad to see them. I felt like when I was a little kid and I got lost in a store and I was so scared cause I didn't have mom or dad with me. Now I'm home, safely, probably soon to be really sore.
It feels like a bad dream. I'm almost sure I'll wake up tomorrow and this'll be gone. It never feels like something that happens to you. I have so much other stuff to do in the next week-ish and all I can feel right now is this hazy dream-like state. Part of me is even more ready to go to Africa to get away from all of this, but part of me knows I have even more stuff to see through before I leave.

Ok let's see if I can give a comprehensive but brief overview of my time in Seattle.
Wednesday: long time traveling. got to the airport to discover my luggage didn't make it. I was not happy. Met up with Chris and we went to his condo in Ballard where I've been staying. Got a call from the airline saying they had my luggage and would deliver it sometime that night. Around 3 am the luggage arrived.
Thursday: Chris had to work so I spent the morning in a coffeeshop drinking coffee and eating a cupcake. Met Chris for lunch, then wandered around the city all afternoon. Stopped by Elliott Bay Book Co, which is about the best book store in the world. Bought the 33 1/3 book of Achtung Baby cause I'm a nerd. Went to Pike Place Market, bought coffee at the original Starbucks (I had a gift card) Found Chris, had dinner, watched the Illini lose and break my heart for about the 5000th time, then went to see U23D, which was fantastic. All the money and time spent on developing 3d movies is finally worth it.
Friday: Chris took the day off, so we were gonna go to the mountains, but they were all getting snow so we couldn't drive there. We went to a waterfall (can't remember the name), then came back to Ballard, ate at Smokin Pete's BBQ (really good), then went to the theater in Ballard to see Juno. I had seen it (and am a big fan) but Chris had not. After that we went to Conor Byrne's for bluegrass night, which ended up being very enjoyable.
Saturday: Woke up late, watched some college basketball and hockey (Chris is a fan) then went to Easy Street Records for an in-store performance by Kimya Dawson, better known as the singer in the Moldy Peaches, the group responsible for most of the Juno soundtrack. It's a really cool record store with a great history of in-store shows (Pearl Jam recently did one there). Kimya was pretty cool. She played basically a full set. It was wierd though cause there were families and little kids there who were expecting the Juno soundtrack and she sang a lot of stuff that wasn't family appropriate. After that we went and picked up Chris's fiancee Melissa and went to Assimba ethiopian restaurant to meet up with Kerry, Ryan and Rachel who I'm going to Africa with, and afterwards hung out at the Red Door in Freemont. It was a great night. We all had a lot of fun getting to know each other. I think we we're all anxious to talk to each other cause we've known each other through facebook for so long but hadn't met face to face. We had a lot of good conversation about the next two years and it was really encouraging in a lot of ways.
Sunday: Chris and I went to the Ballard Sunday market. It's a small market with a strong focus on organic food. There was a lot of good stuff that I couldn't afford but we sampled. After that my friend Luke who is doing grad school in Bellingham came into town. We went to the original REI downtown which is massive. I bought a couple of water bottles on clearance. From there we headed to the Ballard campus of the Mars Hill Seattle Church for their 4:30 service. It was really good. Mark Driscoll is an excellent preacher. Then we went to dinner at Market Street grill where I had an excellent ribeye. We came back to Chris's and watched the DVD of the new Sigur Ros documentary Heima, which is absolutely beautiful.
Tomorrow morning I fly out. This has been such a good week. It's been a nice change of pace from working and from the last 5 months where I barely left Central Illinois. I definitely feel like I didn't waste time. I saw a lot and got to see a lot of people as well. It's been really good to hang out with Chris and to get to know his fiancee a little better since I'll miss their wedding in Sept. But now I have to go home cause I have work to do.

I am currently too tired to give a good post about Seattle. I'll do that later. For now I'll just say this city is way sweet, U23D was awesome, and I met Kerry, Ryan and Rachel that I'm going to Africa with, and they are way cool and we had a lot of fun.

Super Sunday is over. I will never doubt Eli Manning ever again.
Onto Super Tuesday. It should be interesting to say the least. This could be the first time in a long time that, at least on the Democratic side, we don't know who the nominee is until its announced at the convention. I'm hoping for Obama. It's strange. There's not a whole lot of difference between what Hillary and Obama stand for, but there's just something about Hillary. I don't trust her. She's always reminded me of the mom from Manchurian Candidate. You get the feeling that she's had some diabolical scheme plotted for years and that the White House is her last step towards world domination. I'm sure that's not the case, but it creeps me out nonetheless. As for the Republicans, well, I'm done. Huckabee was the only candidate who seemed to show any hope that the Republican Party could change, and he's out of the race. It's between two guys who are bent on carrying on Bush's legacy, no cutting and running, don't embolden the terrorists, tax cuts for the rich, etc. The Republicans have always claimed to be the moral party, and for a while I believed them. But when you run on the platform of moral issues, you have to take into consideration things like an unjust war, or a fair government budget and taxation, or taking care of our environment, not just abortion or gay marriage. And then when the Republican Party wants Bill Clinton's head on a platter because he had an affair and lied about it (which I don't condone), but then we find out a couple of weeks ago that the Bush administration issued over 900 false statements about the Iraq situation leading up to the war, or that last year Newt Gingrich admitted that, while he was calling for Bill Clinton's impeachment he himself was having an extra-marital affair, well they've lost me. Meanwhile the rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and 15 percent of Americans don't have health insurance. So if you're voting tomorrow please do your research and make sure that you vote for candidates who will make good, moral decisions and do what's right for the people of this country, not just the candidates who call America the greatest country in the world and seem like "people who would be fun to hang out with".

I love Super Bowl Sunday. Most people would tell you that it has gotten way out of control, that the pregames are too long, that we hear way too much about the game for the two weeks leading up to it, the game itself is way too long and nobody cares about it. While I agree that we don't need a two week gap between conference championships and the big game, come Sunday I can't get enough. I want it all. I wanna watch all ten hours of pre-game. I wanna know every story about every player on every team. The third string corner back who started an inner city sports camp for children. The halfback who's cousin is the opposing team's strong safety. The defensive lineman who overcame all sorts of obstacles growing up to play pro football and is now patching up his relationship up with his estranged dad. I wanna hear every NFL analyst in America break down every possible aspect of this game at least twice. I wanna watch every minute of the game. I wanna watch all the commercials. I wanna watch the halftime show (Tom Petty should be good, certainly can't be worse than any of the crapfests MTV used to put together). And I wanna watch the four hours of postgame coverage when it's over. This will be the last game of football I get to see for a few years (though hopefully my sweet new shortwave radio will bring me a few broadcasts of important football games while I'm gone) and I wanna enjoy it as much as I can, and hopefully it's a good game, or a Pats blowout.

My last day of work was yesterday. It was actually really good. A lot of well wishers and people asking questions. I can't say I really liked my job there, but I did work with a lot of people I liked, and I'll miss them. I hope that from now on when they hear the phrase Peace Corps they'll have a face to put with it and maybe a bit more understanding of what it's all about. That being said, I'm really glad to be done. Now it's time to see friends one last time, go to Seattle, see Wilco and try and get ready for everything. I just ordered a pair of Chacos, which are great sandals. I already have a pair, but they give a 50 percent discount to PCV's so I couldn't resist.

A guy I'm going to Zambia with posted this link from the NY Times. Basically it's about how new drugs and mosquito nets are making a significant difference in the fight against malaria. While this all should have happened a long time ago (seriously why didn't we decide to start passing out nets in earnest 15 years ago?) it's nice to see that for once something is actually going right. Malaria is a huge problem in Zambia which is really sad considering its pretty preventable and very treatable, but many people in third world countries still die from it. If, as this article says, the burden of Malaria can be reduced 80 to 85 percent in the next 5 years in Africa, that would be one less battle Africans have to fight. As someone who is about to spend two years in Africa working to, in some way, improve the quality of life there this is a big encouragement.

Hmm... should I watch the state of the union? no. Not a chance. I know it will only make me furious. I just can't imagine that anything George W. Bush says tonight will do anything to vindicate anything he's done for me, or give me any confidence that his last year will be an improvement over the last 7. I think I'll watch Kill Bill 2 instead and then watch the Daily Show tomorrow so that I get a witty and satiric recap of the important stuff I missed.

I've been thinking about the things I'll miss when I'm gone. Things besides the obvious family/friends stuff. Of course I'll miss my parents and such. I'm talking more about happenings. Really, all the events I'm sad I'll miss right now boil down to two categories:

Weddings: I'm at that age where a lot of my friends are getting engaged and married. I already am aware of a couple of weddings I'll miss, including one I just found out about today concerning my good friends Stew and Jenna (congrats guys!). I enjoy weddings. You get to see a lot of people you don't see very often. The mood is always happy (if it's not, the wedding probably is a really, really bad idea), and then you gorge yourself on catered food. Except the dancing. I don't do that. The point is I'm sad I'll miss these.

Concerts: Those who know me pretty well know that there's not much I enjoy more than live music. You wait on Ticketmaster hitting refresh for like 10 minutes and then the tickets go on sale and you click like you've never clicked a mouse before cause you want the best seats and then you get them and you're all excited and you wait four months and all you and your friends can talk about is how excited you are for that show and then the day comes and you drive there and you don't listen to the band you're seeing cause that's bad luck and then you get to the venue and you wait in line and you all crowd into this tiny space and the opening band plays and they were pretty good but not great and then you wait for like 45 minutes more and then the lights go out and everyone goes nuts and the next two hours are awesome and the band sounds really good and I hope they play this song holy crap I never thought I'd hear that what will the encore be no way they haven't played that song in years wow that show was amazing I can't wait for the next one.
Seriously, concerts are awesome. While I look forward to being exposed to new kinds of music while I'm in Africa, there are two particularly awesome tours about to happen this summer that I will miss. The first being Radiohead, the top band on my list of bands to see that I haven't seen yet. The second being R.E.M., my second or third favorite band playing with The National, my fourth favorite band and Modest Mouse, a favorite, though unnumbered. While I have seen all those bands separately, that's like the best triple bill ever. And of course, the upcoming new U2 album this year will mean a monster world tour next year that I'll miss, unless they hit Cape Town or something like that. Luckily I saw them thrice on the Vertigo Tour.

I should be asleep right now because I have to be up at 4:30 tomorrow for work. But I can't. I think there's too many things running through my mind right now, like:
-Only one week of work left. Thank God.
-NPR's All Songs Considered Live Concert series is the best thing on radio, ever. Specifically the Jose Gonzalez set I just finished and the New Pornographers set I'm enjoying right now.
-I have to go see There Will Be Blood as soon as possible, most likely Monday.
-The Simpsons Movie was still great the second time.
-Can't wait for Seattle, seeing friends, meeting PCV's and eating Ethiopian food, U23D, and whatever else happens.
-"All My Friends" by LCD Soundsystem may be a perfect song. There aren't many of those.
-oh and that Africa stuff. I still have a lot of stuff to do.
Obviously these are all very important things more important than working 12 hours tomorrow on more than 4 hours of sleep.

Is it wrong that my first thought when I heard that Heath Ledger died was how that would affect the release of The Dark Knight? Sad story. A two year old daughter now without a father. A guy who by our standards had everything, but if the circumstances are any indication of why he died, it sure looks like his success couldn't give him happiness.
I got my staging kit yesterday. My parents were all giddy and all excited for me to open it. On Feb. 20th I fly out of Springfield at 6 am, into Chicago, then leave Chicago at 8 and get to D.C. at 11. I stay in D.C. for a couple of days of intense orientation and getting to know my fellow PCV's, then on Friday I board a plane for a 15 hour flight to Johannesburg, then fly from there to Lusaka. I'm excited that my passport will have a South Africa stamp, though hopefully I'll see more of South Africa than the Jo'burg airport over the next couple of years.

I was all excited for what would have undoubtedly been the biggest Super Bowl matchup ever, Patriots vs. Packers, Brady vs. Favre, the perfect team versus the most lovable comeback quarterback of them all. There would have been so many great story lines in that game, it would have been the highest rated sporting event of all time, it would have been awesome.
But no.
Stupid Eli Manning. The Giants are, to me anyway, one of the most unlikeable teams in the NFL. This is probably because they are a New York team and everyone outside of New York gets tired of hearing about them all season long whether or not they're doing anything newsworthy, just like the Yankees, Knicks, Duke basketball (not from New York, I know, but I still hate them)etc. I've disliked Eli Manning ever since he decided he was too good to play for San Diego if they drafted him. He's not. And actually that ended up benefitting the Chargers more than anyone else. And now, on top of everything else, they ruin the best Super Bowl game ever, or at least since Pats-Rams in '02. I hope the Pats score 100 points and that Tedi Bruschi eats Eli Manning's left arm.

ForecastFox says it's currently 12 degrees in Jacksonville, which means we're probably not going to hit the forecasted high, a scorching 19. Days like these make me really glad I'm going to Zambia and not, say, Eastern Europe.

I love McSweeney's.

I feel slightly bi-polar as of late. It changes almost daily. I'll have days where all I can think about is how excited I am to go to Zambia and live in a hut and meet new people and work with Africans and I'm in a good mood all day. Today wasn't one of those days. Maybe it was just cause I didn't sleep much last night and had to work 12 hours today and I hate my job (Jan 31st...), but all I could think about today was how hard training is going to be and we have to learn a new language and I studied Econ in college why am I working in Health development and what if the other trainees don't like me and I'm gonna miss the new U2 and REM albums and Radiohead is touring I've never seen them and I don't like spiders what if I see big spiders there and will I pack the right stuff oh crap I haven't started packing yet everyone else is packed and I haven't even started shopping what am I doing I should get a new iPod before I go no that's stupid thats a lot of money to spend on something you don't need and on and on and on...
Deep Breath...
This whole thing is starting to get very real. We leave 5 weeks from today. I am terrified, totally unprepared as of now, but I'm still excited. Hopefully I'll wake up tomorrow with a better night's sleep, read this and realize this was mostly just crazy talk. The next post will be after a full night's sleep.

I watched L'Auberge Espagnole for the first time last night. I don't think I've watched a movie so chillingly applicable to my current life since Kicking and Screaming (not the Will Ferrell soccer movie, the Noah Baumbach movie from the mid 90's. it's like Reality Bites, except it doesn't suck). I mean, I don't want to be that girl who's really drunk at the party and thinks that every song that comes on is about her, but come on, the main guy is even an econ major. It's a great flick about being in your twenties and not really knowing what you want to do with your life, the experiences you have along the way and the people you meet and how they come to be a part of who you are. I thought about my semester in Australia, people I met in a hostel and talked to for a couple of hours and will never see again, the people I lived with there, and the two years of new people and new places and new things coming up that will become a part of me. I felt all sappy and sentimental and I really enjoyed it.

I just watched Apocalypse Now for the first time. What a great movie. I've tried to read Heart of Darkness twice in the past, both times for school, and I didn't finish it either time cause I thought it sucked. But after watching this movie I wanna try it again, and this time I may actually get it. There's just something about the dark and depraved themes of this story that didn't come across to me while I was reading the book, but when seeing Col. Kurtz in the movie it was like being hit by a sack of bricks. Plus I figure if I'm going to Africa for two years I should read what's generally considered the landmark English-Language book about my future home.

I'm getting really excited for Seattle. On Sat. night while I'm there I'm meeting up with three other people I'm going to Africa with, and we're going to an Ethiopian restaurant. Should be fun.

I caught this pod on Current TV today. It's about a soldier who was one of the first to go into Iraq, and for the last few years he's been battling Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. It's a pretty chilling reminder that, no how matter you feel about the war, it can't be denied that war is an awful thing that has the power to destroy countless people, no matter what side they are fighting on. It's a scary thought that this guy who is 25 already has this baggage that he'll carry around for the rest of his life. I think what scares me most about this is the idea that maybe this is all happening in an unjust war fought under false pretenses. Please understand I don't mean to cheapen in any way what the troops are doing and going through. I've never fought in battle and I certainly don't pretend to understand what it's like, but wouldn't it be awful if all of this was happening because our government lied to us? For a president that talks an awful lot about supporting the troops, sending them off to fight an unjust war based on lies sure doesn't sound like support.

My brother left to go back to school yesterday, which probably was the last time I'll see him before I leave. Our highly emotional goodbye went something like this:
"Ok I'm going to bed."
"Cool. See you at my college graduation."
"OK don't get married before I come home."
"OK"

Only 13 work days and 23 actual days until my last day of work. Not that I'm counting or anything. Most of the people at work who know me know what my plans are by now, which makes for some awkward conversation. Reminds me of when I was going to Australia, the several conversations that went something like this:
"So, Tanzania, huh? Gonna go to Africa, climb Kilimanjaro?"
(Swing! and a miss)
"Actually it's Tasmania, the island south of Australia."
"Oh"
(Uncomfortable pause)
At that point they'd say something about Tasmanian Devils or how toilets spin the other way down there when you flush them, and I'd change the subject. Some people I work with are actually interested and have asked some good questions. One lady I worked with mentioned that she had seen on the news what's going on in Kenya. It would be nice to know that me going to Africa made someone a little more conscious of what's going on in the world, outside of Illinois and America.

There was an article in the Chicago Tribune yesterday about a current PCV in Kenya who came home for the holidays and is heading back to Nairobi in the middle of the riots that have been going on as a result of the recent election. Scary stuff. At the time of the article she said the PC hadn't told her not to come back, but it's hard to imagine that if the riots continue they'll allow her to go back, and I have to believe that any PCV's who were supposed to go to Kenya over the next couple months will be delayed. Makes me glad that's not where I'm headed. I suppose it comes with being part of the western world, but I'm continually baffled by stories like this, and by how often they happen. No American goes to bed at night wondering if , when they wake up tomorrow, there will be a totally different government in place, or if after an election the losing party will go on a killing spree. Here's a good article on the situation, link courtesy of my new favorite website, current.com. I discovered it this week as a result of Current TV's Radiohead "In Rainbows" broadcast. Up until last week I was not aware we even had such a channel. Gotta love Dish Network.
On a lighter note, New Year's Day football had its good and bad. Michigan won their bowl game for the first time in five years, sending Lloyd Carr out with a win. It would have been nice if they'd have played like that against Appalachian St. though. Anyway the new coach starts today, which means they'll probably win at least one national championship while I'm in Africa. As to my beloved alma mater, well, they had a good run. It just came to an abrupt end against USC. They were boys playing men. But the future of Illinois football looks bright for the first time in a while. Now if only Ohio State can lost the Nat'l Championship game...