Welcome to my blog. I wish I could guarantee that I'll be posting regularly when I'm abroad, but my internet access will be sparse at best. I leave on September 9 for LA, where I undergo "Orientation Training" for 2 days. Then off to Kolonia, Pohnpei in Micronesia where I will stay for 2 months for my project training. If all goes well, I will be sworn in as a Peace Corps Volunteer in November.
As of today, my "job description" is deceptively straightforward: English teacher. In Peace Corps-speak, that can mean "Teacher of Math" or "Teacher of English-teachers" or "Teacher of the English Language to 4987 Different Audiences". It should come as no surprise that Micronesians need help learning this language...
I'll also be a Community Development Worker. This is about as vague a title as any in the Peace Corps, but for good reason. CDWs help individual villages and communities initiate and complete their own "beneficial" projects, which vary with the needs and wants of individual villages. I use "beneficence" merely to say that the projects are community-inspired and community-driven, and thus, when completed, should (hopefully) accomplish a means to some end that, otherwise, wouldn't be. Like I said, vague.
There is no "universal" language in Micronesia, even though the language of government is, in fact, English. One reason that PCVs are being recruited to teach English is the need of the country to have citizens who can interact in this "increasingly globalized order." (Editor's Note: Throughout this post, phrases in quotation marks are those which make the author physically ill to write or say alone.)
I'm going to get back to shopping and packing some things. Leave comments if you have questions, and I can do another post in a few days answering them. I have changed the settings so anyone can post comments - you need not be a member of this blog.
Peace,
Alex
