Josh 1 Yellow Fever 0

As many I know are anxiously awaiting my itinerary, I do have an update on my travel plans.  Since I have now mailed, emailed, telegraphed, and courier-pigeioned most of the dissertation of forms required for Peace Corps service, they were nice enough to let me know when I will be leaving.  Come July 6, I will be in the luxurious Holiday Inn Georgetown in Washington, D.C. for a one-day orientation which I'm pretty sure will mostly consist of telling us to not do any of a number of stupid things which might lead to permanent dismemberment or death (Note to Mom: I am already aware that hitchhiking in South Africa is a bad idea).  Bright and early on July 7, me and my fellow volunteers will be whisked away on a shuttle to a clinic where we will be stuck with an untold number of needles to properly vaccinate us, at which point we will proceed to Washington Reagan Airport, sore arms and all, for our departures.  My flight leaves at 4:00 pm for Johannesburg for all those wanting to bring flowers and gifts.  Beyond that I am unsure, aside from the fact that somehow I am supposed to get to an as of yet unamed village in either the Mpumalanga or KwaZulu Natal province.

Unfortunately, as I am not yet in South Africa, the only other tidbits and oddities of life that I have to offer right now are those of my beloved homeland, the good old US of A.  As mentioned above, I will be receiving what I am guessing will be a number of vaccinations required before heading out to South Africa.  However, this past week I received an email from the Peace Corps labeled "Urgent".  Expecting another onslaught of forms, I begrudgingly opened it to find that apparently South Africa requires you to have proof of a vaccination for yellow fever at least 10 days prior to you entering the country.  At first, I had a WTF moment as it seemed like surely this was something the lovely folks in DC should have known about and informed me of umm, I don't know, earlier than 3 weeks prior to departure.  Upon further research though, the requirement was only recently implemented, so government and bureaucracy jokes will have to be saved for later.  As in later in this post.

With the knowledge that I needed to get myself some yellow fever protection ASAP or risk having an uncomfortable conversation with immigration in Africa, I duly called up my local healthcare providers.  Wouldn't you know, most Americans are not overly concerned about the disease, so it is not widely available and certainly not in Huntsville, Texas.  Thus, I duly got on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website to find the nearest available Yellow Fever shot, which our wonderful government health agency listed as a RediClinic in an HEB in Conroe.  I called up the number of the RediClinic only for there to be no answer.  After several tries, I finally called the number of the HEB itself to find that the RediClinic had in fact shut down and the CDC just hadn't bothered to update the website.  Government and buraucracy jokes may now commence.

I soldiered on to call the next CDC number, a doctor's office also in Conroe, only to be informed that yes, they do carry that vaccine sometimes, but no, it's not in stock right now, and no, they don't have any idea when they're going to get in a new shipment.  Awesome.  CDC number 3 replied happily that yes, the vaccine was indeed in stock, but the doc was on vacation, and they wouldn't be able to see me until sometime the following week.  At such time, they would charge me $120 for the vaccine plus a mandatory $50 to see the doc because apparently nurses able to give shots don't exist in Conroe.  I said thanks, but no thanks and went on to CDC number 4, a clinic just north of The Woodlands (would that be north The Woodlands or The north Woodlands?).  They also had yellow fever vaccines and also charged $120 but magically had also managed to locate nurses capable of administering the thing for which there was no extra fee.  I got the vaccine the next day along with a very cool World Health Organization documentation card.

Thus, the yellow fever odyssey ended as all true American Dream stories should, with success as the result of hard work and determination.  So take that South African immigration.

Peace Corps: Saving the world while destroying the world's forests

Ok, so perhaps the above title is a bit harsh, but I think I would be alright if I never had to complete another piece of paperwork.  Apparently, the Peace Corps and South Africa do not simply allow you to waltz into DC and Johannesburg because you have a charming demeanor and a smiling face.  No, no.  They put you through a cruel boot camp of forms and applications to separate the strong from the weak.  I'm convinced that filling out all the various papers is as much of a psychological test to see if you can maintain your sanity as it is ensuring that you are not a criminal and that they have a record of your service.

Perhaps the readers would appreciate a little background.  Now that I have been accepted into the Peace Corps and confirmed my assignment to South Africa, there are a myriad of new tasks to be completed prior to my departure.  An updated resume relating to my educational assignment had to be composed in a specified format and an "aspiration statement" had to be typed outlining my goals for my service and what my plan was for accomplishing them.  Both of these were emailed to the people in South Africa to give them some initial impressions of who this tall, gangly white guy is that is about to descend upon their country.

Once that was completed, I had to move on to securing my passport and visa.  Even though I already have a valid US passport, apparently because I am now working for the government, I have to get a different, special passport for use during my service.  In order to do this, I had to figure out which form to fill out based on a number of criteria, complete it online, and then print it out with its special processing bar code.  I then had to fill out a special Peace Corps passport form that says I don't have to pay any fees for the issuance of this new passport.  To top it all off, I have to send in my existing passport as well.  Seems sketchy, I know, but I suppose you do as you're told when you work for the Man.

As for the visa, my Peace Corps packet I received in the mail did not contain the forms for South Africa because when they sent me my documents, someone in DC had apparently not had their coffee that day, and accidentally packed a bunch of stuff relating to Cambodia.  So I had to get an email from Peace Corps with the necessary South African documents included as attachments.  The multiple page visa application was duly printed off and filled out (No, South Africa, I have never been judicially declared incompetent).  I, then had to make a journey to my local Walgreens to get 4 new photos taken for the passport and visa applications (On a random note, can anyone explain to me why in the age of digital cameras, they still tell you to come and pick them up in 30 minutes?)


Once all the necessary materials had been gathered, I killed a few more trees making copies of all the documents to be sent off and then spent probably 30 minutes going over the instructions for everything to ensure that I did not commit any one of the 5,000 mistakes they warn you not to make.  Decently satisfied with my ability to follow directions, I set about to do the actual mailing.  The Peace Corps included a UPS envelope and airbill in their packet which I was supposed to use to send all of my documents to Washington.  One problem: I have never sent anything with UPS or FedEx before and had absolutely no idea how to do it.


To solve the problem, I drove over to a local shipping business, with said trip not at all influenced by the fact that an attractive young blonde works there.  Upon arrival, I expressed my ignorance to said blonde, who was more than happy to show me how to fill out the airbill.  I'd like to think that my casual mention that it was for the Peace Corps, which I was joining, impressed her so much that she divulged to me that I could drop the package off at Office Depot for free and not have to pay their business's $1 drop off charge.  Am I good or what?

With all of that completed, I drove home, satisfied at a hard day's work, hoping that everything had been completed correctly, trusting that my passport and visa would be processed in time, and praying that I was done filling out forms.  I then arrived home, only to be confronted by, what else?, forms relating to my insurance and finances while abroad.  Sorry trees, I guess it can't be helped.

The countdown begins

I just returned from a vacation in Galveston with my family and will now begin my preparations for South Africa in earnest.  Expect to see more regular posts in the coming weeks, which will hopefully continue once I am in Africa, depending on my internet access.  I have already begun reading “Long Walk to Freedom”, Nelson Mandela’s autobiography, and plan to read several more titles relating to South Africa to give myself some background on what will be my home for the next two years.  My aunt here in Huntsville has given me “The Covenant” by James Michener and a lady in a Galveston bookshop recommended “Cry, the Beloved Country” as well.  If anyone has any other recommendations, by all means, share them. 

 

The purpose of this blog is to relate my experiences during this next two years, assuring my mother that I am still alive and well, while perhaps also allowing others to live vicariously through my words.  I do not mean for my posts to be a mere personal diary of thoughts and emotions.  However, as I begin this whole process, I cannot help but express the sentiment of how much I feel there is to be experienced in this world and accomplished in this life.  Such sentiment is one of the main reasons why I quit my corporate job to pursue an assignment that offers nothing in salary but hopefully everything in experiences.   

Every day I read or hear of someone who is traveling across Scandinavia after having spent a year in Spain, or hitchhiking across the Australian outback, or climbing Mount Kilimanjaro.  I cannot come across these stories without the feeling that I too should and must experience these things.  I am continually reminded of how much I want to do and how much of it I have not done.  There is so much I want to accomplish and yet so little time, and despite my best efforts so far, I am constantly haunted by the feeling that I am missing out on all that life can be.  The thought that scares me the most and that sits in the back of my mind most days is that I will get to the end of my time here on Earth and feel that I did not live my life to the fullest, that I left something on the table and did not squeeze every drop out of existence that there is to be taken. 

 

Such emotion was further triggered as I browsed the aforementioned bookshop in Galveston today.  Bookshops are one of the places I feel most at home.  Even when I have no intention of buying anything, I absolutely love browsing through the shelves, looking at the various titles and subjects, and feeling the sheer possibility of the knowledge and literature there is to be consumed.  Yet at the same time amidst this possibility, there resides an anxiety that there is so much to be read and simply not enough time in which to read it.

In short, whether it be in travel, reading, or really life, in general, I want to do it all.  Existence is defined by the wonder of knowing there is always another adventure, but dampened by the understanding that our time is finite and we can only do so much.  My wish is that my life simply be one in which I did the best that I could, doing as much as I could, learning as much as I could, and appreciating and loving it as much as I could.  May my time in South Africa be a step towards the fulfillment of this wish.