One week and counting...

While my official term of service doesn't begin until July 10, I begin my orientation one week from today, where the Peace Corps office will administer our last round of shots, tell us a bit more about where we're going and what to expect, and do a final check to make sure they haven't accidentally recruited any bona fide crazies. In the meantime, I've been doing a lot in the way of preparing for my journey, carrying out such arduous tasks as visiting friends, lounging around the house, and buying all the fun new toys I get to take with me, like mosquito tents, headlamps, luggage with pockets in places that scream "part-time smuggler," and most excitingly, a digital camera. I've always been apprehensive about digital cameras, because it always seemed a bit like cheating for me, along the same lines as web-based dictionaries and Yellow Pages, online shopping, or anti-lock brakes. Don't we as civilized humans lose something when we allow our machines to do every simple thing for us? The answer is "yes, of course," but that doesn't mean my digital camera isn't cool enough to sell my soul for. This is probably old-hat to most of you digital camera vets, but for me, it's thrilling that my camera has settings that manually or automatically control light, focus, aperture, and every other option for every conceivable photo-taking situation: "kids&pets," fireworks, indoors, outdoors, mountains, parties, beaches, aquariums, and on and on. Not only that, but it has features like redeye elimination, image stabilization, and my favorite, a little targeting reticle that can find all the faces in the picture and focus on them. That last feature even worked on a C3P0 mask I was taking a picture of, which means the function either works very well or just gets easily confused.
Fun new toys aside, my other task, traveling and vacationing, has also been a blast so far. I kicked off my grand tour with a trip to Indianapolis, partly to see an old Binghamton friend, but more importantly, to see the Indy 500 Hall of Fame! (Just kidding Mal, haha! Please don't hurt me.) There, we had all sorts of adventures like doing embarrassingly poorly at bowling, seeing the Indy 500 HoF and track, and hanging out at the zoo (the best part of which was watching a walrus playing peekaboo with a little girl from the other side of his glass tank while evidentally either having much too much fun looking at her, or simply missing the presence of a female of his own species...and all of the adults in the audience were snickering when they realized the walrus could use his hands and feet at the same time to physically relieve his "loneliness," while the little girl playing with him remained blissfully unaware).
The next week was a trip with some other Bing buddies to Margate, New Jersey, where a grand time was had by all with the beach, boardwalk, and barbecue. Losing $45 at blackjack was less exciting, but one Atlantic City-priced martini later, I didn't mind quite as much. A day after returning home, I went for a vacation of boating, biking and hiking with my dad, where not even the constant threat of cataclysmic monsoons could stifle our fun. Heavy rain for nearly half of a 25 mile bike ride on a muddy trail? Feh! Nothing can stop us from having a good father-son bonding time!...especially when we already paid the deposit on the bicycle rentals.
The final leg of my travels began last Sunday when I drove up to Boston to cram 6 of some of my favorite people into 6 days of visiting. Part one of the trip included staying with my sister Aviva and munching on fresh strawberries from the urban gardens she runs, then going out to a bar with her and her housemates and trying to remember all the rules of playing rummy, and eventually just making a few up. Next visit was some newly engaged friends of mine, one of whom was a Boston native who lives in Israel but came home for a visit so that he could propose to his girlfriend in person, presumably because doing so over Facebook with a photo of the ring would have been in poor taste. Together, we took a Duck Tour of Boston, visited Mother Goose's grave and argued over whether Ben Franklin was a Bostonian or a Philly Boy at heart. Next on the visit-list and joining me on my pilgrimage to the Samuel Adams brewery was a close friend and radio co-host who patiently waited as my underage sidekick while I sampled the beer, some of which is still unavailable to the general public outside the brewery.  The day grew even more exciting as we shared a happy romp around downtown Boston, accompanied by a 3 1/2 foot tall inflated Sam Adams bottle bought at the brewery.  This being Boston, people were thrilled to see our blatant display of civic pride in the form of novelty beer bottles, and cheered, joked or just stared at us everywhere we went, including one 5-year-old boy who told me he liked my "balloon."

The last leg of my journey took me south to see more friends, one of whom was babysitting the cutest baby imaginable who, when we would ring a doorbell near him, would look at me with a giant smile as if to say "See?? Isn't that the greatest thing ever?!"  I ended the trip seeing another Bingham-friend and fencing partner, who took me mini golfing and gave me a toy vibrating lion to take to Africa, where I can stand on tall rocks and sing "The Lion King" theme song.  To end my travels, I drove yesterday to a fantastic wedding of more Binghamton people, which was also a good chance to see everyone who I hadn't had a chance to say goodbye to.

This brings me to the present, and the end of another blog entry which is a lot longer than I thought it would be.  I guess for the future, I'll work on being more concise, but frankly, you can read as much or little of this as you want, or space it out over time, and things like this always tend to be a bit self-indulgent anyway, so why shouldn't I write this however I want?  In any event, I'll try to update once more before I start orientation, but this week is mostly just packing and cleaning, so we'll see what happens.  See you next time,

~Jake

P.S. Here are some links to the photos of what I've been doing these last few weeks, and they're visible even if you're not on facebook:

www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2131849&l=685d6&id=8107797

www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2131907&l=53cc8&id=8107797

First Post!!

So here it is.  What you’ve all been waiting for, wrapped up into one neatly packaged website - the entire story, from beginning to now.  This is my new weblog on how I joined the Peace Corps and everything that has happened since.  This first entry is just a backlog of events that have gotten me up to the present, covering about a year of history, so it is a good deal longer than most of my future entries will be.  This is just for those of you who have no idea what I’ve been up to for the last year.  Also, keep in mind that once I get abroad, updates will be fewer and further between.  For now though, this little blog site should answer all your pressing questions, including “What are you doing?” and “Really? Are you insane?”  Hopefully, I can answer the first question fairly well, and the answer to the second will be determined with time.  For now though, just sit back, get yourself a nice little cocktail, plug in your favorite West African pop record and enjoy the beginning of the serialization of the Mali-bound life of Jacob “The Jakeman” Morris Asher

It was coming, as it did every year, like a tremendous tidal wave, starting small in the distance, but growing ever closer and ever larger, until it would inevitably reach the shore and swallow me up, pulling me into its maw and dragging me down into the bowels of the beast called “Responsibility.”  Yes, summer was approaching, and with it, the need to find myself a job.  I told myself, “Jake, this summer, you’re not gunna screw around.  You’re gunna find yourself a nice respectable position that you would be proud to show any future employer so that you can show off just what a jaw-droppingly fine candidate you intend to be for whatever it is you’re trying to con them into thinking you can do.”  Of course, I didn’t even know where to start looking.  My previous summer occupations had included among them such illustrious positions as summer camp counselor, door-to-door canvasser, and even a janitor on a couple of occasions.  This summer, however, was going to matter.

As I delved deep into the information portal of the Internet, I began to find a few intriguing options.  I was looking for something that was meaningful, and related to the type of human-service and aid careers I would later want to pursue following graduation.  There were a lot of non-profit jobs and internships that I could apply for, and this summer was the first time I was getting a nice, early start on the job hunting, so I would be well-positioned to tear the competitive job market a new one.

As I began to look into it, there was one prospect that seemed a step more appealing than all the rest.  I knew the Peace Corps was going to be coming to Binghamton’s campus for the job fair and to hold information sessions, and from a cursory look at the website, I was beginning to grow excited.  Here was a job, paid for and organized by the U.S. government, that would allow me to travel outside of the country, doing some important work, and it would lead to one hell of a summer for me.  That all sounded fantastic until I actually looked a bit harder at the website.  The Peace Corps does not do summer.  They don’t do school vacations at all.  It’s also virtually useless to apply without having a college degree already.  And the real kicker?  It was a two-year commitment.  Well, so much for an exciting summer plan.

But wait!  I’ll have a degree by halfway through 2008.  And this whole crazy idea of going to work in another country, with everything I need provided by Uncle Sam, might just be worth looking into.  I did some investigating, looking into the logistics of the program and over the next few months, found out everything else I needed to know.

Finally, the phone call: “Hey Mom…I’m good…So guess what?  I’ve decided I’m going to apply to the Peace Corps after I graduate…I don’t know why yet, it just seems like a good idea…I’ll justify it later…Why should I be careful when I tell Dad?…Well does his friend still have the parasite?…Oh, I see.  Well I’m pretty sure I want to do it anyway…”  I had barely begun to think about the idea and I was already getting dire warnings of “I had a friend who was a Peace Corps Volunteer.  He still hasn’t recovered.”  But in my typical fashion of not worrying about consequences of my stupid actions until they’re already upon me, I went online and applied.

 

Getting really fun and crazy ideas in your head is one thing.  Going through with them is another.  And justifying your willingness to go through with them to yourself, and to those who determine whether to accept you or not, is quite another thing altogether.  And spending a week filling out an endless online application form is, for lack of a better term, a royal bloody pain in the keester.  But there I was, at the start of the application, and I had to figure out how to explain in the most convincing way possible why I really wanted to dedicate two years of my life to a foreign country at the severe risk of life, limb and sanity.

After much thinking, brainstorming, and practicing on anyone who asked me about it, here is the formal list of reasons why I decided to apply to the Peace Corps:

*I need to get out of this place.  My whole life has been surrounded by rich, white, suburban Jews.  Granted, Binghamton gave me a healthy dose of diversity, but only just enough to realize that when it comes down to the basics, Americans tend to be essentially the same.  Especially New Yorkers.  Yeah yeah, take as much offense as you want and cry about how we’re all precious and unique, but aside from a few differences in wealth, personality, and interest, the people I’ve known in my life have mostly fit into the same cultural molds and niches, and everything starts to blend together after a while.  In short, I need to escape America and find something truly exotic.

*I need to do something useful.  Sure, I’ve made friends, given charity, volunteered, and brightened the lives of just about everyone I come in contact with through my lovable charm, wit and of course, humility.  But here I am, living in one of the wealthiest nations on Earth, in one of its more affluent societies, with a relatively good education, and what am I doing with my privilege? Nothing.  I’ve been squandering all the gifts I’ve been given, and while anyone with a free Sunday can do some community service, not everyone really does, and certainly not on as massive a scale as I’m interested in.  Going to one of the poorest countries in the world sounds like just what I’m interested in.

*Let’s be honest: it’s one hell of a cool vacation and a lot more interesting than some study abroad program in a school that’s full of Americans anyway.

*I don’t really know quite what I want to do with my life yet.  I know, I should be on some track by now, and I do have some sense of direction.  Hopefully, the Peace Corps will focus my sense of direction a little more - and give me an extra two years before I have to make any real decisions.

*I can help make sure that American tax dollars are going somewhere useful for a change.  Like buying me new socks!

            That is a general list of reasons I came up with for myself, my curious friends, and of course the lady who interviewed me after my application was submitted.  Apparently it was a good enough list for her to submit my nomination to the Washington headquarters and launch me into the next phase of the acceptance process.

 

What followed over the course of the next several months was a long series of medical visits, paperwork, having my wisdom teeth pulled (one of the more unpleasant days of my life, but thank the Good Lord for codeine), and what seemed like endless waiting.  Finally, on the first day of Passover, I got a package.  I already knew what it meant, based on the size and heft of it, and as I eagerly ripped it open, I could literally feel my heart speeding up, beating so tremulously, it made my hands quake.  I carefully pulled out the first piece of paper I saw, and read it aloud to my dog, who was kind enough to be the only one home to congratulate me.  I don’t recall the exact wording, but it was something to the effect of: Congratulations dude! You’re going to Mali! In three months!

After that, things began to move much more quickly, and a few more medical visits, a lot more paperwork, and much research into everything I could find out about Mali, its culture, languages (French and Bambara, both of which I need to learn from scratch), and lifestyle, the departure date began to close in on me more intensely than ever.

And that brings us up to today.  Since school ended, I have been working daily on learning French, creating packing lists, cleaning up my room (maybenot) and seeing as many friends as I can pack into my final weeks in the country.  I have until July 7^th to have everything that needs taking care of dealt with, and then I begin the official national Mali orientation in the distant city of Philadelphia (it’s okay, the Peace Corps pays for my transportation there).  That’s about all that has been going on up until now.  I will probably update this blog a few more times before I leave for Mali, and after that, who knows?  Feel free to shoot me emails ore respond to this blog.  In fact, please do!  That way, I’ll know that people are actually reading this, and home won’t seem quite as far away.  Meanwhile, I’ll see you next update,

~Jake