Category: Peace Corps

Aspirations

For Part 2 of the MST essay series, we are going to take a look at one of the touchier-feelier activities we did on the last day of Mid-Service Training. This activity was rereading our original Aspiration Statements from the Peace Corps Application. I feel that it deserves capitalization and the be recognized as a […]

After the Big Check… the Weighty Certificate

I like coming up with witty titles too much to not in this case, but actually it was quite an honor to attend and receive a plaque in recognition of the work we having been doing with the solar ovens during the solar oven festival today. The real shame was that Sarah couldn’t be there […]

Sun Stripes = More Cake

I generally find it better when people correct my Spanish mistakes, but I understand why someone would choose to let a repeated mistake pass. I have done the same in English many, many times because I understood what the person was saying and for a host of other reasons. So these days, I try to […]

The problem when it’s not your camera…

… is that you don’t have any of the pictures to work with after the trip is over. Instead, I’m at the whim of my guy to choose and send me some. Still, what is worse is arriving home at 11:30pm to an apartment where the power has been cut because the power bill did […]

A bit ragged

This is a bit how I feel today, and not in the sense that I need a haircut. January was a roller-coaster, or at least a street-carnival shooting game. And if that didn’t look bad enough, there’s always the back. But don’t worry, there are plenty more cat pictures to come. Also, at some point […]

Do you have 5 minutes to help us win $50k?

I’m working with a great team of former Peace Corps Volunteers and MIT students on a new non-profit. We were selected as semi-finalists in a competition to win up to 0,000, which would get us off the ground. Making it from the top 20 to the top five requires social marketing, because the competition is […]

Coming Soon…

…irresistibly cute children for whom I have a grant application pending. My friend Micha and I are going to be raising money for school scholarships through a Peace Corps Partnership grant. These kids from marginalized, indigenous families receive scholarships to attend school through the civil association Niños y Niñas de México, A.C. These kids would […]

Ingenuity inspiration

I looked up the definition of ingenuity to make sure I was thinking about it properly. in·ge·nu·i·ty (n): the quality of being clever, original, and inventive. (from googling “definition ingenuity”) Turns out I knew the definition. Knowing the definition doesn’t change why I was thinking about it. I can believe that sometimes I am each […]

(tee hee) I found some sustainable development at the office.

I’ve been meaning to take my new, big zoom lens to work for a while to capture the amazing insect world out there. Finally I remembered this week, and then the problem was that I had a lot of work to do. I kept trying to leave the office a bit early in the evening […]

The questions not asked – an essay on service (#1)

I browse a lot of other blogs by Peace Corps volunteers and applicants. What has struck me recently is the misdirection of the rhetoric surrounding the questions to consider when applying or as you are applying. I’m writing this over a period of time to ensure that this is not just a long series of complaints, […]

The bee’s knees

Apiculture has been a dream hobby of mine now for many years. I’m just fascinated by it. As far as dream hobbies go, I always felt that this one was rather realistic. However, still a little tricky to get into – not the type of thing I wanted to just read about and then buy my […]