Staging

I’m sorry that it took so long to post my first blog in-country. I’ve either been traveling from Ohio to Washington, DC for the Staging event, Staging Meetings in DC, flying to Senegal, driving from Dakar to Thiès (sounds like “chess”), which is about an hour and a half drive, or being overwhelmed with information during the first few days of training at the TTC (Thiès Training Center). It’s been exhausting, but I am alive and well!

Staging:

Staging’s registration started at noon on Friday, February 27, 2015 and we started our sessions around 2pm. We had a pre-session quiz that tested us on Peace Corps’ Goals and Expectations. And, since I did my invitee lessons on those topics back in September, I most defiantly struggled. After we signed our names on a few forms, we officially made the transition from Peace Corps Invitee to Peace Corps Trainee.

The staging event was split into two sections because we are a large group of 63 volunteers (Health (HE) and Community Economic Development (CED) sectors), and since my last name is Lowe, I was with group two with the rest of the second half of the alphabet.

The meetings were a lot of ice-breakers and group “creative” work to learn about each other and   re-learn the Goals (Mission) and the Core Expectations. We counted off from one to six (?) and formed new groups each exercise, except I was in group one EVERY time. If any of you know me, I am not a skit person, and we had to do a skit in one of the workshops. Yeaaaa. I survived, I guess, but I am sure no one is questioning why I didn't pursue an acting career.

We took a Picture after the meetings concluded and then formed smaller groups that had similar food interests for “our last meal in the States.” I pretty much ate everywhere and everything in the last few months leading up to leaving for PC, so I didn’t have any true preference. My group chose Mexican food, and we went in search of a good place in walking distance from the hotel. But, because it was a Friday, the places were packed and we ended up going to Qdoba and then hitting up McDonalds for a Shamrock Shake. Quintessential American, eh? My friend Lissa, a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (RPCV) in Benin, and one of my best and longest friendships lives in DC, so she met up with my group and she and I hung out in my room with while I was repacking (for the 1889028437430th time) my bags. I love her.

Side Note: If anyone wants to read her blog from her time in PC Benin the website is, lissainbenin.blogspot.com, and she is an amazing writer. No joke, some of her posts will literally make you laugh out loud.

The next day we had the morning to check out of the hotel and get to the airport. But, since the two groups were isolated from each other throughout staging  (except in passing and after the meetings), I had no idea who anyone was in group one, except for a few people I talked to before we met for staging. I actually assumed a girl next to me in the post-security line at the airport was "one of us" and started talking about PC stuff, and she definitely waited too long to tell me that I was talking gibberish to her because she was not in Peace Corps, hah!. Oh well, c'est la vie.

I cannot express enough how much I HATE traveling with a lot of luggage, especially a lot of HEAVY luggage. It. Is. The. Worst. I was really nervous about my bags being overweight because two days before my departure my mom and dad came over to see what I got myself into, and they thought it would be better if I consolidated my bags from two rolling suitcases to just one and fit everything else in my hiking back pack. That meant that I could check that bag and then pack another backpack with all my heavy school supplies and electronics. Ugh, that bag was so  heavy that my back still hurts from carrying it around. My bags were all maxed out at 50.0 lbs and 49.8 lbs (impressive, right?), so I had no other choice unless I wanted to eliminate something else. And, after consolidating and removing so many items, I didn't want to eliminate anymore. If I had to do it over…. I wouldn't have brought all my notebooks and at least freed up that amount of weight. But then again, I am only four days into training classes and we won’t even start our language classes until this weekend. I would like to say that I grew a lot during that process, but I am already compiling a list for care package contents, so I know at this point I would suffer all over again to have what I brought.

Peace Corps’ Mission:

1. To help the people of interested countries in meeting their need of trained men and women
2. To help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served
3. To help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of the Americans

*I will be striving to make this blog a portal for goal three. I hope you continue this journey with me and follow my blog as a means to keep in touch and up to date with me and my work/projects, as well as using these posts as a learning experience about the Senegalese culture.
**Helpful Tip= Sign up for the Follow my blog via email and you will get an email whenever there is a new post!


Core Expectations for Peace Corps Volunteers:

1. Prepare your personal and professional life to make a commitment to serve abroad for a full term of 27 months
2.Commit to improving the quality of life of the people with whom you live and work and, in doing so, share your skills, adapt them, and learn new skills as needed
3. Serve where the Peace Corps asks you to go, under conditions of hardship, if necessary, and with the flexibility needed for effective service
4. Recognize that you're successful and sustainable development work is based on the local trust and confidence you build by living in, and respectfully integrating yourself into, your host community and culture
5. Recognize that you are responsible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for your personal conduct and professional performance
6. Engage with host country partners in a spirit of cooperation, mutual learning, and respect
7. Work within the rules and regulations of the Peace Corps and the local and national laws of the country where you serve
8. Exercise judgment and personal responsibility to protect your health, safety, and well-being and that of others
9. Recognize that you will be perceived, in your host country and community, as a representative of the people, cultures, values, and traditions of the United States of America
10. Represent responsibly the people, cultures, values, and traditions of your host country and community to people in the United States both during and following your service

*I will also be referring back to these expectations after I install into my permanent site to illustrate one volunteer’s experience with meeting these expectations.

Next Post will be about the Training Center, Senegalese Culture 101, and an update on what language I am assigned!

PS- check out jloweinsenegal.tumblr.com for more photos!