Monday, June 26, 2006


Its been a crazy few weeks between visiting relatives in Connecticut, friends in Alabama, and then up to PA to spend some time with Mike's family before I head out.

Here are some pictures from the previous few weeks:

Me and my cousins, David, Jeff, and Alex




Trip to 'bama with my girls: Ler, Bets and I and a space for Becky (Betsy is supposed to photoshop her in:))









Me and Mike in Shenandoah National Park.

Friday, June 09, 2006

The countdown

Once again I'm starting over with the whole blog thing. You can see my old blog at http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=jkaltoid6.

I'm down the the final weeks before heading off to the Peace Corps in Cape Verde. I received my staging packet (information on plane tickets, orientation meetings, etc) in the mail yesterday and I headed back to Arlington, VA before we head off to the islands by way of Amsterdam. Now its getting real.

Peace Corps has been something I have been looking forward to for years and and even in college, my study abroad options and volunteering abroad have been leading up to this dream of mine and now its actually happening. I know that no amount of time spent previously in Africa will fully prepare me for what I am about to experience but it has given me an idea of what other cultures are like and interactions between the locals and foreigners.

I first spent time in Uganda through a program called Operation Crossroads Africa. It is a wonderful opportunity to volunteer in Africa and was my first visit to the continent. If you ever have an interest in volunteering in Africa and really living like the majority of people in the country do, I highly recommend this program. They call themselves the "progentitor of the Peace Corps" and after going through both Crossroads Africa and the Peace Corps application there is a bit of similarity-- you write essays for both, you are placed by language skills (for Crossroads it's basicially French or English), and your project and country is based on skills and interests (health, teaching, development, etc).

My next taste of Africa was through the CIEE study abroad program in Dakar, Senegal. This was also an incredible experience and gave me the chance to live with a host family, travel, and meet Peace Corps volunteers who were currently serving in the country. While I was there, I had the chance to visit the Gambia and later on spent my spring break in Cape Verde.

So when I found out that I will be serving in Cape Verde, I was not only relieved to find out that I was finally placed, but in a beautiful, unique country that most people have heard little about. From my experience so far, people only know Cape Verde as the place where hurricanes begin.

I applied for the Peace Corps early in my senior year of college, knowing already that I wanted to leave around January so I had time to work and see everyone before I left. I thought I was all set until I heard back that they wouldn't be able to send me where ever they had originially planned because of my nut allergy--go figure! So I had the option of going to South America in March or waiting until July for Africa. Since the focus of my studies and my passion is in Africa, I decided to wait it out and I am really happy that I did. Since I graduated I stayed in DC and worked, more recently for an organization called the Save Darfur Coalition, which strives to raise awareness of the genocide in Darfur, Sudan and mobilize a public response to the atrocities taking place. You may also know it as www.savedarfur.org.

And then I found out I was being placed in Cape Verde. I am very excited to return to the islands I was priviliged to visit a few years back. My friends that I traveled with and I joked around about me getting placed in Cape Verde but who knew it would actually happen. I was only there as a tourist and didn't get to know any of the local people but I did discover a few things that are good to know. When we were there, the banks and the atm machines at the banks are closed on the weekends starting early on Friday afternoon. We learned this the hard way, twice. We also discovered that the wind and sand from the Sahara cause airplanes not to fly and ended up stuck in the Praia airport for 26 hours. That was a real treat- we definitely learned patience that day. Despite the few challenges we had as tourists, we also had an amazing time. After being in Dakar for so long, we missed seeing green trees and pine trees and mountains and had the best time in Santo Antao. The drive from one side of the island to the other was breathtaking and there was lots of hiking and green. I think one of my favorite days there was our trip to a city (town?) called Paul. We walked on a path with the ocean on one side of us and mountains on the other until we reached this town where pink flowers were blooming and you could see green covering the mountains and valleys. I'm looking forward to going back and really having the opportunity to immerse myself in the culture and work on the ground.


Babaneen, until next time...


Time for a new blog so that I can upload pictures--let's see if this works. This picture is of me and my family and my boyfriend in Arlington, VA around the time I signed my previous lease.