8/30/02

I’m back from training at Coubaril, the monastery. This time we had fewer formal sessions like last time. We had a de-briefing session about the activities we had done over the week. It was interesting to hear what everyone had done, but the session went WAY too long. The following day, our "community counterparts", the people who we’ll be working with in our assignments, came to meet us. My regular counterpart wasn’t able to come that day, so he sent the second-in-command guy at the last minute. He was very nice, but I couldn’t help but be a little frustrated because he wasn’t able to tell me much. Our task that day was to develop a "3-month integration plan", our basic guidelines to integrate into the community and workplace. Instead, Clarence and I discussed my job description. Initially, my job description was a little vague. I tried hard not to read it as DESK JOB, but it was hard. The things Clarence had to say kind of re-iterated that.

One of Peace Corps’ main emphases is on proper integration for us even before we start working. While the explicit jobs are important, the other goals of the Peace Corps include us teaching people in the host countries about the U.S. and then later us teaching Americans about other countries. Also, the integration is key to us even doing well in our jobs. We’re greatly discouraged from just diving into the job without working on the integration stuff.

The next day, though, we went to visit our worksites. Mine is right in the neighborhood where I’m living, Bisee. The place was really bustling because yesterday was their registration for September classes. It was really exciting to be there and see all kinds of people. The center offers technical and vocational training in a number of areas. There is a large interest in computer skills such as data entry and web page design. The center also offers traditional vocational training courses in pastry baking and cake decorating, plumbing and electrical, child care, bartending and sewing. There were all kinds of samples and pictures from former classes. I think my role will be in modifying and developing curriculum that will help the trainees market themselves better. I was much happier after seeing the actual place. We’ll be back at our worksites again next Thursday.

After the morning at our worksites, we had an appointment to open our bank accounts. At the bank we had some bad news. Alan, one of the volunteers wasn’t there. When we asked Michael, our associate director, about it, he told us that Alan had decided to leave. The whole group was really bummed. By now, we’ve gone through a lot together, even though it doesn’t seem like it. For any one person to leave takes away a lot from the group. Sadly, it’s a statistical probability that as many as half the people will leave early.

For the weekend, we have to go to a festival. It’s called La Rose or La Wóz (Kwéyòl). It’s paired with another festival that will take place in a few weeks, La Magritte. Together they represent the struggle and dynamic between the bourgeois and proletariat. The center of La Rose is a group of singers and musicians. The whole public dances when they play. There are skits that take place also. People play the parts of doctors, lawyers and regular people. A woman will faint and all the others come to her rescue. When one person has her smell the rose, she revives.

Tomorrow, Deb and I have plans to be in a contest. There seem to be constant contests here, sometimes more than one at a time sponsored by the same businesses. There is a local department store called Courts. The contest is a game where a guy asks you questions, and you have to say "Courts" before you can respond. If you do it wrong, he bonks you on the head with a blow-up hammer. The winner gets $250 in gift certificates to the grocery store or something like that. What’s also exciting is that they run the whole thing on TV. I’m pretty sure that I won’t win, but I think it would be fun to be on TV. In a little country like this, it’s not uncommon to see people you know on TV. I’d also like to have some beach time this weekend.