Monday morning Mom drove me to the New Rochelle train station, and after much talking, laughing, and hugging, I got on the train and cried as it pulled away. About twenty minutes later I realized the anxiety and nausea were gone at last.
The two days of staging were pretty fun. There are 36 people in my staging group. Most of them will be health volunteers, a handful will do environmental education, and the remaining seven, of which I'm a part, shall do agriculture. Peace Corps is putting us up in a nice hotel. I'm trying to relish the pleasures of running water, electricity, and porcelain toilets. To being the staging we were each given a paper listing activities like studying with a Shaolin master, doing an independent study in Bosnia, and knowing how to can pickles. Our first assignment was to find out who among our group did each of these things. A good way for us to have instant respect for one another, I think. My item on the list? "Volunteered with cats in Humane Societies across the USA." An apt representation of my values.
I'm worried about my diet. I'll eat what I must, and hopefully it will taste good, but I dislike the fact that much of what I eat will contain fish.
Chuck, who volunteered in Tunisia in the 70's, led the staging. He began by asking us a slew of trivia questions about the Peace Corps. He was really cheerful and enthusiastic. I think he delights in welcoming us into the adventure. He talked to us about safety, expectations, fears, precautions we can take, and the like. He related stories from his time in Tunisia. Some were inspiring, like the one about him tutoring a boy and quickly bringing him from an illiterate to a 4th grade reading level. Some were daunting, like the number of times he has had malaria. Surely the vaccinations were weaker then. I hope. Mostly staging consisted of the volunteers being broken into small groups for discussion, drawing activities, making a skit, playing word games, etc. Very little was spoken specifically concerning Senegal. Rather, general ideas were discussed and, equally important, we got to talk and play with one another. I'm so glad that when I land in Senegal I will be with familiar faces rather than strangers.