Getting Started

Happy Mothers Day! I’ve been in the Peace Corps now for almost a week and we are starting to get past the most basic orientation stuff. We’ve got cell phones, language teams, and have done our first loads of laundry! So the last few days have been action packed.

I’ll be learning Saramaccan – I believe it’s a Spanish-ish based language with some African and other roots, primarly spoken in Maroon communities. That’s means I likely won’t be too far upriver (upriver is South confusingly enough), but that is all relative (we are talking 1-8 hours of boats and cars) and I still don’t know where my site is.

Still, it’s good to have at least some direction and I’m glad that we will actually start learning some new skills soon. Up until now it has been medical stuff and security stuff and reflection/team building stuff, but that is all relatively similar/common sense as you would expect. The reflection has been interesting and the Peace Corps Staff is doing a great job of making us think deeply about what we are here to do and what it will take to succeed. It is clearly an organization that inspires people – volunteers and staff – to do a good job.

One of the things we did was take a simple personality test called True Colors. I was Green Blue Orange Green, which kinda would be Analytical/Competitive, Sensitive/Collaborative, Spontaneous/Liberal, Organized/Conservative – in decreasing order of impact on your personality. It is a far from perfect system but it at least provides a paradigm for discussion. Green and Blue were the largest groups, interestingly enough.

We’d already discovered the Type A’s, to use a different paradigm, and there are 2 or 3 dominant ones – but it is really cool how everyone I’ve met is a cool mix of laid back and go-getter. A lot of different backgrounds, maturity levels, styles – but everyone is all about getting it done and making sure everyone is included and happy.

This really came out when we did some of the campy team building exercises yesterday. We did a ‘group juggle’ where you throw a balls back and forth around the group while standing in a circle. You always catch from and throw to the same person. As we went through several times it was interesting how much effort the group was willing to expend to make sure everyone was included, clear on the rules, and happy with the variations we came up with as a group (let’s try this on silently, or what should we do when someone drops a ball?).

It was also our first time in the hard sun which was killer (I successfully wore enough sunscreen though!) We did relatively hardcore trust falls, which is always fun, and then also a Gauntlet. The group stands in two columns facing each other with arms interlaced like the teeth of a zipper and then one person sprints at them and they unzip just before the person hits them. It’s a combination of Red Rover and trust falls that is surprisingly intense – especially as you add variations.

After that, we did our first laundry! Earlier in the week, several current volunteers came by and helped us buy the supplies we need – soap, a bucket, clothes pins, etc. Yesterday, after some demos from staff and volunteers, we all did our laundry by hand. It was not too bad, but it is definitely a forearm workout! A couple of us got all of our laundry done, but it then began a hard and sustained rain. It was really pretty and it had been so hot that it turned into a group rain party. It was a warm, drenching rain that was awesome to splash around in with friends.

Sorry no pictures yet - I promise I am taking them, but the upload speed here is terrible so hopefully we'll get a better connection soon!

Tomorrow begins language training - something I am definitely looking forward too!