Where is Casey Jones?

Well I survived the Savaii mid-service conference. What a glorious week. We arrived at our beach fales Monday afternoon. OUr APCD, the man, the myth, the legend, Fata Esera, allowed us some "free time" before a session that lasted about 10 min. We then committed ourselves to a few cocktails and a bowl of ava of the beach as we watched the sun set of the the south pacific waters.
I should maybe mention here that the point of this mid-service conference is to get together with the group we came to Samoa with, 77, in the middle of our service to discuss various topics pertaining to our service in Samoa. Fata is a pretty laid back guy so most of the conference was pretty laid back, but we did get to share information on various secondary projects we were involved in a the different kinds of diseases we had picked up over the past year. All very enlightening. Afternoons were mostly put aside for personal refelection and un-facilitated group discussion i.e. napping. All in all it was good to hang out with the old gang, even if we are down to 9 at this point.
We arrived back in Apia this afternoon for errands, etc. I have a couple meetings up at the hospital tomorrow. One meeting is with the one and only Samoan eye doctor who can hopefully find a safe home for the eye glasses mom sent over recently. Another meeting is with the head of the hospital in order to get permission for Chief Dad to come back over to Samoa next July and do some surgery and speeches. Should all be very interesting.
School starts on Monday which means 3 weeks of watching the kids weed and clean. No worries, I have lots of books to entertain me!

oopps

How could i forget?!
I also read Dreams of My Father, Barak Obama and it was really quite lovely.
Am in Apia for the night before we head to Savaii for our mid-service conference. Mid-Service! That means half way done, or half way undone, whatever frosts your cookie. Of the original 16 of group 77 we are down to 9. I might just add that all the girls are still here. That is neat. Wish me luck on the boat!

ping-pong

New Years Resolutions:
1) Get in shape
2) Eat better
3) Drink less
4) Blog more!
I’ll get back to you in a year and let you know how it goes…So I really actually don’t have that much to report, but its still January which means I have to keep with my resolution at least ‘til the end of the month. Even though I have been back for over a week I am still totally messed up with the time. I can’t fall asleep until 1am and I wake up at 11am. I know I should force myself to get up earlier, but technically I am still on vacation and it is rainy season so there really is no reason to get out of bed. Which means this week has been pretty lazy to say the least. After rolling out of bed I make some coffee and scrambie eggs. I then proceed to stare off into space for about 30 min followed by commencement of “work”. I am currently having what we refer to as a mid-peace corps crisis which is the time of one’s service where one freaks out about what one is going to do after Peace Corps. This crisis can be channeled to do productive things such as re-write my resume, make a personal statement, inquire staff about letters of recommendation, etc. Since Meghan is in Australia I borrowed her computer for the week to get some work done (did I mention that I currently have 2 of my own computers here and I can use neither of them to type documents?).
After work time is play time/work out time. Running, biking, or kayaking are the choices for play. I went for a nice little sunset paddle yesterday and thought about maybe never leaving Samoa. All in all, not having to go to work every day is pretty awesome. I remember this time last year I was going out of my mind because I was so wound up about getting out there and doing Peace Corps things and saving lives and changing the world, etc. It is nice to actually sit back and enjoy time on a beautiful little island for once.
Speaking of projects, it seems that all of mine are going splendidly currently (lets all knock on wood now). While I was tromping around Southeast Asia, my new “counterpart” (I use quotes because we didn’t really give her a choice as to working with us or not) Sina, who is also 25 and lives across the street from me, was trained to be a sign language teacher’s assistant. She took the class along with Ela, Malaki’s mother. The Minister of Education also agreed to allocate funding for teacher’s assistants, so the plan is to have them work in Malaki’s classroom at school next year. Yahoo for sustainable development!
Before I left I also used funding from an anonymous and dearly loved source in the US to buy supplies for our computer lab at the school. All the lumber, fans, paint, nails, etc are bought and ready for the matais (chiefs) of the village to put them together. I was also informed by another anonymous and dearly appreciated source in the US that there are 4-5 computers on their way to Samoa as we speak!
In addition to all this wonderful news, I helped the Women’s Committee write a grant for new sewing machines that was submitted in December. I am also helping the committee to get funding and paper work together to submit a grant for a new committee house. The hope is to have funding by next month, start construction by March, and finish the project by May. That means construction from March to May which will most likely take longer because it is Samoa and oh did I mention that my bed is approximately 5 feet from the committee house? Who needs sleep anyway? Maybe I will move down to the beach. Seriously though, I am very excited for them to get a new house.
Teachers assistants, sewing machines, computer labs, OH MY! So for those of you who think I am just spending my time lying on beaches and deep-sea fishing…well you are pretty much right, but I do get stuff done in my spare time.
Alright and since it is a new year I thought I would tack on a little list here. When I first came to Peace Corps a wise and veteran volunteer named Julya gave me the suggestion of writing down all the books I read while I was here and the date I finished them, since, she so astutely alluded to, you will be reading a lot. So for all those who are dying to know what I read in the past year (mom) here goes…
The Tao of Pooh, Benjamin Hoff, 12/7/06- Not bad, Hoff is kinda on his soap box for this one
They Marched Into Sunlight, David Maraniss, 12/29/06- Awesome book on Vietnam and what was happening in America in 1967, starts off slow, but give it time, its worth it!
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams, 1/5/07- Ehhh, enjoyed the sarcastic humor, but..ehhh
Nine Hills to Nambonkaha, Sarah Erdman, 1/24/07- About a Peace Corps volunteer in Africa, beautifully written, really captures volunteer life
Sex Lives of Cannibals, Maarten Troost, 2/20/07- Hysterical account of life in the South Pacific, wanna know what our life is like? Read this
In a Sunburned Country, Bill Bryson, 3/23/07- Ugh! If you wanna read 300 pages where Bryson tells you 300 times how big Australia is, be my guest
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, JK Rowling, 3/29/07- You love it or you don’t
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, JK Rowling, 4/4/07
The Electric Kool-Aide Acid Test, Tom Wolfe, 5/1/07- Awesome! Drugs, hippies, music, counterculture. Its probably a good thing I wasn’t alive in the 60’s
Harry Potter 3, JK Rowling, 5/27/07
On the Road, Jack Kerouac, 5/28/07- Read this in high school and just couldn’t appreciate it as much as I did this time around. Great classic
Mountains Beyond Mountains, Tracy Kidder, 6/17/07- And this is when I became interested in medicine. Amazing book about an amazing person (Paul Farmer) who dedicates his life to helping others
Left Behind, Tim Lehaye, 6/23/07- Oh my god the anti-Christ has risen and we are all gonna die!
Poisonwood Bible, *ekk forgot to write down author!, 7/26/07- Wonderful fictional book about missionaries in Africa, I wanna go to Africa…
Harry Potter 4, 8/1/07
Harry Potter 5, 8/8/07
Harry Potter 6, 8/13/07
Harry Potter 7, 8/26/07- Ok I know I went a little crazy here, but this was the last one and I wanted to be on my game!
1776, David McCullough, 9/22/07- Interesting historical novel, but a little boring…
Hope In Hell, Dan Bortolotti, 10/1/07- About Doctors Without Borders, my new dream
Band of Brothers, Stephen Ambrose, 10/11/07- Even if you don’t know anything about WWII, just read this! Anyone can read Ambrose and it’s just so good!
Getting Stoned with Savages, Maarten Troost, 10/18/07- Troost goes back to the South Pacific for more fun adventures, ps- the first one is better
The Kite Runner, Khaled Hoseini, 10/22/07- Oh my god, rip my heart out! Wonderful book about awful things that can happen in the world, especially in Afghanistan
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey, 10/26/07- Tragic comedy, very funny though. Had to read it after “acid test”
LOTR: Fellowship of the Ring, JRR Tolkien, 11/19/07- Had to see what all the fuss was about…very long winded but not bad if you like elves and dwarves and magical places
The Te Of Piglet, Benjamin Hoff, 11/21/07- Apparently Hoff felt people were so inspired by his preaching in his first book that he felt the need to write a whole new book to preach some more…
Emergency Sex, *oops!, 11/27/07- About 3 UN workers; a doctor, a lawyer and a slut, whoops, I mean secretary. The doctor and lawyer stories were wonderful; the secretary goes over the line. I did very much enjoy the book over all
A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson..only got half way through the 500+ pages- The next time I pick up Bryson somebody shoot me
Heart of Darfur, Lisa French Blaker, 1/22/08- Kiwi nurse working in Darfur with Doctors without Borders. So good, SO sad and extremely inspiring. Can I go to Africa now?
And now I currently reading Friday Night Nights courtesy of Papa Hanks. Tune in this time next year for the ’08 reads!

Fortunate Son

Back in good ole samoa. The rest of our trip was a bit hectic and unfortunately I didnt have time for any more updates.
It was very hard to leave Pai in Thailand. We even thought about cancelling our tickets to Viet Nam and just staying in Pai for the rest of the trip. There were 3 days that were pretty rough there...our last night in Pai we ended up staying up until just before the sun. That afternoon we boarded a 4 hour bus through the mountains to chiang mai where we boarded a 13hour sleeper bus to bangkok. We met up with Doug and Kira for dinner one last time in bangkok and then woke up at 4am the next day to make our 630am flight to Hanoi which we found out once we arrived at the airport had actually been cancelled. Luckily air asia put us on the 1030am flight ot hanoi.
So we arrived at our hostel in hanoi very hungry and VERY bitchy. Our plane was to travel down the coast to Hoi An which is apparently tailor heaven, but we found out that would be another 16 hour bus ride there and then another 16 hours back and at the moment we were a little travelled out so we decided to save Hoi An for the next trip. Instead we signed up for a 3 day, 2 night trip to Ha Long Bay and Cat Ba island. It was a very nice little excursion. We got to kayak in Ha Long Bay (YES!) and spent the night on a boat with a bunch of traveling Europeans, aussies, kiwis, etc. They all thought we were pretty cool because they never meet Americans travelling outside the US. I agree, we are pretty cool.
After our 3 day excursion we came back to Hanoi for shopping and site seeing. I sorta dragged Steph to the Viet Nam military museum which was very interesting. Its strange to see pictures with captions about "enemy movements" and "enemy ships" and realize that we were the enemy. The museum itself was pretty bare bones, but it was obvious that the Vietnamese were very proud about having "conquered" the Americans and the French.
Our last full day we signed up for a bike tour that travelled outside of Hanoi into the villages. Turned out Steph and I were the only ones that signed up. So we were lead through rice paddies and small villages by this nice little Vietnamese lady. It was very cool! It was amazing to feel like the only ones to have this unique look at villagers and their work. It seemed so untouched by Western influence.
The next day was a bit unreal. We were in 4 different countries, held 4 different currencies in our wallets and somehow it was January the 15th almost the whole time. Our flights went from hanoi to bangkok, where we had an 8 hour lay over, then Bangkok to Sydney and Sydney back to home sweet home.
To sum it up, Southeast Asia rocks my socks off! If any of you reading this have an opportunity to go there, GO! The best part is after 3 weeks of buying all my meals, flights between countries, hundreds of presents and clothes, and hostels I just barely spent $2000USD. Seriously that place is amazing. There will be more pictures to come, but I have a few Viet Nam pics on my facebook page for the moment. Hope all is well wherever you are!

fia ai pai?

We made it to Pai in the north and we cant leave! This place is so cute! Pai is a little town in the valley of the mae hong son region. Its like a a smaller version of madison wisconsin, but even more hippy and with an asian twist. Our plan is to stay here until mon and then take an overnight bus back to bankok on then off to vietnam on wednesday. But as a singer said at one of the bars here the other night, "If you wanna make God laugh, try to make a plan."

Oh my god the food is so good here! This is one of the 800 food stands in the weekend market in bangkok

AAHHH!! What an awesome mannequin! We spent our first 2 days in thailand shopping at the weekend market in bangkok. Our bags have already gained about 10 lbs...

I found doug!! Doug is a good friend of mine from my camp in wisconsin. We worked together the past couple summers and he is now teaching english in bangkok. We meet up with him and his girlfriend Kira in Chiang Mai for new years. It was great to see a familiar face again and clearly i was excited...

This a cool little hot air ballon thing they sold everywhere on new years for people to lit and then let off into the sky. They were meant to bring you good luck in the new year

There she goes...

Christmas picture! Doug and his girlfriend kira are standing behind stephanie and i. We are at this nice little bar on the riversidem where we started off the night

This was by one of the walls of chiang mai where everyone gathered to count down the new year. People were setting off tons of those little hot air ballons plus fireworks. The sky was soo beautiful.

oh and we had to let off fireworks of course...

A monk giving blessings at doi suthep

On new years day we went up to wat doi suthep which is a gorgeous temple on a mountain in chiang mai. Unfortunately we were a big hungover from new years eve so the windy roads werent very much fun for either of us. But in chiang mai instead of taxis you ride in the back of these covered trucks which we thought was pretty sweet regardless of the fact we wanted to vom the whole way.

People are really stressed here...

So we went on a cheesy trek in chiang mai and then we came to Pai (further north in thailand) and did a 2 hour elephant ride where we got to play with them in the water and wash them and whatnot. So much more fun! This is steph and i on Tongbao. She was the biggest elephant in our group, but sooo sweet! When we were playin the river she would lie down and let us climb on our face and then try to shake us off. We have a sweet video of the whole thing

New years in chiang mai

...rocks my socks off! So I am in the north currently and for new years Steph and i met up with my camp friend Doug and his girlfriend Kira and some other PCVs. We had dinner and a few drinks by the river. People all over the city were letting off these big plasters bags with a candle type thing in the bottom that would float up in the sky like a small hot air ballon. So the sky was fully of these glowing specks which was obviously beautiful.
After a few drinks we headed to one of the city gates where there were hundreds of hanging yellow lights and we watched fire works from there and did our own countdown. It was a bit chaotic, in a good way, and everywhere you looked ther was something fun to see. A much more unique new years than any other. I made doug join me in a round of "bum and a fish" because thats just what you have to do with other manito-wishers...right (camp song...i know we are dorks...whatever).
Steph and i took many great pics but we dont have our computer/camera cord to put them up right now, but they will come. Today we went up to the temple Doi Suthep on the mountain. It was very beautiful with tons of gold and monks all over the place. I totally dig there orange robes.
Tomorrow we are heading off on a daylong trek with bamboo rafting, hiking, hill tribe seeing, waterall visiting and elephant riding! Yahoo! Hope all is well with all my faithfull readers and everyone had a safe and fun new years!