We learned where the sites of service are going to be, though we still don’t know who’s going where. (For those new here, I’m one of several community development Peace Corps trainees who recently arrived along with English education trainees to serve in North Macedonia.) For community development, all but one of us will serve… Read More »
My Peace Corps cohort landed at the airport in Skopje, North Macedonia, at about noon local time on Monday, Sept. 26. After we were tested for COVID-19, we went through passport control, which went smoothly because they’d made arrangements for us to go through a special line. A bus took us to our hotel and… Read More »
I’ve met my Peace Corps cohort at the hotel where we had our staging. This is essentially one evening plus one full day of orientation before we get on the plane for North Macedonia. Among other things, we went over a whole bunch of scenarios that Peace Corps volunteers have been through and discussed how… Read More »
I’d managed to avoid it for well over two years, but I finally got COVID-19. Thankfully, I’m fully vaccinated and double boosted. My symptoms are really mild and it’s been treated with a phone consultation and a prescription. It was weird. On Tuesday, July 19, I was doing great. I ran 5 km on the… Read More »
Following are the details of the assignment I’ve accepted in North Macedonia. They emailed them to me in three mega-paragraphs. For easier reading, I’ve broken those up and added boldface lead-ins, but I haven’t edited it otherwise. I’m posting this here because these details don’t appear on the website linked to above and in my… Read More »
Woo-hoo! I finally heard from the Peace Corps about an assignment. They emailed me on Friday, April 29, about serving in North Macedonia and after a week of learning more, I accepted. The approximate date of departure is Sept. 25, 2022, though the exact date is subject to change. North Macedonia is part of the… Read More »
To recap for those new here: I quit my job to accept an invitation to join the Peace Corps, and I was scheduled to leave for The Gambia in western Africa on June 2, 2020. Everything looked good to go until March of 2020, when COVID-19 made everything go crazy and the Peace Corps withdrew… Read More »
I got an email message yesterday afternoon from the Peace Corps’ country desk officer for The Gambia, the country where I was selected to serve in. (It was sent yesterday, but I didn’t check my email until today.) “As we continue to learn more about the challenges posed by COVID-19, the Peace Corps has made… Read More »
As I write this, I’m tentatively scheduled to leave for Peace Corps training in Africa in June of 2021, a year later than originally planned because of COVID-19. But what will happen with the virus is anybody’s guess, so I won’t be surprised if there’s another delay or if the Peace Corps decides to reassign… Read More »
I’m starting a business again. And I’m confident that it will go a lot more smoothly than the last time I did so, starting The Elizabethtown Advocate in 2010. As publisher of a weekly newspaper, I spent around $700 every week to print and distribute the paper. The cost of the office (rent, the electric… Read More »