my zambian journey

success at last.

2008-08-03T16:54:00.002-05:00

after many trials and tribulations, the clinic money has been received. the past month has kept me extremly busy, going back and forth between my site and the provincial capitol of solwezi buying materials. we have purchased everything needed and construction is well underway, and should finish by early september. the process has been long and tiring, but very rewarding. in addition to the clinic, the project has provided an economic boost to my community. the majority of building supplies was bought in solwezi but roofing planks, doors and other materials were purchased locally, giving honest work and pay to villagers. for example, the six guys making the planks received about $75 each. school fees for one of their children cost between $2 and $10 per year, and uniforms $10. many of them are planning to use some of the money to pay others to plant beans for them. about $20 would be the cost for someone to plant a field which should yeild $500 worth of beans. so this was an added benefit that i didnt anticipate. so thanks a lot to everyone who has donated to the project. know that your money was spent as best as possible. and if you or anyone you know wants to donate more, please go to www.peacecorps.gov, click on donate now and find other projects in zambia.

Tunasakalili nan kashi

2008-05-11T11:36:00.002-05:00

This is Ray's sister, Abby, posting a huge thank you to everyone who has supported this project. With the donations that have come in recently, he is very close to meeting ALL of his budget EXCEPT for the solar panels. His supervisor will be giving him the total amount raised shortly and then construction will begin. And as soon as he has access again to the internet, he'll be thanking you himself.

last call - may 1st

2008-04-04T02:12:00.002-05:00

thank you so much to everyone who has contributed funds to the clinic project. because the end of my service is rapidlly approaching, we are issuing a ''last call'' on donations of may first. at that point i will take the funds raised and use them to build a smaller scale project that can be added onto in the future. it may not be the grand vision for a full scale clinic that i originally imagined, but rather a smaller health post. we hope that this will be a crucial first step in bringing better health care to the community, inspiring the members and government health officals to continue making additions and improvements in the future. again, thank you so much for your generosity.

community contribution

2008-01-05T11:01:00.000-05:00

forgot to mention this in earlier posts. the program we are using to get the clinic built is an official peace corps program, the peace corps partnership program. one of the requirements is that the community involved make a contribution of 25% of the total project cost either in cash or kind form. because my community consits of sustenance farmers, we are making our contribution in kind form of brick molding (already finished!), gathering sand and stone for the foundation and labour. this is great as it will give the people a sense of ownership in the clinic.

more on the clinic

2008-01-03T23:50:00.000-05:00

hey,

just so you know there is now a link to donate in the 'links' section on the lefthand side of this page. wish me luck as i begin the transition back to zambian life on sunday nite!

just assist me one clinic

2007-12-31T14:05:00.000-05:00

hey all,

its wonderful to be home for this short break, and thanks to everyone who has made this time great. now my turn to beg. i am working with my community on a project to build a desperatly needed clinic. this is the summary from my proposal:

The community remains greatly underserved in the area of Health Care. The district hospital is 52 kilometers away and the nearest rural health center is 25 kilometers to the west or 18 kilometers to the east. Because of these large distances it is not uncommon for pregnant mothers to travel on the carrier of an old bicycle or parents to carry a sick child on foot through the night often reaching medical attention after it is too late. Therefore the community is applying to the Peace Corps Partnership Program for funds to construct a rural health clinic.

you can donate online by clicking here. any bit helps, and please spread the word. the goal is to get the money in by the end of march, so that the month of april when there is no school in session all community members will be free to build and the school can serve as a secure storage facility for the materials. as the process goes along i promise i will actually update this blog so you know whats happening with your hard earned money.

thanks in advance and please spread the word! happy new year.

tanzania

2007-09-28T07:06:00.000-05:00

hello all and sorry for not posting anything in forever. as sept wraps up its proved to be one of the most whirlwind months of service yet. in the beginning of the month i was reunited with all of my training group for our medical checkup. this was great to spend time with some folks i hadnt seen in months. immeadiatly thereafter my friend jeremy and i went on a vacation to the beautiful neighboring country of tanzania. it was a bit hectic at times, racing around to cram as much of the country into twelve days as possible, but nevertheless awsome. zanzibar, an island off the coast in the indian ocean was bueatiful. white sand, clear blue water and fun british people to hang out with. also there is the port town, stonetown, which was amazing. super narrow winding streets and fascinating architecure plus lots of fresh seafood which i looked at, but of course didnt eat. and it has a large muslim population, so going during ramadan made finding food tough at times but provided a rich cultural expirience. from the beach it was off on safari on the mainland. i saw snow in africa for the first time, on the top of mt. kilimanjaro, which was quite unique. our three day safari covered lake manyara national park, ngorongoro crater and taragire national park. all three were amazing, with the crater being the best. i'd have to say it was actually one of the greatest days of my life. we say many animals including but not limited to elephants, girraffes, lions, cheeta, zebra, wildabeast, buffalo, baboons, vervet monkeys, impalas, dik diks and many more which at this time im struggling to remeber. all in all it was a wonderful vacation - it surely didnt all work smoothly but that was part of the beauty and i wouldnt change it for a second.

and now i sit in solwezi, eager to return to my site this weekend. finding mysely more than halfway finished my service is quite rewarding yet scary as well. im having to start considering my next steps in life, and sometimes i feel like i have less direction now than before i came. but im sure in time if i think long and hard about what to do ill figure somthing out. if ive learnt anything out here its that things probably wont go as planned so just enjoy the ride. well thats it for now and i really cant wait to see you all soon when im home for the holidays.

tour de solwezi

2007-05-16T03:14:00.000-05:00

not too much is new here except to report that i successfully completed my cycle to solwezi. 40km one day to my neighbor jess' house then 185km the next day over 13 hours and weve arrive in town. it was a lot of fun, if slightly tiring.

the toughest job you'll ever love

2007-03-11T02:51:00.000-05:00

peace corps old slogan just about sums it up. the new one 'life is calling, how far will you go' is pretty good too, but the old one takes the cake.

now that im creeping up to the one year in zambia mark i feel like ive seen and done a lot more than i could have expected. the tough parts are many, incliding homesickness, getting ripped off b/c i have white skin, forgetting to pack my cellphone in a dry bag and almost destroying it while cycling in a huge rainstorm, and probably the worst, goodbyes. goodbyes come in many forms here. sadly my main government counterpart passed away on new years day. he was a nice man, though he was difficult to work with. in retrospect thats probably beacause he was very ill. never take the medical care you get in the staes for granted. then there are goodbyes to fellow volunteers who are completing their service. these are so difficult b/c you are so happy and excited for them yet can't help being a bit selfish in wanting them to stay. last week i said my first goodbye to my friend erich and later this week will be my final time to see the five volunteers leaving my province: nic, amanda, collen, bob and kim, five great volunteers. the flip side of this is that we are now welcoming six new volunteers into the province which is very exciting.

enough with the tough parts and on to what i love. zambia is a beautiful country. when prepared for the rain the storms are amazing. my scant language skills provide hours of laughter and excitment for the locals. my family here is really generous and sweet. i'm in the best shape ive been in since high school-i know this may be unrealistic but if you ditch your car amazing things happen to your body. the chance to relax within nature. amazing new friends, zambian and american, who make me laugh, cry, grow, and challenge me to be a better person. and i think best of all is that i'm more comfortable in my own skin now than i've ever bee.

a big thanks to everyone whose been writing/sending packages. there have been a few inquiries as to what i may need, so heres a shameless wish list:

cliff bars/lara bars (top priority for my upcoming 225km bike ride to solwezi in late may. sorry to be picky but please no powerbars)
green tea
magazines/books (spirituality, vegetarian nutrition, liberal politics, exercise, yoga)
yoga deck
bear naked granola/kashi granola bars
dried fruit/nuts
anything from trader joes
t-shirts/long sleeve tees from american apparel http://store.americanapparel.net/
thats all i can think of for now...

well i hope that satisfys your thirst for info about my life here for now. and again, if youre really interested, the best way to learn more is by visiting me! btw next saturday (3/17) i'll have cell service all day, so if youd like give a ring.

take care.

namibia

2006-12-30T10:23:00.000-05:00

merry christmas and happy new year all! so i'm surviving the first brutal round of holidays far far way from home/family/friends/etc. fortunatly i'm on an amazing vacation in namibia which is such an absolutly beautiful country. the trip started out back on 20 dec in livingstone, zambia-home of victoria falls. there i decided to bungee jump-freakin scary and i somehow burst my capilaries around my eyes so i looked like a deranged racoon for a few days. from there it was off to namibia where we spend a transit day in the capitol, windhook, which is a cool little city surrounded by mountians. from there we drove through the desert to swakopmund. the desert was unreal-lots of antelope, kudu, ostriches, some zebra and a meer cat-baobob trees as well. it felt so nice to ride in a real car on relativly flat land listening to real music rather than the hectic zambian public transportation. swakopmund may be one of my favorite towns on the planet. its this beautiful beach town with cool german architecture and palm trees everywhere. it was also one of the most racially diverese places i've ever been which was interesting. spent lots of time on the beach and bumming around town, plus a bit of partying time (heck i'm on vacation). from swak it was off to the namib desert for camping and climbing the worlds biggest sand dunes. totally amazing, peacful and humbling. today we are back in windhook for two days then its back to zambia. its been an amazing time but i will be excited to return to the village and get back to work. hopefully pictures will be online soon. thanks to everyone who has been writing/sending packages, it means a lot more than you can imagine. with each day i'm loving peace corps service more yet also missing home as well, and insanley enough my service is about 25% over already...guess you all better plan your trips out here soon soon. take care.

ist

2006-11-18T11:41:00.000-05:00

hey everyone. my week here in the zambian capitol of lusaka is just winding down as our in service training has ended. its been quite interesting...seeing all of my friends from training that i havent seen in three months plus meeting a bunch of other ones from different intakes/programs. also we had many training sessions that were interesting on topics like beekeping, organic farming, etc.

lusaka is feeling almost like being in america, kinda, sorta. theres tons of stores here like shopping malls at home, great resturants, grocery stores and even a movie theater where we saw the borat movie yesterday. so this past week has been very surreal and felt kind like being back home-ish. we even hung out at the marine base the other day (there are six marines stationed in zambia to protect the embasy). they have a great house with many ammenities peace corps doesnt have (pool, pool table, bb court, etc). its been great, much fun being here but i wont mind returning to my site. theres just a few weeks up there before i'll head off to namibia for christmas vacation, so it will be good to put some work in and get back on my bike. i've just begun my work with creating ponds for the school so i want to leave them with some stuff to do over my x-mas break.

also my house is finnaly finished! its great, i like it too much and its quite comfortable. what a wonderful starter home in the middle of nowhere. most likely ill be posting some pictures on here when i'm back through lusaka on the way to namibia.

thats about it. take care, stay safe and make sure whatever your doing that you have some fun and laugh each day.

hey all

2006-10-20T05:09:00.001-05:00

honestly not much new to report, but i'm in town so i figured i'd post. the house is almost finished, really. last week i had three meetings in six days, which kept me pretty busy. the rains have started but not too fierce yet. they are pretty cool, its real nice sleeping at nite during the rain. also i've seen primates in the wild for the first time. little buggers called bushbabies, nocturnal ones that hop from tree to tree by my house.

so i'm gonna watch the angola vs. zambia football match here in solwezi tomorrow then head back home. the next few months should be pretty busy, starting to do more work with the finishing of my house. plus my boss is visiting next week, then in november ill be in lusaka for training and solwezi for thanksgiving & namibia for christmas (maybe even cape town for new years). so hope as the holidays approach you are all well also. nov 12-thanksgiving give my cell phone a shot.

animal planet

2006-09-07T07:19:00.000-05:00

so i'm in solwezi till the 13th on business if you will (work permits, provincial meeting, etc.). that also means cell service all the time, so anytime after noon EST on those days give a call. it's been just shy of three weeks at site. so how's it been? awsome.

so why animal planet?

at my site for less than an hour and i have to rescue a baby goat from my trash pit. side note: this was before i realized that goats are extension agents of the devil.

after 80km of cycling one day i played chicken with two dozen cattle in the road. they really don't like to move when they are headed in a straight line.

after writing a letter to the staes and leaving it outside for five minutes, finding it partially eaten...i did my best to repair it and mail it anyway, so one lucky reader will be getting an authentic piece of zam-wilderness!

i-pods arent just for people anymore...a mouse ate one of my headphones.

but rats are also for people...so i ate bush rat for dinner one nite. not as gross as it sounds, kinda like turkey and beef jerkey mixed. trying to explain to my family that people get big bucks to do things like that on tv in the staes was amusing. the next day when i told a fellow volunteer that i ate rat, he asked why. my only response was, ít was for dinner'which made me wonder if 'bush rat, its whats for dinner'may someday trump 'beef'. and you may wonder whats grosser than eating bush rat for dinner? eatining it two nites in a row...yup.

friday bloody friday...found a snake in my dirty laundry, bashed its head in with a pot, showed my family and burned it. 1/2 hour later dropped ten kgs of books on a rat and burned that too.

but other than those episodes the animal life is pretty cool. no large game (elephants, etc.) but tons of bueatiful birds, lizards and butterflies. and the skys are geourgeous. i've seen two shooting starts and the moon is so bright at nite when its more than half full that you don't need any other lite to get around. it feels like a planet that is much more god-made than man-shaped.

work is moving nicely as i also split time watching 'this old house''meet 'national geographic' aka watching and trying to help finish my house. i've been visiting an established group of farmers with another volunteer every week and i'm planning to build a pond for the local catholic church and some for the school. the headmaster of the school expressed this interest to me so that children whose parents can't continue to pay the school fees will hopefully learn a skill they can generate income from. sounds like a good idea, i'm stoked for it. once the house is done i'll try to find more farmers to work with, if theres time before the rain starts. it's pretty sweet to get to go to ork in shorts and a t-shitrt...from the boardroom to boardshorts, nice. and in case you thought i wouldn't be busy enough, its a roughly 80km cycle round trip to check my mail, which i will do weekly. so by virtue of checking my mail weekly over the next two years i will cover 8000km or 4971 miles, just about 500 miles short of riding from my parents house in jersey to los angeles and back...yeah i'm gonna be in great shape.

oh and just the other day i saw a mass UNHRC (united nations high commission for refugees)convoy of two suvs and three full buses headed down the road towards angola. no sine of brangelina or the kids, they must still be out on maternity.

and i only have nine toenails currently. if you play football (soccer) barefoot, be sure to keep the toenails trimmed very short to prevent the ball from getting under them and ripping them off.

thats it for now, keep that sweet mail coming!

its official, i'm a peace corps volunteer.

2006-08-18T04:47:00.000-05:00

yes i have made it thru training in one piece and with a lot more knowledge and stories than i came to zambia with. last monday was our swearing in ceremony which was very cool. there were speeches by all sorts of important people from the zambian gov't, american embasy & peace corps. also some of the trainees gave speeches in local languages and my language class sang a traditional zambian song which was thouroughly enjoyed by the audience. that nite was a lot of fun, very kumbaya-ish with all 52 of us new volunteers and our training staff having a huge bonfire and singing and what-not.

after a morining of tearful goodbyes we headed to solwezi, our provincial capitol to buy all of the stuff we'll need at our houses in the village. it's been a very busy few days and i'm anxious to get posted at my site tomorow, to begin the work i've come here to do.

a little bit about my province...northwest province has about 30 volunteers currently from all five peace corps zambia projects: rural aquaculture promotion, linking food, environment & income, hiv/aids project, learing at toanga market and community action health plan (for more info see the peace corps site). our new intake of volunteers is 12 people: myself, dan, kit, jeremy (rap), toper, tim doug (life), amy, beth, tess, bob & paul (hap). its a real interesting mix of people from new jersey to california and all over in between, so i'm really excited to spend some time with all them over the next two years.

well i guess thats all for now, it will be a while till i can post again but by then i will have some fish farming and village stories to tell. wish me luck!

makota? nakota? (are you strong? yes i am strong)

2006-08-12T10:19:00.000-05:00

wow i did it! the first step anyway, training. on monday i will be sworn in as an official pcv! the scary language test was passed and with much help from my amazing teacher, a golden. we had extra sessions each day, just conversining in lunda. along the way i realized not only my potential to speak the language but my love of being able to do it. and on our final tech test i got the highest score in the class!?!?! the felling of satisfaction from completeing training is indescribable...i am very excited to head off to the village where i will begin my work and become a productive member of the community. the road ahed for the next two years will certianly be difficult at times but i feel so blessed to have the opprotunities that will arise. there is so much natural beauty here in zambia and it can insire even this one on the roughest of days. so keep me in your thoughts and prayers during this next huge step that i am taking and please try to live out your dreams as well, you will thank yourself for it when you do.

twakadimona kumadiki (we will see each other tommorow(ok maybe not tomm. but we will see each other again))

training is nearing the end

2006-08-05T06:12:00.000-05:00

hey,

so theres only one week of training left and the swear-in ceremony is slated for the 14th of august. time really has flown by. it's a bit stressfull now preparing for my final language exam, but i'm putting in a lot of extra time with my teacher, so keep me in your thoughts and prayers that that all goes well. when we got back from site visit last week i had 11 letters and 3 packages waiting for me...talk about peer envy, i felt like the man. return letters are coming, slowly but surely. also i got a package later in the week and i don't know who sent it...i know that sounds crazy but i was rushing around, emptied the contents into my backpack and left the box at the training center never to be seen again. the contents rocked, lots of energy bars and trader joes green tea, so if you are the party that sent it plese let me know so i can thank you. guess thats about all the new stuff i can think of now, my brain is to full of lunda for much else, so wish me luck with this last week of training.

the lunda legends

2006-07-30T09:59:00.000-05:00

jeremy, me, kit & dan complete w/ our trash stashes.

the two most hardcore weeks of my life...

2006-07-30T09:36:00.000-05:00

hey all,

so we just got back from site visit number two and it was amazing. we finnally got a true taste of village life to know what to expect for the next two years. the trip started last sunday with pc transport in the landcruiser to solwezi, our provincial capital where we have a proper house that our lrad volunteer lives in and we can crash at when needed. we got to meet a bunch of the other volunteers in the province and had a little party which was nice. on monday it was off to mwinilunga for about a week of class which was at times stressful only b/c me and my friend dan had to bike five km each way to get there...in the end we biked over 300 km each which was a nice feat. once classes ended last tuesday we crashed at a mission near dans site for a nite and had the best food yet in zambia, saw the dr. congo border, saw an amazing waterfall, the list goes on. i got to see my site where ill be living, but my house isnt built yet. another volunteer in the area said ''i'd hurt someone for your site''. its pretty sweet- 1/2 km from the tarmac for easy transport, no kids, my ataata keeps his animals penned, there is every fruit tree imaginable, a sweet rock gorge nearby & there is a huge grassy plain rite accross the road. i really cant wait to move in and if you feel like sending anything to help decorate (pictures, stickers, posters) that would be great-i have no same making a plug like taht seeing as i make no money at all now. what a perfect sugue to my new address:

raymond palko
peace corps
p.o. box 160073
mwinilunga
zambia
africa

so please keep the mail coming it is amazing, and once i get to site ill start writing more. also i'll keep my phone on all the time for the next two weeks b/c at site ill not have service, so give a call if you can. thanks for all the support, email, letters, etc. it has meant the world to me.

take care.

x-culturism

2006-07-08T07:52:00.000-05:00

this past week had some interesting views into zambian culture. on the 4rth we had a cross-cultural day where all of our homestay families came to the training center and cooked for us...no real outta the ordinary foo (except for impala & catipillars) but we did so chickens being slaughtered and some of us, no myself, got to take part.

on thursday we had an amazing lecture from a zambian author about zambian culture and its differences from the western cultures. basically as far as time goes, americans are monochronic whereas zambians are polychronic...so in zambia waiting is an activity where in the states it is an annoyance. i have defenitly seen that in daily life here already. the most fascinating part of the lecture was when the woman commented that the extended family structure in zambia is starting to weaken a bit. i thought she was going to say due to hiv/aids, when in fact she commented that the extended family structure is the one thing that has saved zambia from total chaos in the midst of the hiv/aids crisis. its amazing the obligation that zambians feel toward their families and fellow human beings.

there have been a few questions about my email, its hcaulfield123@yahoo.com and currently i check it weekly, which will soon turn into monthly, but feel free to use it anyway (in addition to writing cause letters are AMAZING). also i got a cell phone which will have good service till i leave for site in mid august (minus the last two weeks of july when im on site visit). i can't call you b/c i have no money, but incoming calls are free & my # is 011 260 99 658 537. i'm not sure if i listed the country code in the beginning rite, but if you cant figure it out and want to call, call my parents and they will tell you what to do.

guess thats all for now, take care & stay classy.

do it for 'merica!

2006-07-01T07:28:00.000-05:00

hey all,

so we are gettin into the meat & potatoes of training rite now. we had our first language interview/assesment/test yesterday and i think i did ok. its become apparent that the more you say 'hello, thank you & goodbye' the more fluent you appear...kolenu mwani, nasakilili nan kashi, melea mwani! the tech training is really gettin fun as we get to ride our bikes through the bush to get there. earlier this week we went the wrong way and stumbled upon a sweet waterfall which we all hang out at in our free time now. yesterday we started to dig a pond and i got covered in mud from using it as a slip & slide plus a few sweet mud fights. its so sweet that even when we are in class its in the middle of some cool pictureque african setting. the only worry now is that i will miss my fellow trainees & my homestay family when i get posted. my homestay family is really awsome and insists on doing nearly everything for me. i finnally broke thru last week and did my own laundry. tommorrow we are going to have a bob marley party while we do laundry. my fellow tainees are my real family here. they are so great and the best way to put it is w/a line from 'swing life away' by rise against...

''and I've got some friends some that I hardly know but we've had some times I wouldn't trade for the world''

and tonite is the big 'disco nite' where we all go to the club with our trainers which should be a blast...don't wait up.

kolenu mwani!
(hello, literally 'be strong')

just in case you miss my smiling face

2006-06-24T09:02:00.000-05:00

theres a party in my bloodstream & every parasite is invited!

2006-06-24T08:44:00.000-05:00

hey all, so i was the first of our group to get malaria. it could best be described as the worst chills ever imaginable w/extreme fatigue...fun. luckily i was able to recognize my symptoms and get treatement, so i'm totally fine now. makes for a good story i guess. other than that things are great here. last week was kinda rough, but knowing that it was the parasites making me feel down gave me a fresh start. so my days are basically spent in class now b/c we are in training. language in the moring is uber-tough but our trainer is great and the three other guys in my class, jeremy, kit & dan are really cool. tech training in the afternoon is a lot of fun and yesterday we got to bike out to a farm and stock a pond with fingerlings, or 'tunyana kanshi' in lunda. i live in a house near the training center with a family of eight who are really nice and hospitible. when i'm not there or in class i'm hangin out w/other trainees who are some of the funnest people i have ever met.

time to write is extremely limted, but i am churing out letters when possible. please write me b/c i miss you all and want to know how your lives are going. to date i have gotten one letter from my sister abby and it was the best letter imaginable, complete w/ news articles, moms picture in the local paper & the brangelina baby...keep up the good work sis!

and if you feel the need to mail anything, the following items could come in handy:
green tea
books
magazines
lara bars/cliffbars
anything else you think i'd like.

so thats about it for now...and know that everyday i have a moment where i sit back and try to comprehend what i'm doing and it is then that i'm happiest to be here...i'm being challenged a lot and couldnt be happier.

peace.

survives week one of training!

2006-06-18T02:38:00.000-05:00

hey all! happy fathers day to any dads out there, especially mine. we have finsished out first week of training which has been INSANE! we spent a few days in the bush getting a preview of live as a pcv and it was sweet. now we are living near the training center w/homestay families and going to class all day 5 1/2 days of the week. my brain is ready to explode with all this information and the experience has been very humbling. we are taking it in stride though and each day i realize that this is the most amazing thing i have ever done. please write i would love to hear from you guys and i'll be writing when time allows.

take care.
ray

made it to zambia!

2006-06-10T15:33:00.000-05:00

made it to zambia... will write more when there's time -- right now, it's time to get more shots!

here in joburg

2006-06-08T16:32:00.001-05:00

all,

we have safely arrived in johannesburg and will be here overnite then will fly to zambia. south african airlines rocks! the hotel is amazing, i'm enjoying a nice south african white wine rite now. my fellow trainees are great people and i feel truly at home doing this. please pass this along to everyone...from this point on communication will be spotty, so we shall operate under the premise of ''no news is good news''. i miss you all and wish you could be here with me. peace.

take care.
ray

this is it!

2006-06-05T10:07:00.000-05:00

so here we go! thanks so much to everyone for their good wishes and generousity over the last few months. i'm off to philly for orientation and to be honest there is so much i'd like to write but i cant concentrate. you will all be missed...please write! its the po box listed on this blog. with letters write air mail/par avion and for package declare no value and write 'used religous materials' so i dont have to pay for them and they dont get picked through. i'll have my cell phone on till tuesday afternoon if youd like to call.

take care.

top ten

2006-05-25T15:23:00.000-05:00

with ten days left untill our pc journey officially begins, i figured i'd throw out the top ten reasons to join the pc in zambia:

10. get a great tan

9. escape escalating gas prices

8. see the world

7. ''got worms?''

6. make new friends

5. do things other people file under 'crazy'

4. live the dream

3. do somthing good for others

2. a 'case of the mondays' will mean while dodging a rooster on your bike (the same one who kept you up all nite) you fall into a huge puddle, rather than your creepy boss won't lay off about the tps reports

1. i'm sick of flush toilets

what a party.

2006-05-16T15:24:00.000-05:00

thanks to everyone who made it to my going away party. it was a blast. the diverses mix of friends and family was quite interesting, even made me a bit nervous as connor, jim, leone & mink arrived w/their gift (lets just say it wasn't exactly pg rated). fortunatly all in attendance had a sense of humor. guests came from near and far, with the nearest being my nextdoor neighbors paul, pam & their sons and the award for most miles traveled going to my good friend jim dingman who flew in from hawaii. honerable mention goes to my sister & brother-in law (indiana), my cousin sarah (mississippi) and cousin kate (rhode island). thanks again to everyone for being there, it was great to see you all before i leave.

twenty-five days out, no job, no worries.

2006-05-10T13:35:00.000-05:00

so now i'm lovin life as i prepare to head off to zambia. last friday was my last day of work which was pretty sweet. after work about ten co-workers went out for happy hour. its a shame that they really are cool people, but we get so wrapped up in work to ever really hang out and get to know one another...moral of the story don't take work to seriously. after the happy hour i celebrated cinco de mayo old school style with one final trip to rowan. great time, and when i left sat. morning i could tell that in some wierd way i will always be connected to that place. now i'm just mixing it up relaxing, packing, planning & saying goodbyes. i was a little worried that boredom would set in not workin, but i'm havin a blast-if you ever get the chance to take extended time off do it. my training address will be: raymond palko/pct, peace corps, p.o. box 21527, kitwe, zambia. when i get the permanent one i'll update it here. that is all for now, take care.

forty days out...

2006-04-25T20:34:00.000-05:00

as you journey through life,
choose your destinations well,
but do not hurry there.
avoid the shortcuts...
wander the back roads...
enjoy the scenery.
and remember
that the true worth of your travels
lies not in the destination
but in who you come to be
along the way.

no ordinary man.

2006-04-11T21:31:00.000-05:00

so i just had an awsome time at a speech/book signing with paul rusesabagina, the main charecter in the movie 'hotel rwanda'. if anyone hasnt seen the movie yet you really should. hearing paul speak about his expiriences in the rwandian genocide illustrated what a great portrayl the movie is. and a particular response during the q&a resonated deeply within me. the audience member asked how he was able to stay strong during the turmoil. paul said that he didnt feel as if he did anything extraordinary, rather he did his duty as a human being, to save lives when presented with the chance. this was special to me b/c i feel as if i am about to do my duty to help others when i join the peace corps. while i will not be saving lives as paul did, it is my hope that i will be able to make a few lives better. and afterwards when i had the honor to meet paul and shake his hand i asked for one piece of advice while i am in zambia. he said "be careful". i seem to be hearing that a lot these days and i promise i will.

2006-04-04T18:50:00.000-05:00

so i didn't really plan to make any posts until i got over to zambia b/c i didn't think there was much worth writing about here and i haven't even given the address for this blog to anyone yet other than my fellow future pcv's (which is kinda funny b/c i made a post asking for peoples addresses so i can write, but the only people who read it will be in zambia too). then i read on two of their blogs that they have been stalking the rest of us for updates so i figured it would be nice to give them one, and felt obligated since i have enjoyed reading theirs as well (but not stalking...you guys need help). so here it goes...
tommorow is april 5th, exactly one month till my last day of work at pfpc, which i am thrilled about. i'm kinda in my swan song now, doing no more than the required amount to get by, making as many wisecracks as possible and basking in the glow of artifical light while trying to keep my soul intact. not that its a terrible job, but its not the rite place for me at this point in my life. i will never forget it though, as i met great people and tasted success there. it was also in the confines of my cubicle where i had time to truly examine myself and work up the courage to put my pc dream in motion.
cinco de mayo will put me at one month till meeting all of my future fellow pcv's, presumably in philly, before we head off for africa on june 7th. i can't wait for this month without work. after graduating college four years ago i never took any time off and went rite to work. knowing what i know now i would highly recommend college grads take time off before starting work. i'll keep busy by traveling a bit, to rhode island for my cousin kate's college graduation and to indiana to see my sister and brother-in-law and a day trip to dc. also i'll be doing the things that work has been so good at making me too busy for, like volunteering at philabundance, going on really long bike rides and taking meditation courses at the shambhala center in philly to name a few. the month of may will be both a reward for sticking with it at my job for so long and a time to reflect on the past/prepare for the future.
after that comes the big adventure, so stay tuned...

and so it begins...

2006-01-27T00:22:00.000-05:00

welcome to this work in progress...eventually it will serve as one of my only forms of communication with the world outside of zambia for two plus years (but don't forget about good old snail mail, i'm looking for a few good pen pals).as you probably know, i'm headed to zambia in june for a twenty-seven month stint in the peace corps. this blog is here for you to share in my journey...my wit & prose will be the next best thing to being with me in the bush, minus the two thousand dollar plane ticket. and by share i mean this is interactive, so please add your insightful comments as you see fit.