So this is sort of cool. A group of American high school students are traveling through Senegal and stopped in my village for the week to relax and stay with local families. They are the ones I blogged about earlier from the program Where There Be Dragons (again, someone might want to rethink that name).
Anyway, Carolyn, a mother of one of the students found my blog and e-mailed me to ask if her 15-year-old daughter was staying with me. She is, and she’s doing great. I love having her.
Carolyn was a volunteer in the DRC from ’78 to ’80. I don’t about you all, but my first though was “No I-pod.” The Peace Corps in the seventies was definitely more intense than it is today. I like to complain … well, the less said on that the better, huh?
Of course Julie was in the Peace Corps ten years ago and all she had was that little walkman with a Shakira tape (this was my first introduction to Shakira. I liked her and hogged the walkman for my entire trip because that’s the sort of little sister I am and Julie’s the big sister she is, so she let me).
Carolyn said she wishes she could have blogged during her service because all she has now is a water stained journal. I don’t know what Julie has. Last time I went rummaging through her things I think she still had some Dominican currency. Our Julie’s not of the “when in doubt throw it out” school of housekeeping.
Anyway, the Americans in town are fun and I’m on my way back soon to tell my guest about her mom’s e-mail.
Before I start responding to your e-mails, I don’t know what’s going on but my internet traffic has skyrocketed. This must mean there are a lot of bored people on the internet. Gee, who knew? Sometimes, when I’m bored I like to look at Julie and Dave’s Wildlands Conservation web site. They’re doing great work to preserve Florida, but I visit because I like the profile pictures.
When you first open the site you’ll notice Dave gazing commandingly at Florida’s wild lands, right above the “Who We Are" section. Click on that, because that leads you to ‘key personnel’ where you can read about Campeón who has a Peace Corps story of his own. If you scroll down on the main page you can see the famous Julie, gazing (it has to be said, perhaps not quite so commandingly) above the Conservation Planning section.
Seriously though, obviously you don’t have a lot to do with your time and they are doing important things.
Comments