Farewell Electricity

I leave for site tomorrow. I’m a little nervous. Tomorrow I’ll either sink or swim. Hopefully all the language training in the past two months actually sticks with me.

I have a few things to cover in this entry, the first of which is an address change. If you plan on sending me something (mail or package… and I wish you would), please disregard the address I had posted previously and use the following:

Matt Seib, PCV

Corps de la Paix

BP 117

Segou

Mali

West Africa

(If you accidentally send something to the old address, don’t worry, it will still get to me, but it will take longer.)

I want to dedicate this paragraph to all things cycling. My primary mode of transportation here is a Peace Corps issued Trek 3500 mountain bike. It’s already been used for two years by another Volunteer, so it doesn’t shift into some of the gears, but that doesn’t stop me from looking like a bad ass every time I go whizzing past another donkey cart loaded with who knows what. I must say, there is something rather satisfying about traveling by bike over distances usually accomplished in a short car ride. Not only do you get some exercise, but you have a lot more interaction with your community. That and it just feels good to use the most efficient mode of human transportation ever mass produced. Hooray for bikes! Hooray for cyclists!

This part is for future Peace Corps Volunteers or people interested in spending a large amount of time overseas. I want to talk about shopping overseas – something I touched on in my last entry. I will begin by mentioning the lesson: “You can get almost everything you need in country.”

What do I mean? When you get accepted into PC and get a country placement, you will be sent a packet of information that contains all sorts of stuff on the country you will be in… including a packing list. You are also told that you can only bring two bags… with a weight limit of 80 lbs total (or something like that). I know when I packed I was under the assumption that I would have to bring everything I would need to survive for the next two years with me. I want to dispel that myth for posterity.

You can get some version of whatever you want or need while you are here… it just might not be up to the comfort standards of America. What do I mean? You could bring your favorite style of journal with you for the next two years, or you could buy notebooks at the boutique. You could bring a ton of clothes from home, or you could buy cheap western clothes here (thus dressing more like a Malian while maintaining western fashion). You could bring comfort foods, or you could buy them at an ex-pat store. The point I am trying to make is that you can pack very light and still be comfortable when you get here. Some of the few things that you can’t get that I would recommend bringing include: Ipod, headlamp, multi-tool, water bottle, digital camera, and rechargeable batteries. You can even get solar panels here if you’re willing to pay for one... and they’re not that expensive by US standards. My point here is to make it easy on yourself. Don’t bother dragging all kinds of stuff half way across the world that you can just buy with your Peace Corps allowance when you get here…