Tuesday, August 31, 2010

I’m a Volunteer!

After 3 months of training, the Peace Corps thought we were finally ready to be volunteers. After swearing-in as volunteers, we all left the next day to our various posts scattered across the country. I loaded up a bus with my 3 huge suitcases, a water filter, and a bike and trekked across country. It took over 7 hours and multiple forms of transportation, but I eventually made it to my site.

Once there, I had to turn around to go back to the nearest city to buy everything since I can’t find much in my village. There I bought a stove, a gas tank, a broom, pots, pans, plates, etc and then attempted to bring all of that back with me to my village on an hour long moto-ride in the rain. The ride is a really pretty one with great views of the mountains and waterfalls, but it is also terrifying as the dirt roads get super slippery and the road is narrow.

Eventually, I made it with everything to my site, but then I had to set up my gas stove. It took an hour to get the hose to the gas tank on the stove and then 5 minutes into cooking dinner, there was a small explosion underneath the stove. Apparently I didn’t get the hose on well enough and there was a gas leakage. Never fear, another hour later of trying to fasten the hose to the stove, I finally safely got the stove to work sans explosions.

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