Two years out

I think I’m finally hitting the end of Peace Corps related anniversaries that I can legitimately use as excuses for blog posts. So here it is: Today marks two years since I returned to the U.S. after two years in Senegal.

The volunteer who replaced me is back in America (welcome home, Donna!), I haven’t even tried to call the village in almost a year… I wonder if Bandi’s still alive.

I was on a Peace Corps panel the other night. Four RPCVs talked about their environmental work. One guy showed horrific pictures of sea turtle slaughter, another had that edge in her voice that maybe only other volunteers recognize—a strained quality that comes from long periods of trying to deal constructively with rampant inefficiency, absurdity, and frustration. Or maybe I’m just projecting.

Though standing in front of an audience, giving my Peace Corps PowerPoint presentation, it was fun to feel kinda special again—and not in the J-school short bus way I’ve been feeling lately.

Which reminds me, the crazy-reporting-class website went live: Oakland North, which along with the other J200 class news sites has the entire faculty tickled pink. The students are more likely to be loudly cursing various computer programs.

I’m incredibly impressed by my classmates’ prolific, quality article output. And photos. And videos. And audio slide shows. Multimedia, baby.

Speaking of multimedia, here are the things which I have photographed but not uploaded yet:

– The August road trip to Colorado. Many hundreds of photos.
– Cory and Josh’s baby shower in Oregon at the start of October… for Gabriel Vyrle Owens, who was born Tuesday night! 🙂
– My recent move. Andrew and I moved into a house in the Rockridge neighborhood of Oakland—a great area, within stumbling distance of restaurants, stores, BART, and Leslie & Bryan.
– Various J-school photos and frame grabs.

And now to continue procrastination elsewhere.