My Journal

HANNE'S LIFE AND TRAVELS

My Journal

| | |

St. Petersburg, Russia (IMOP)

In front of my university during a blizzard

13.03.2005

My first journal entry: I found yet something else to occupy myself with that is not my senior thesis!!—Go figure!!—This seems to have been happening a lot lately. I must be experiencing the worst case of "senioritis" ever known to mankind. Shto dyelat!

For those who really feel a need to know, YES, I really do miss Russia still and I would give up my savings to go back to the broken bed and the hot pink toilet seat at IMOP in a heartbeat. Aww... the garbage stench!!

Boise is still Boise; therefore, I am going nuts! Nevertheless, I am excited to tell the world that will be leaving this city yet again in the near future (September or October if all goes well).

I turned in my Peace Corps application on March 6th and was interviewed by RPCV from Mali, Erin, less than a week after. So far all I know is that as soon as she receives my fingerprint charts and other miscellaneous documentation Erin will be nominating me to serve in a certain region of the world. I will not know where exactly I am going to be assigned to until July. Welcome back to my life ever-so-missed feelings of uncertainty!!

Okay, it's time for procrastination to stop. Kids, remember these words: HOMEWORK BLOWS!!

Poka!

---H

15.03.2005

Although I hate chain-letter emails with a passion that defies words, my feminist side found this really cute! ENJOY!

THE IMPORTANCE OF HAVING GIRLFRIENDS:

Time passes.
Life happens.
Distance separates.
Children grow up.
Love waxes and wanes.
Hearts break.
Careers end.
Jobs come and go.
Parents die.
Colleagues forget favors.
Men don't call when they say they will.
However...
Girlfriends are there, no matter how much time and how many miles
are between you. A girlfriend is never farther away than needing her can reach.

Guayaquil, Ecuador (2004)

With my awesome girlfriends: Mariuxi, Priscilla and Anita

With love to all of my girlfriends out there and especially dedicated to my sister, Carola, my best friend (who gave birth to the most beautiful baby girl today: Emily Carmela). ---H

GIRLS RULE!!

Central Asia

I believe that my possible assignment countries are: Uzbekistan, Kyrgyz, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan

23.25.2005

(I sent this out as an email earlier. This is the "publishable", spelling-error-free version. Who can spell Kazakhstan correctly without looking it up anyway?)

After less than twenty days of crazy paperwork, inkless fingerprinting and "hanging-by-the-edge-of-my-seat" waiting, I talked to Erin (my PC recruiter) today and discussed my Peace Corps assignment.

Drum roll...

I AM GOING TO CENTRAL ASIA!!!

The funny part is that this is a region yet to be defined... The Seattle office is not exactly sure of the countries that fall under that category (somewhat concerning... your input welcome!). Erin and I narrowed it down to the obvious ones (Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan) and are being hopeful about the Caucasian countries in "the middle" (Azerbaijan, Armenia, and fabulous Georgia!).

The catch is that I will not know exactly where I am going until June, and my group (22 volunteers) will be leaving in August (a little earlier than planned)! I will be working on Secondary English teaching and teacher training as well as community development in a "non-so-rural" area (whatever that means). As you can probably guess, I am really excited (former Soviet republics rock!!).

Anyway, now I can concentrate on my senior thesis and my trip to Seattle tomorrow. Who I am kidding... I am going to surf the net for information on the region that will be my home for 27 months starting August!

---H