Safely in Mali

Hello all! I made it safely to Mali, via staging in Philly and a layover in Paris. We (all 81 of us) got here on Friday, July 20th. We're in our own little Peace Corps village outside the capital, Bamako. It's the rainy season here, and we just had our first huge thunderstorm last night, perhaps the loudest thunder I've ever heard! We're living in little mud huts, three to a hut. Our training starts each day at 8 and goes until approximately 7. Training includes health, safety, cross-cultural, and Bambara, and is mostly conducted by Malians in english. We will split up and move on Thursday to a homestay village, where we will complete the next 8 weeks of training. I don't know where I'm going yet or what language, and I won't know where my final site is for at least a few weeks. In the first homestay village, a group of 5-11 of us will be placed in the same village, but different families to ease us into village life. We'll be taking about 7 hours a day of language class, and combined with immersion, we should become stable enough in our respective languages by the time we go out to site. We had a nice cultural festival here today where jewelry and clothes were sold and made. I got some henna tatooing on my feet and hands, and picked out a nice fabric and had a pagne and shirt made. It was quite the experience. Anyhow, things are wonderful, and I look forward to hearing from you! Sorry for the lack of visuals, I'm pretty sure it would take forever to upload!

Going Away

After three and a half short weeks in Ann Arbor, the time for me to leave has come. My brother threw me a going away party, and I was so fortunate to have so many friends there, coming from all over. Thanks to all in attendance!

Liz and Mandy

Joanna and I

Joanna, Erin and Debbie

Elissa and I

Alison and I

Me and Pops

My new stepmother and I

Well folks, it's been fun here in the states, and a million thanks for all those who helped make this transition a smooth one. I'm off to Philadelphia tomorrow where I will begin the biggest adventure in my life. I'll spend two days there, and fly to Mali via Paris for my nine week training. I'm not entirely sure what happens from there, but I'm sure it will a challenging and rewarding experience. I'll keep you posted from time to time! Feel free to leave comments on here, or send personal emails, and I'll try to respond as often as I can. Keep me posted on what's happening in your lives too!!

Dad's Wedding

I flew back from Vermont into Denver and began the end of my road trip. I hopped on I-70 across to see something new. This route brought me through Topeka, Kansas City and St. Louis, where I saw the arch and had dinner. It was quite a nice time, but the midwest is quite boring after all those natural wonders. I arrived home on Friday June 22nd, and after 16 days living out of a suitcase I sure was happy to be home!

After arriving home, I had a little time to relax before the second wedding took place. This time it was my very own father uniting with the mother of a good friend of mine from high school, Taraneh. It was a beautiful day for a beautiful ceremony.

Left to Right, Carol (Anita's mom), Anita, Bill and Jeanne (Bill's mom)


The bridesmaids, Taraneh, Elissa and I


The groomsmen, Javan and Matt

The ceremony


Cake time!

Sisters

A very happy couple! Congratulations Bill and Anita!!

Vermont Wedding

On 14 June I flew to Vermont to attend the wedding uniting Sunni Dunn and Michael Eriksen. It was a most fun weekend, and the Dunn hospitality was once again impeccable. The ceremony was beautiful and the reception was quite a time, followed by an after party and an after after party. I was able to play the discgolf course in Waterbury on Sunday, which was a real treat.

Jesse and the flower girls at the reception

The parents of the bride made a most lovely slideshow video of the bride and groom as kids, we all got a kick out of it

The most lovely bride

Parents of the bride and groom

bridesmaids and flower girls

Lighting of the candle

vows

The groomsmen

The Old Round Church in Richmond

Jesse and I at the reception

Arches to Boulder

6-11-07

As everyone who's ever been to Arches knows, the campsite fills up at 8 AM in the summer. Since I arrived early afternoon, I had to travel outside the park to find a campsite. I was lucky and got a spot in an awesome campground, Negro Bill's. My campsite backed up to the Colorado River and was very secluded. It was the best campsite I had the whole time.


I then headed into Arches for a long hike. I had my heart set on the Devils Garden Primitive Loop. It was a bit ambitious in the late afternoon but it was overcast, keeping temperatures down and tourists away. Despite a full campground, I only encountered a few other groups on my hike. The hike is a 7.2 mile loop that visits eight arches, most off the beaten path, including Private Arch,

and Double O Arch


My absolute favorite part about the hike was all the bouldering.


At the end of the hike (actually halfway because it was a loop) there was a formation called the Dark Angel shown below. It was quite the structure as it was in the middle of nowhere by itself, and the stone was actually black.


At the end of the hike, a rewarding view of Landscape Arch, which is one of the world's longest stone spans, at 306 feet long and only 11 feet thick in the middle.



After an amazing afternoon, I saw the sunset in the park, and again, it was overcast, and not great for pictures.


Waking up the next morning, I had to hurry to get to Boulder to a friend's house before my flight took off to Vermont for a wedding. It was a rough ride over the Rockies, raining and hailing, but I made it in time to unload and go to bed.

Bryce Canyon

6-10-07


After leaving Kaibab, I went back north to Utah's Bryce Canyon. The scenes here were breathtaking.



I finally got to a park early enough to set up my own campsite, and even take a hike before sunset. I hiked the 3 mile Navajo Loop to the Queens Garden Trail. It was quite the change from other hikes I'd taken on the road trip, because you hike down first, and the canyon is at approximately 9,000 feet MSL, leaving you short of breath. The hike down brought some crazy formations into view.



For those who don't know, Bryce Canyon was underwater at one point, but is now completely dry.


One of the coolest things is that you can really see the layers, and when you're hiking down, you go through the layers. There was this one white layer that really caught my eye. I never did find out what caused it.


I was fortunate enough to watch the sunset, again not excellent for pictures, and have a picnic dinner on the rim of the canyon.



Notice the Polygamy Porter
It was going to be a long haul to make it to Arches in time to find a campsite, so I woke up in the morning just in time to see the sunrise over the eastward facing canyon (again not good for pictures, unfortunately). I quickly packed up my campsite, and was off to the most beautiful Park of them all.

Grand Canyon

6-9-07

Upon departure from Zion I drove through Kaibab National Forest. The Forest had previously been devistated by a forest fire, and a huge logging operation was taking place to prevent trees from falling in the roads. The road through the forest took me into to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.

I only had time to sit and enjoy for a minute before heading to find a campsite outside the Park, as it was peak season, and the weekend.

I drove back into Kaibab National Forest, where camping is open as long as you are a certain distance away from the road. After a speedy 35 miles on a dirt road, I arrived at a remote campsite that looked over the canyon. I made it just in time for sunset, but it was cloudy so pictures weren't well. This is a picture of the canyon from my campsite the next morning

After making a mental note to come back ASAP and backpack into the canyon, I was off to explore another canyon, Bryce.

Zion

Thanks to those who noticed the pictures weren't working and notified me. I'm new at this, and it's not as easy as I thought it would be!! If you have any other suggestions feel free to leave a comment for me!

8 June 2007

After driving through Vegas,

I made my way to Zion Canyon where a nice guy from the Netherlands let me pitch my tent on his campsite. After making dinner, I went for a hike and watched the sunset.


I woke up in the morning and after some convincing from a friend, I decided to take the Angel's Landing hike. It was probably the coolest hike I've ever done, climbing 1,488 feet over 2.5 miles. There were times when all you had to hold onto were chains. It was a strenuous climb

but the views were extremely rewarding.