I would recommend to anyone a trip to Ithaca, New York. Particularly if you are of a progressive bent - you like to support local agriculture, you enjoy good music, lectures, and environmental film festivals, you're proud of a no-kill animal shelter, you drive a 20-year-old Volvo, etc.
Dad and I have a favorite coffee shop/bakery that also sells good cheese. Which is how we found Nancy, a dairy farmer and cheese maker who lives just up the road. She makes cow's milk gouda style cheeses that are incredibly yummy. We are now on our third flavor (mostly determined by age) and we go visit her personally to buy it. That is one of our many jaunts, including a trip to the honey man's house.
I have settled into my little room that now has an internet connection along with the bed, heater, and small desk. It's just next to the chicken coop. Fortunately the rooster is polite and lets me sleep til 7. Then after a little snooze time, I'm up and out for a walk. The first few days it's been a 40 minute walk, but I'll increase to an hour soon. Although today there's snow so I'm not feeling like trying the walk. We'll see. Then breakfast with Dad. And then to work.
My work so far has consisted of a job application for Plan B and a lot of Peace Corps paperwork. I was able to spend time brainstorming my other writing project a few days ago, so I'm hoping today when I finish my application, I can start some outlines for the...let's call it the California essay series. That's the writing project: essays about my personal experience with the natural history of the Owens Valley.
And meantime Mom and I are making me a couple of beautiful dresses. OK, she's doing the sewing but I did the cutting. My grandmother, a farm woman, repeated in her diaries the superstition of cutting a dress on Monday. If I recall correctly, if you cut a dress on Monday it will never get sewn. Grandma, who didn't enjoy sewing, ignored this old wives' tale, writing that any day she cut a dress was bad luck and may never get sewn. We cut our first dress on Monday and it's now done. I'm glad I'm not as busy as people who work on farms.
Which brings me around to say that I am grateful for farmers. Real people working hard to make us tasty, high quality, healthy food. I'm glad that I'm not yet so broke that I can't shop at the Green Star Cooperative Market and get lots of great local food.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Sunday, March 15, 2009
The Plan
Tomorrow I plan to accept my invitation to Romania. Although I am 100% committed, I am only 75% excited. I guess this is to be expected considering my complete enthusiasm for the Madagascar assignment. My hesitation for Romania comes for two reasons: the cold, and what I think I can best express as despair associated with the poverty there. Odd that Europeans should have worse poverty issues than Africans, and I certainly do not mean to diminish the severity of poverty in Africa. But based on my limited knowledge, I might suggest that poverty is more challenging when an income disparity is obvious. Ie, if you're poor and your neighbor is not, the sting of poverty is all the more acute. Like I said, however, I will make plans to go.
In the meantime, the Peace Corps has offered us health insurance. This buys goodwill and loyalty on my part, and should cover additional dental and medical exams that I expect they will require, considering that the last round will soon be a year old.
I am also applying for an NPS park ranger job just in case. And if any more appropriate jobs open soon, I'll apply for those too. While I'm feeling a bit more warm and fuzzy toward the Peace Corps with my health coverage, I can't say I trust the organization or the process. I'll know I'm going to Romania when the plane takes off at the end of May.
While I'm waiting for the 28th of May to roll around, I will be staying at my Dad's outside Ithaca working on a long delayed personal writing project. I will visit my Mom every week for dinner and an overnight. And I hope to work at the Ithaca co-op one shift a week so I can get 17.5% off my groceries. That will help a little in stretching my last dollars. I had hoped to go overseas with a flush bank account, but with all the delays that will not be the case. I'm not that worried though because I don't feel the need to have my own emergency evacuation plan out of Romania that I did for Madagascar.
Don't worry that I am not fully excited about Romania. This is a huge change of scenery from what I was expecting. But a year ago, if you had asked me, I would have probably chosen eastern Europe over Africa. That was before I could have imagined that they would send me to Madagascar. But Romania is better for communication, easier for family to visit, has a great environmental program, is full of sheep for cheese and wool, has a fantastic musical tradition, and is close to many other interesting countries for visiting. My sister is already sending me her old cell phone that is compatible with European systems.
Hey, Independents, I will soon be sending an email begging a favor to go get some cold weather gear out of my storage unit. I will not go without my White's Elk Guide -40 degree rated pac boots. No, it's not overkill. Trust me!
Cheers, everybody. It's a crazy ride. Stay tuned for more.
In the meantime, the Peace Corps has offered us health insurance. This buys goodwill and loyalty on my part, and should cover additional dental and medical exams that I expect they will require, considering that the last round will soon be a year old.
I am also applying for an NPS park ranger job just in case. And if any more appropriate jobs open soon, I'll apply for those too. While I'm feeling a bit more warm and fuzzy toward the Peace Corps with my health coverage, I can't say I trust the organization or the process. I'll know I'm going to Romania when the plane takes off at the end of May.
While I'm waiting for the 28th of May to roll around, I will be staying at my Dad's outside Ithaca working on a long delayed personal writing project. I will visit my Mom every week for dinner and an overnight. And I hope to work at the Ithaca co-op one shift a week so I can get 17.5% off my groceries. That will help a little in stretching my last dollars. I had hoped to go overseas with a flush bank account, but with all the delays that will not be the case. I'm not that worried though because I don't feel the need to have my own emergency evacuation plan out of Romania that I did for Madagascar.
Don't worry that I am not fully excited about Romania. This is a huge change of scenery from what I was expecting. But a year ago, if you had asked me, I would have probably chosen eastern Europe over Africa. That was before I could have imagined that they would send me to Madagascar. But Romania is better for communication, easier for family to visit, has a great environmental program, is full of sheep for cheese and wool, has a fantastic musical tradition, and is close to many other interesting countries for visiting. My sister is already sending me her old cell phone that is compatible with European systems.
Hey, Independents, I will soon be sending an email begging a favor to go get some cold weather gear out of my storage unit. I will not go without my White's Elk Guide -40 degree rated pac boots. No, it's not overkill. Trust me!
Cheers, everybody. It's a crazy ride. Stay tuned for more.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Hard Times
I just got a long and descriptive email from my friend Chris who served with Peace Corps in Bulgaria. Here's what he knows about Romania: "If Madagascar was the Galapagos on steroids, Romania is The Grapes of Wrath on lithium." I guess that means I'll have to translate all my Woody Guthrie songs into Romanian.
Romania?!
Zoinks! Next stop, Romania, it appears. The Peace Corps is on the verge of inviting me to Romania in May to do environmental education, both with youth and adults. We need to formalize the invitation and I need to accept it, but we talked yesterday, the placement officer sent me information on the program, and I emailed her to say yes, invite me.
Two things: it gets cold in Romania and May is far away. The ten week delay is problematic financially. I will probably need to have more medical and dental exams since mine will soon be a year old and therefore expired. But I don't need to worry about that today. Just whether or not I can stand the wait. The preliminary research I've done on Romania, however, has left me utterly charmed - woodlands, mountains, and a river delta that is the largest and best preserved in Europe. And perhaps a plethora of sheep cheese!
Two things: it gets cold in Romania and May is far away. The ten week delay is problematic financially. I will probably need to have more medical and dental exams since mine will soon be a year old and therefore expired. But I don't need to worry about that today. Just whether or not I can stand the wait. The preliminary research I've done on Romania, however, has left me utterly charmed - woodlands, mountains, and a river delta that is the largest and best preserved in Europe. And perhaps a plethora of sheep cheese!
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
The Magic Land
Today I did not fly to Madagascar, but I did fly to the Magic Land. Up above the clouds on an overcast day, occasionally you can visit this magic land - blue sky above, a rolling landscape of perfect clouds below. Somehow it is made more special with the noisy prop of my Dash-8 out the window. The romance of flight, the extraterrestrial setting, the unknown adventure ahead.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Rome Burned Down
Wow. I spoke too soon. Five hours ago I sat at a cafe down the street from the hotel where I have met my Peace Corps group, handwriting the previous Bignes blog. Then I typed it off and went down to meet my group, only to learn:
Our trip to Madagascar has been cancelled. Evidently it's obvious if you look at the BBC today. The military is no longer backing the President. It would be unsafe for us to go. I'm cancelled. Suffice it to say that we are a gloomy group. Tomorrow I will fly to upstate New York since they have to fly me somewhere.
I do not know what happens next.
Our trip to Madagascar has been cancelled. Evidently it's obvious if you look at the BBC today. The military is no longer backing the President. It would be unsafe for us to go. I'm cancelled. Suffice it to say that we are a gloomy group. Tomorrow I will fly to upstate New York since they have to fly me somewhere.
I do not know what happens next.
So Huge a Bignes
I don't think I have fully explained here why I am so overjoyed to be heading to Madagascar. I must give all credit to David Quammen, author of the book I keep mentioning - The Song of the Dodo. Let's call David Quammen the Malcolm Gladwell of Evolutionary Ecology, sans cool 'fro. Or is Gladwell the David Quammen of Social Commentary? The point is that Quammen is a writer by trade, not a scientist. So he has a rich inquiring mind and the good sense to make IT readable. In fact, downright entertaining. (If you want a quick taste of Quammen, you can find him slumming in National Geographic these days.)
IT is the long scientific road of evolution theory and the history of ecological thought - much of which has been gleaned from the study of islands. Quammen tells a story of an English expedition in 1609 that discovered the Seychelles (just north of Madagascar). These men found giant tortoises. Quammen writes, "A participant in that expedition, one William Revett, recorded 'land turtles of so huge a bignes which men will think incredible; of which our company had small luste to eat of, being so huge and defourmed creatures and footed with five claws lyke a beare.' He meant that the tortoises, not the members of his company, were 'huge defourmed creatures,' I think." Alas, the tortoise has been extirpated from the Seychelles. But along the way, we learned something.
Surely you've heard of the Galapagos. Now, if you will, picture Madagascar as the Galapagos on steroids. Because of evolutionary principles that I will not get into here, islands are the home of really weird and cool stuff, biologically speaking. So Madagascar has cool stuff - lemurs, baobab trees, hissing cockroaches. Big islands have more cool stuff than small islands. Old islands have more cool stuff than young islands. Islands separated from large land masses by wide or deep water have more cool stuff than those close to large land masses. Madagascar is a big old island separated from Africa by a deep wide channel. Ie, Madagascar has more cool weird stuff than most of us could ever imagine. I truly would encourage anyone to slog through the 625 pages of this book. Then you'll know. You'll know why this adventure of mine is so huge a bignes.
IT is the long scientific road of evolution theory and the history of ecological thought - much of which has been gleaned from the study of islands. Quammen tells a story of an English expedition in 1609 that discovered the Seychelles (just north of Madagascar). These men found giant tortoises. Quammen writes, "A participant in that expedition, one William Revett, recorded 'land turtles of so huge a bignes which men will think incredible; of which our company had small luste to eat of, being so huge and defourmed creatures and footed with five claws lyke a beare.' He meant that the tortoises, not the members of his company, were 'huge defourmed creatures,' I think." Alas, the tortoise has been extirpated from the Seychelles. But along the way, we learned something.
Surely you've heard of the Galapagos. Now, if you will, picture Madagascar as the Galapagos on steroids. Because of evolutionary principles that I will not get into here, islands are the home of really weird and cool stuff, biologically speaking. So Madagascar has cool stuff - lemurs, baobab trees, hissing cockroaches. Big islands have more cool stuff than small islands. Old islands have more cool stuff than young islands. Islands separated from large land masses by wide or deep water have more cool stuff than those close to large land masses. Madagascar is a big old island separated from Africa by a deep wide channel. Ie, Madagascar has more cool weird stuff than most of us could ever imagine. I truly would encourage anyone to slog through the 625 pages of this book. Then you'll know. You'll know why this adventure of mine is so huge a bignes.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Farewell to Manzanar
Perhaps one day I will find the words to express what Manzanar has meant to me, but until then please accept my humble thanks for all that you have done for me - your support, your laugher, and your friendship. Tomorrow I'm off to see the wide blue world. Please send me a note now and then and tell me of your dark challenges and your small victories. As I relearned the night of the flood, "With all its sham, drudgery & broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world." I wish you all the very best.
Love, Gretel
Love, Gretel
Just Because We Made it Up
Just because we made it up doesn't mean it isn't true.
If you can't tie a knot tie a lot.
Two wrongs don't make a right but two lefts do.
If you don't like this speed you're gonna hate the other one.
Never let the facts get in the way of a good story.
Etc. Words of wisdom in a challenging world? Or the hobgoblins of little minds? Or really just a way to pass the time waiting to MOVE TO AFRICA!!!
Do you have any to add?
If you can't tie a knot tie a lot.
Two wrongs don't make a right but two lefts do.
If you don't like this speed you're gonna hate the other one.
Never let the facts get in the way of a good story.
Etc. Words of wisdom in a challenging world? Or the hobgoblins of little minds? Or really just a way to pass the time waiting to MOVE TO AFRICA!!!
Do you have any to add?
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Cold Feet
No, literally, my feet have been cold for about three weeks straight now. Don't worry, I'm still on course to join my PC group in five short days. And very excited and completely committed. Especially since it's summer in Madagascar!
But it's winter back here on the east coast. I had a really wonderful time visiting family in New York state. I can't go into it all here, but my parents are both-in their own special ways-amazing people who love me dearly. Not only do I love them both, I really like them too. Blessed, I am, beyond belief.
I also got to pop into NYC for a couple of days to see Chiemi and her beau Jared, who is a delightful addition to her life. And as much as she is unique and wonderful on her own, I did enjoy stories of her recent attendance at the Oscars where a documentary she helped produce was up for best doc. They did not win, but Werner Hertzog turned around and said to the director, "We all know that you are the real winner of this award." Since I'm no longer in the film world, most of you won't appreciate the significance of that story - but I did, and I loved Chiemi's telling of it. Anyway, I had a really nice time with them doing urban things (modern art museums and Thai food) and sleeping in.
Now, after multiple flight delays (blizzard, anyone?) I have arrived safely in Nashville where I am enjoying my last week stateside with dear friends Jenn, Mike, and Lukas. Lukas is walking!!! For those with "normal" children, walking at age 3 may not sound impressive. But Lukas has had some brain challenges. But he's a champ! He walks now and is talking a little, and is overall a very happy and charming child. For all of you who have offered him your prayers and good wishes over the years, thank you. It pays off every day.
Alas, it's cold in Nashville too. We are expecting a warming trend over the next few days, and by the weekend we should hit the 70s. Til then, wearing my shoes around the house. I will make a note to remind myself of this when I start to complain of the heat in Madagascar. Oh I can't wait.
Tick, tick, tick. I'll post again before I go. Then don't expect anything for at least a month. I've been told that the first ten weeks, during our training session, we will not have access to phones or internet. I will try and write letters. My sister is my backup blogger and will post letters that I send to her.
Oh, and I think I'm only 4 pounds away from being packed. So close...
But it's winter back here on the east coast. I had a really wonderful time visiting family in New York state. I can't go into it all here, but my parents are both-in their own special ways-amazing people who love me dearly. Not only do I love them both, I really like them too. Blessed, I am, beyond belief.
I also got to pop into NYC for a couple of days to see Chiemi and her beau Jared, who is a delightful addition to her life. And as much as she is unique and wonderful on her own, I did enjoy stories of her recent attendance at the Oscars where a documentary she helped produce was up for best doc. They did not win, but Werner Hertzog turned around and said to the director, "We all know that you are the real winner of this award." Since I'm no longer in the film world, most of you won't appreciate the significance of that story - but I did, and I loved Chiemi's telling of it. Anyway, I had a really nice time with them doing urban things (modern art museums and Thai food) and sleeping in.
Now, after multiple flight delays (blizzard, anyone?) I have arrived safely in Nashville where I am enjoying my last week stateside with dear friends Jenn, Mike, and Lukas. Lukas is walking!!! For those with "normal" children, walking at age 3 may not sound impressive. But Lukas has had some brain challenges. But he's a champ! He walks now and is talking a little, and is overall a very happy and charming child. For all of you who have offered him your prayers and good wishes over the years, thank you. It pays off every day.
Alas, it's cold in Nashville too. We are expecting a warming trend over the next few days, and by the weekend we should hit the 70s. Til then, wearing my shoes around the house. I will make a note to remind myself of this when I start to complain of the heat in Madagascar. Oh I can't wait.
Tick, tick, tick. I'll post again before I go. Then don't expect anything for at least a month. I've been told that the first ten weeks, during our training session, we will not have access to phones or internet. I will try and write letters. My sister is my backup blogger and will post letters that I send to her.
Oh, and I think I'm only 4 pounds away from being packed. So close...
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