Welcome welcome

Hello all.  This is my first blog…ever…so please excuse me if I don’t observe the many established formalities of opinion-writing on the internet.  As I should have informed you all, I’ll be leaving for Peace Corps service in Namibia on August 17, and the purpose of this blog is to keep you updated on what I’m doing, why I’m doing it, how I feel about doing it, et cetera.

So…here we go:

It may be surprising how little I know about my assignment.  All I know right now is (1) that I leave August 17, (2) I’ll be in Namibia, and (3) I’ll be a science teacher.  The age range I could be teaching is anywhere from 12 to 20.  In theory, I could be teaching physics, chemistry, biology, math, health, or anything else they might need me for.  However, seeing as my experience is all in the physical sciences and math, the vast majority of which has involved tutoring college-level courses, I doubt I will be placed in a 6th grade health class.  In all likelihood, I’ll be teaching 11th and 12th graders physics and chemistry, which, to be honest, is exactly where I’d want to be.  I’ve even been buying some used textbooks and workbooks online to help me out.

On the more personal end of things, this will be the first time I have left the United States.  I’ve lived in California, Nevada, and Minnesota, and yet somehow I’ve never found the time to go to Canada or Mexico.  Odd, I know.  Needless to say, I sort of expect to be overwhelmed by the new culture.  I think that’s the only rational attitude someone in my position can take.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m still trying to learn what I can before I go.  I just expect to make a lot of mistakes.

Also, I’m excited.  Not too excited–I’ve got five weeks left to get overly, hysterically excited.  But I would certainly go as far as to say I am “reasonably excited”, if not “quite excited”.

P.S.  If you want to subscribe to the blog, the only option the site offers is the “RSS Feed”.  I hadn’t used it until a few days ago, so this is news to me.  If it’s news to you too (i.e. you don’t use Google Reader or something like that), then there is an option to post RSS feeds to your email account.  So here we go: 

(1) Go to http://www.feedmyinbox.com/

(2) Enter the website URL (http://chicoinnamibia.wordpress.com, in this case) and your email.

(3) Respond to the confirmation email.

I hope this all works.

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