Saturday, June 26, 2010

Flight Plan

Flight Plan

Last year, after ten years of working in a cubicle, of being the office go-fer, I left my job. The thought of remaining in a financially safe, boring position for another nine years just to retire was depressing. Unable to perceive a way out or how to move forward, I did the illogical and bailed out during a major economic crisis. Several weeks later, while sorting through an old box of personal paperwork, I found my unfinished application to the Peace Corps—a forgotten dream.

Today, I cross-off another square on my calendar. . .78 days to Benin.

late afternoon
the erratic route
of a bumblebee


(Note: this was written a couple of months ago)

Friday, June 25, 2010

Speech for Advanced French Class, May 2010

I read the following report in French in front of the class. And did rather well!

It took major preparation. My french tutor and I recorded it and I practiced, practiced and practiced. What I also did to make it easier from me to read, was to make a script with a larger font, and we underlined syllables and made notes to help me to remember pronunciation in the areas that I was having problems with. When it was time for me to present, I treated it as a Open Mike, made a couple of jokes and rattled it off with only a bit of help from my tutor. He was taking the class too. Methinks my French teacher was fairly impressed...amazed as she suggested it would be OK if I only did a short paragraph or just a few lines. Written out it was almost a page and a half.

The English version is after the French version. I think there is a little variation between the versions, as I made a few changes while practicing and not going back to make changes in the English.


La République de Bénin

Le Bénin est un des plus petits pays d'Afrique. C'est légèrement plus petit que l'état de Pensylvanie, réduire de l'est à l'ouest avec un 121 littoral de km, et à peu près 692 km long. A l'ouest est Tongo, au Nigéria de l'Est et au Niger et à Burkina Faso du nord.

Du dix-septième siècle jusqu' à 1894, Bénin a accueilli un royaume africain a appelé Dahomey. De 1894 jusqu'à ce que 1960 Dahomey était une partie d'Afrique d'ouest française. La République Indépendante de Dahomey a existé de 1960-1975. Dans 1975, le pays était renomme « La République Populaire de Bénin » après la Boucle de Binin.

Essay for Advanced French Class, March 2010

I very serendipitously signed up for an advanced french class. While I was signing up for French 101, I saw a Francophone Culture class listed...sounds interesting. So I signed up for it too. Afterward, I went to talk to the course instructor about books, she told me it was taught in FRENCH! I was going to cancel, but when she found out why I was taking french, she thought if I was willing to take the class anyway it would be a good way to submersed myself. We agreed that it would be Pass/Fail.

This was a expanded question I did from a story we were reading. I wrote my response in English and then ran it through an online translator. Hey, if you ever need an online translator, I recommend http://www.freetranslation.com/. It did a bang up job of translation English to French...but, a sucky job with French to English. There was a lot of times I had to bounce back and forth between the translator and a French/English dictionary for this class.

Even though this class caused me major anxiety, (actually all the classes did) I'm glad that I took it. Not only I got to hear real French for a three hour block every week, but the course work was an great mix of literature, movies, poetry and discussion. (Yeah, I didn't really understand most of the discussion but I was hearing French)

The Guest, by Albert Camus (Fench version follows)

Question #5: Would I have acted like Daru if I was in his place? Justify your response.

I have read and reread the story several times and with the class discussion on existentialism I can see the parallel between Daru reactions and my possible reactions to the situation in the story. This leads me to believe that I would have acted in the same way as Daru did given the identical set of circumstances.

Aspiration Statement

Once a Peace Corps invitation is received and accepted more paperwork! One is a Aspiration Statement, which is one of two document that your host country sees. They don't see any of the other paperwork that you did for the application. The other document is a revised resume that is tailored for your host country.

Aspiration Statement
Country of Service: Benin
Departure: July 15, 2010

A: The professional attributes that you plan to use, and what aspirations you hope to fulfill, during your Peace Corps service.

As an older volunteer, I feel that I’m bringing not only my professional experiences with me but also my ‘life’ experiences. Professionally, I can and have work with many personalities, ranging the difficult, the easy to work with, to the needy; I have worked as a team member and routinely assigned myself tasks when I see something that needs to be done; I’m always striving to find easier, logical methods and ways to complete an assignment, but also understand that each project can at times have it own natural pace; and I continuously research new and old information and facts in the effort to more be accurate, to fully understand and expand my what I know. My ‘life’ experiences support my professional attributes by giving them a sturdy framework to base my actions on. These experiences range from parenthood, volunteerism, workshops and culture events, to working at variety of different jobs, which has allowed me to interact with many types of people and situations.

My aspirations for the Peace Corps is to fully realize the challenge that I been given. To bring my experiences to a community, to encourage small seeds of change and new based on what is needed to work with them within the framework of their culture. I am excited to be working in the Environment Program, which has become a deep and abiding interest for me over the last several years.

B: Your strategies for working effectively with the host country partners to meet expressed needs.

Listening, Patience, Persistence: By acknowledging that there will be differences in the way that my host country partners and I are used to conducting business and interacting with those who we will come in contact with. To listen to what I am saying and what I’m hearing, taking the time to make sure that we are communication clearly to each other. To have the patience to understand and work with the idea the progress will more than likely be slow or seemly none at all and to be quietly persistent day-by-day with the knowledge that each day counts.

C: Your strategies for adapting to a new culture with respect to your own cultural background.

By being flexible. To fully realize that I will be working and living in a completely different culture and to give myself time to adapt to my new environment. To continue to research about Benin before I leave in order to develop a base understanding for a different culture. I have lived in a highly diversified area and have worked, lived, interacted with many different ethnical groups. I’m comfortable with the knowledge that there will be possibly be times that I will not understand why someone actions/reactions are different than what I assumed they should be. I’m comfortable with the fact that I will appear to be different to others, but know I can still be myself while being culturally sensitive to those I will be working and living with.
D: The skills and knowledge you hope to gain during pre-service training to best serve your future community and project.

The area where I have the most concern is building up my language competency to reach the level of French proficiency required. I tackled this weakest skill area as soon as I found out that I was nominated by signing up for accredited French classes for this spring semester. I acquired a French tutor in November 2009 before the classes started and who will continue tutoring me twice a week until I leave. I love the idea that I will be staying with a Beninese family and I’m eager to start using my budding French in real life situations.

E: How you think the Peace Corps Service will influence your personal and professional aspirations after your service ends.

While I intellectually knew that there was more to life than my family, friends and a job that guaranteed a decent retirement…I also felt that there had to be more. Personally, I feel that I will come back from Africa with a wider world view that will both enrich me and my writing. Professionally, I expect to work beyond an average retirement age in new challenging career that will be possible with my Peace Corps service. Some possibilities that I been researching: A counselor or supervisor within a nonprofit organizations like the 4-H, a director for a farming association implementing new programs and educational materials for the membership, working for a state Department of Agriculture or even the Federal Agriculture Department on regulations, new technology or enforcing current regulations.

Letter to my Peace Corps Recuiter

Well, it looked good on paper. A lot of what I had planned for the CSA Co-op, fell through because the Co-op almost didn't happen. Finally, the CSA Co-op did work it out and a lot of the below work was split up between the core group of which I was part of.

Re: The French Class at the high school was canceled because only one person signed up for it (moi). I took 3 classes this Spring at a local community college: French 101, Francophone Culture and Conversational French.

October 28, 2009


Peace Corps Regional Office
201 Varick Street, Suite 1025
New York, NY 10014

Dear Maya,

Since my interview with you on October 8, I have been considering how I could make my application more competitive for the Agriculture Program.

I talked with Walter Griest, Mill River Valley Farms, North Haven, CT, 06473, the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Farm that I belong to and been working at for the past two years. Walter and I have worked out an agreement where I volunteer extra time at the farm in a non-paid work status, approximately 10-20 hours a week. This will give me additional hands-on experience and will allow the acquirement of further knowledge of a working CSA.

I’ll be working at the farm in two categories:

1. Hands-on: Assisting with planting fall crops, post-season clean-up, repair and other general work. Early Spring/Spring will consist of pre-planting fieldwork and the many tasks that need to be done for spring planting and the first harvest, which is usually at the end of June.

2. As I mentioned in the agriculture addendum, I’m in the core group of the newly forming board of Eagle Ridge, Inc., which is now the governing entity of Mill River Valley Farms. While I’m not accepting a board position with Eagle Ridge because of my Peace Corps application, I’ll be attending the core meetings and doing any start-up tasks and limited term projects that needs to be done.

In general, the two main areas where I’ll be providing assistance to Eagle Ridge, Inc:

a. Is compiling and setting up a framework for an informational and a ‘living’ how-to manual for the farm. I will be interviewing Walter throughout the winter not only about the farm history, but collecting statistical data about each field (size, condition, past crop rotations, concerns, idiosyncrasies, etc), and an inventory/status of farm equipment. Also, detailed information on how the share system is setup, operated and the other CSA background operations. Walter will also suggest reference books on small farms/CSAs and organic farming methods that I can be studying on my own.

b. Setting up and updating a basic financial and general record systems for the CSA.

I have also taken into consideration that while I’m living and working in an agriculture position that I could be around farm animals. I would want to give a willing hand with the care of those animals, as needed. With that possibility in mind, I have made arrangements to work in non-paid status 1-2 days a week with at Pisgahview Acres, 181 Madison Road, Durham, CT 06422. Pisgahview Acres has several horses, chickens and rabbits that I’ll be helping to care for. Also, I’ll be assisting Wanda with any farm maintenance, building improvements and repairs as needed.

I just signed up to take ‘French Conversation for Beginners’ through an Adult Education Program at Hamden High School, Hamden CT. Also, I will be making arrangements to take French Level I at Southern Connecticut State University in the Spring Semester, 2010.

Please let me know if further details of these arrangements are required.

Respectfully yours,

SKILL ADDENDUM

Shortly after I sent in the Peace Corps application, I was notified that this form was needed to be filled out. Seems that the Peace Corps was interested in my experiences with the CSA Farm that I belong to.


SKILL ADDENDUM: AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY EXTENSION (117)

DATE: September 6, 2009

1. Please describe in detail your experience for the following skills. Provide dates (month/year through month/year) and frequency (hours/day/week) of your involvement. Use the space below and the reverse side of sheet if needed.

A. Gardening/Crops/Horticulture, etc. Please note types of food crops, vegetables & fruits and size of plot (# ft x # ft, or acres). Please describe other hands on growing experience with plants.

For the past two growing seasons (2008 & 2009) I have been a member of a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), Mill River Valley Gardens, North Haven, CT. The farm is organic and has been in production since 1990. I work the 60-hour, per growing season, intensive work-share (2-4 hours a week). Note, the farmer and those members who have one of the three different type work-shares available do all the labor on this farm. At first, first I opted for the intensive work-share for the steep discount on my share. I quickly realized that I quite enjoy working in the fields, for the exercise and for the connection with my food and nature. So much so, that I volunteered 15 extra hours last year, and will do that or more this year.

The farm is 10-acres large, of which approximately 3+ are used to produce a wide selection of vegetables. The rest of the farm is wooded and/or wetlands. There are 20 fields, which range from 120’ X 60’, 90 X 60’, 60’ X 45’ to a few 20’ X 12’ and a small herb garden.

Crops are: arugula, beets, cabbage, carrots, chinese greens, leek, lettuce, mushroom, okra, onions, garlic, summer/winter squash, hot and sweet peppers, chard, tomatoes, turnips, cucumber, eggplant, green beans/snap peas, potatoes, rutabagas, salad greens, Kiwi berries, bamboo shoots and fresh herbs. We also harvest an edible ‘weed’ called purslane, which has amazingly high levels of omega-3; and staghorn sumac clones that makes a refreshing iced tea. Recently, some of the bamboo that grows on the farm was cut down to make a 4’ X 20’ 4-tier drying rack in the barn. The bamboo is also used as plant supports and temporary fence repair.

During these two seasons of farm work, I have learned much about the practice of sustainable organic farming. Not only with the actual hands-on fieldwork, but also by asking questions and talking with the farmer. Example: which type of mulch to use on different plants, companion planting, and crop rotation. Plus I been doing a lot of reading on my own about organic farming methods, theory and how-to.

This year the farm is in transition from an owner-operated (the farmer is retiring) to a shareholder operated CSA. I was asked to be on the core group of the newly forming board and one of the main projects for the transition (that I suggested) is compiling an informational and a ‘living’ how-to manual for the farm. Now, and throughout this fall and winter, I will be interviewing the farmer not only about the farm history, but collecting detailed data about each field (size, condition, past crop rotations, concerns, idiosyncrasies, etc), the irrigation system, and an inventory/status of the farm equipment. Also, detailed information on how the share system is setup, other background operations about the CSA and all the myriad bits and pieces that has not been generally documented.

I also had two family gardens.

1981-1982: 15’ X 20’ Tomatoes, green peppers, carrots, lettuce, carrots, squash, cukes and basil.

1991-1994: 12’ diameter (tomatoes, radishes, green peppers, bush beans, basil, dill), a 4’ X 20’ strawberry bed, 2’ X 30’ pole bean bed, trellised against a house wall.

B. Other related activities.

a. Animal production -types and numbers N/A
b. Youth Work (4-H, FFA, FHA, other) N/A
c. Nutrition/Food Preservation N/A
d. Sewing/Handicrafts N/A (Dooh, I didn't see this )
e. Carpentry/Masonry N/A
f. Mechanics (e.g., car/motorcycle repair) N/A
g. Cooperatives N/A
h. Surveying/Cartography N/A
i. Environmental Work N/A
j. Forestry/Nursery N/A
k. Other N/A

2. How do you feel about the use of pesticides and/or herbicides? Please explain. Just say no.

With my experiences at the farm, I see how a holistic and sustainable approach to small farming works. I also learned that a small farm is a micosystem, a balance of crops, beneficial insects and birds (which helps to control pest insects), wildlife, natural plant growth, and weeds that provides a habitat for the beneficial insects. A balance can be can be reached in organic farming. Yes, the beds will not be completely weed-free, and produce will have some cosmetic or even occasional insect damage. Neither affects the superior taste nor nutritional content of the produce. If the soil is fertile and vital, it will grow stronger, healthier crops that can better resist pest damage. Mulches (leaf, hay, straw) and composts feed the soil and plants as it decomposes, and also retains ground moisture. Green manure/cover crops, nitrogen fixing, and seaweed (if easily available) provide nutrients to the soil when they are tilled under and decompose. Soil conditioners can be added needed, i.e., lime, gypsum, dolomite, rock phosphates, and rock potash, potassium or wood ash. Rock dust (stone meal) which is slowly released into the soil, can be used in an effort to remineralize soil that has become depleted through industrial and standard agricultural practices.

Weeds within several feet of the field can be kept mowed down to keep them from reseeding in the field. Weeds can also be controlled with a heavy layer of mulch, compost, and the use of physical barriers, i.e., plastic sheeting or three layers of newspaper under the mulch, if needed. Net coverings/row covers can be used to keep insect damages from more sensitive plants.

Note: The fruit that is provided in our CSA share is ‘ecologically grown’ from a larger local farm. This means that the fruit is grown with the least amount possible of the most benign products that is necessary to produce fruit on a commercial scale given Connecticut’s growing conditions.


3. Are you a vegetarian? Are you willing to work on projects related to raising and slaughtering animals?

Yes, I am a vegetarian. Not willing to work on projects related to raising and slaughtering animals.

Would you be interested in receiving training for, and working in, beekeeping programs? If yes, have you ever been stung? What was the reaction? Not Interested.

4. Please detail any experience with marine/fresh water fisheries. Are you interested in working in a fisheries assignment? None, not interested.

Cross Culture Adaptation Essay

2 of 2 required statements for the Peace Corps application package.

Cross Culture Adaptation Essay

In 1990, when my oldest daughter was in middle school she attended many birthday parties. Most times, I would drop her off at her friend’s home and if I had not met the parents, I would go inside to meet them and sometimes stay. When I took her to this one party, it took me completely by surprise when I saw that my daughter and I were the only non-African Americans there. So much so, that I politely refused to stay and visit with the other mothers.

I was perplexed and upset with my reaction. We lived in New Haven, CT, which has a large diversified population. I also worked in the local National Guard unit that is comprised of a cross-section of the same ethnic groups. I have taught my children by my actions, to accept people for whom they were, not by how they looked.

This incident was a revelation, in that I realized, I had unconscious perceptions of people from different ethnical backgrounds. Since then when I found myself in a situation where I was uncomfortable with anyone, I would ask myself, was I stereotyping or prejudging them and more importantly why?

In the process of deciding what to write for this essay, I was able to pinpoint the event, which sparked my initial uneasiness with other races. I attended a large, integrated high school that was comprised of several buildings on a 76-acre campus. This was during the late 60s era of continuing racial tension. There were times when hostile groups of black students would run screaming though the halls, out the doors and across campus and/or pick deliberate fights with other students. While I was never injured or involved in any of the incidents, I was pushed several times, intimidated and cowed with the possibilities.

This realization has helped me to know that while my past fears and uneasiness had a basis, they are no longer valid. And while I’ve been able for many years to feel comfortable in my interactions with all people, this new understanding will make me more open to learning about myself, and the people that I will meet and live with in the Peace Corps.

Peace Corps Motivation Statement

1 of 2 required statements for the Peace Corps application package.

Motivation Statement

I’m 57-years old and at a crossroad. I wonder is this it: to grow up, raise a family, and continue working until retirement? What is it that I want besides marking time behind a desk, nine to five? Who I am in addition to a woman, mother, worker and writer? What can I do to make a difference in one small corner of the world? These are the questions I have been considering while re-evaluating my life, dreams and goals. While researching various options, I came across an old dream, the Peace Corps. I realized now is the perfect time for me to reach for this goal.

Under my quiet exterior there is one who wants more than a mindless life of TV, shopping and security. I seek a different road. When I was thirty-four years old, I joined the National Guard. I was deployed to support Operation Desert Storm in 1991. Afterwards, I continued to serve in the National Guard for a total of thirteen years. Ten of those years were active duty with the Active Guard Reserve in Connecticut. My military time taught persistence, how to deal with shifting priorities, and to find the most effective, efficient methods to do tasks and projects. What I learned from my deployment is that I can readily adapt to unusual and harsh conditions, and that I’m more flexible than I thought possible.

Until several years ago, I also did various types of volunteer activities in addition to working full-time, raising my children as a single parent, caring for my chronically ill father and attending night school. These activities ranged from volunteer teacher assistant in my childrens' classrooms, the PTA, Civil Air Patrol and two National Guard Programs for children. When I realized I was doing too much, I stepped back from the volunteer work and became immersed in my job, school and family. I now have the time; and while I still have energy and my health, I want to something significant—something meaningful.

My expectations of the Peace Corps is that I will have an opportunity to be integrated into a different culture, to learn from the people that I’ll be living with and to share what knowledge I have with them. That during and afterwards my service with the Peace Corps, I will convey this experience “that we are all one world” to family, friends, co-workers, and others through letters, my poetry and writing. I also feel that my time with the Peace Corps will help me more clearly define my goals for the rest of my life, which includes, a career (be it paid or volunteer) and of course when I retire—my next crossroad.