Stuck on a desert island

I remember, when I applied to Connecticut College, during the interview one of the admissions fellows asked, “If you were stuck on a desert island what would you have with you?” I replied, “My friends.”  Well, when going to Kenya, I cannot bring you all along so that desert island scenario just does not work here.  But another is this scenario: “If you were stuck on a desert island and could only have five books and five albums, what would they be?”  Thankfully my newly purchased iPod classic (don’t get me started, another post perhaps…) has alleviated the five album minimum, but my 80 lb. weight limit certainly requires keeping my book list to a minimum.  So, below are the few books that I plan on bringing with me (pardon if I go slightly over five) , in no particular order:

1. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
2. Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke
3. Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
4. Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
5. Walden by Henry David Thoreau

Pardon the lack of underlining.  WordPress apparently does not like to allow for an underlined format, which is a tad frustrating.  Also, I am not going to lie, I got the idea for this post from another Peace Corps blog I surfed across.  Feel free to comment with any suggestions on this list.  It may be updated as I decided to bring more books.

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I refuse to title this, “First Post”

So here I am sitting here to in the public library completely daunted by the task of writing a blog about my Peace Corps experiences in real time.  I don’t think I will be able to do it.  As most of my readers know, I have never been particularly good at keeping others updated on what I am doing unless blatantly asked.  As a result, I have a very pessimistic view on the life of this blog, especially when compounded with the fact that the majority of the writing will be from Kenya, where the Internet, so I hear, is far from reliable.

This is not to say I will not try my hardest to keep this updated!  Hopefully it will be filled with all sorts of fun pictures, happy and sad posts, and insights into what will probably be the most alien experience of my life.  As and aside: I really appreciate how WordPress is auto saving my update.  That will come in handy when my Internet connection decides to suddenly die on me in Kenya!

As a first post, this will be weak in content.  As I start to collect myself in my final week in the States, I will also probably be forming more coherent thoughts on what is going on.  Future posts before departure will probably include what I consider the obligatory “Stuff I am bringing halfway around the world,” picture as well as various ramblings and musings on my preconceptions about Kenya and the Peace Corps in general.  But if I don’t get these posts up, I apologize ahead of time.  In fact, if this becomes my only post on this blog in two years, do not be terribly surprised.  But I would still appreciate it if you checked it at least semi-regularly.  I may surprise everyone!

Until then, cheers!