The Century

As you all know, I’ve had a lot of time to read while being in the Peace Corps. I recently reached a goal I had set for myself two years ago…to read 100 books. Some of the were long (War and Peace), some of them were boring (anything by Proust), and some of them I loved (The Lonesome Dove series). Here is a list of all the books I read…

1) The Civil War; A Narrative. Vol. III. Red River to Appomattox – Shelby Foote
2) The Devil in the White City – Erik Larson
3) Walden and Civil Disobedience – Henry david Thoreau
4) Galápagos – Kurt Vonnegut
5) The Brothers Karamazov – Fydor Dostoyevsky
6) Don Quixote – Miguel de Cervantes
7) Guns, Germs, and Steel – Jared Diamond
8) A Room with a View – E.M. Forster
9) Collapse – Jared Diamond
10) The Mousetrap – Agatha Christie
11) The Panama Hat Trail – Tom Miller
12) Airframe – Michael Crichton
13) Frankenstein – Mary Shelly
14) The Conquerors – Michael Beschloss
15) The Communist Manifesto – Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
16) Murder in Three Acts – Agatha Christie
17) Blackhawk Down – mark Bowden
18) Mayflower – Nathaniel Philbrick
19) Breakfast of Champions – Kurt Vonnegut
20) Pudd’nhead Wilson – Mark Twain
21) A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man – James Joyce
22) Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
23) The Prophet – Kahlil Gibram
24) Poirot Investigates – Agatha Christie
25) The Iliad – Homer
26) The Odyssey – Homer
27) Ulysses – James Joyce
28) Ulysses Annotated – Don Gifford
29) Jurassic Park – Michael Crichton
30) Sleeping Murder – Agatha Christie
31) The Hunt for Red October – Tom Clancy
32) The Secret Agent – Joseph Conrad
33) War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy
34) Goodbye Columbus & Five Short Stories – Philip Roth
35) A Dollhouse – Henrik Ibsen
36) A Bridge Too Far – Cornelius Ryan
37) Grant and Sherman: the Friendship that Won the Civil War – Charles Bracelen Flood
38) The Book of Useless Information – The Useless Information Society
39) The Lost World – Michael Crichton
40) The Great Adventure of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
41) Remembrance of Things Past: Swann’s Way – Marcel Proust
42) Remembrance of Things Past: Within a Budding Grove – Marcel Proust
43) Remembrance of Things Past: The Guermantes Way – Marcel Proust
44) Remembrance of Things Past: Cities of the Plain – Marcel Proust
45) Remembrance of Things Past: The Captive – Marcel Proust
46) Remembrance of Things Past: The Sweet Cheat Gone – Marcel Proust
47) Remembrance of Things Past: The Past Recaptured – Marcel Proust
48) The Anatomy of Fascism – Robert O. Paxton
49) The Carolina Way – Dean Smith
50) Beyond Belief: Islamic excursions among the converted peoples – V.S. Naipaul
51) Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling - Ross King
52) The Ultimate Book of Useless Information – The Useless Information Society
53) Women in Love – D. H. Lawrence
54) Bush at War – Bob Woodward
55) The Best American Short Stories: 2001 – Various Authors
56) Girl with the Pearl Earring – Tracey Chevalier
57) Top Secret Tales of World War II – William B. Breuer
58) Private Parts – Howard Stern
59) Great Book of Whodunit Puzzles – Falcon Travis
60) The Catcher in the Rye – J. D. Salinger
61) I Am America ( And So Can You!) – Stephen Colbert
62) The Omnivore’s Dilemma – Michael Pollan
63) Jane Eyre – Charlotte Brontë
64) Lonesome Dove – Larry McMurtry
65) Peter the Great: His Life and His World – Robert k. Massic
66) The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
67) Nemesis – Agatha Christie
68) Living Poor: A Peace Corps Chronicle – Moritz Thomsen
69) As I lay Dying – William Faulkner
70) Diary: A Novel – Chuck Palahniuk
71) The Soul of Baseball: A Road Trip Through Buck O’Neil’s America – Joe Posnanski
72) Exodus – Leon Uris
73) Dead Man’s Walk – Larry McMurtry
74) The Shining – Stephen King
75) The Devine Comedy: Hell – Dante Alighieri
76) Alexander Hamilton: American – Richard Brookhiser
77) An Enemy of the State – Henrik Ibsen (Adapted by Arthur Miller)
78) Comanche Moon – Larry McMurtry
79) Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs – Chuck Klosterman
80) God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater – Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
81) Confessions – Saint Augustine
82) The Tin Drum – Günter Grass
83) The Last of the Mohicans – James Fennimore Cooper
84) East of Eden – John Steinbeck
85) The Bourne Identity – Robert Ludlum
86) The Devine Comedy: Purgatory – Dante Alighieri
87) Villa Incognito – Tom Robbins
88) Trainspotting – Irvine Welsh
89) Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic – Tom Holland
90) Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith – Jon Krakauer
91) The Conscience of a Conservative – Barry Goldwater
92) Operation Shylock: A Confession – Philip Roth
93) The Devine Comedy: Paradise – Dante Alighieri
94) Stolen Season: A Journey Through America & baseball’s Minor Leagues – David Lamb
95) An Ordinary Man – Paul Ruseabagina
96) Ethan Frome – Edith Wharton
97) Sanctuary – William Faulkner
98) Resurrection – Leo Tolstoy
99) True History of the Kelly Gang – Peter Carey
100) Scoop – Evelyn Waugh
101) Mere Christianity – C.S. Lewis
102) One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Training Terminated...Almost

I know that I just wrote about my Sister being pregnant with twins and that she was due in June. Guess what? I’m an Uncle already! A couple weeks ago I was on a bus heading home, when I got a phone call from my Sister saying that she had delivered two boys that morning. Ryan, Owen and my Sister are all doing well, but the twins are going to be in the hospital for a while. If you would like to read more about the twins, you can check out the blog that my Brother-In-Law, Matt, is doing. The site is http://www.carepages.com/carepages/TheMcAvinTwins

It has been pretty hectic for the last couple of weeks with Training. We have had a bunch of Technical sessions to plan and implement, and from April 12th to the 20th we were on the Technical trip (my favorite part of Training). The first three days of the Tech Trip were in Puerto Quito which is about four hours west of Quito near the coast. It was hot as Hades down there and we all got bitten a ton by the bugs. We spent those days working at an organic farm near where we were staying. It was interesting and fun to get our hands dirty, but the heat was almost too much. We’d work from 8:00 to 5:00 and then jump in the pool, cool off, and then play soccer until it got too dark. After soccer, we’d have dinner and pass out in bed and spend all night sweating.

On the 15th we (by we, I mean myself and all the Trainees who are going to be living in the Oriente) left Puerto Quito. Here is our itinerary…

Wednesday, April 15th
- Breakfast in Puerto Quito
- Travel to Puyo via Quito (Lunch in Quito)
- Check-in “Gran Hotel Amazonico”
- Dinner in Puyo at O Sole Mio – meet with Volunteers from the Puyo area who can talk about their experiences.

Thursday, April 16th
Natural Resource Trainees
- Breakfast at Hotel
- Visit CERFA Orchid Park – take a tour of and speak with the owner, Omar Tello, about how he constructed and maintains his park and conducts tourism operations.
- Lunch in Puyo
- Visit Estación Biológico Pindo Mirador – discuss native tree species
- Dinner in Puyo

Sustainable Agriculture Trainees
- Breakfast at Hotel
- Visit CERFA Orchid Park – take a tour of and speak with the owner, Omar Tello, about how he constructed and maintains his park and conducts tourism operations.
- Lunch in Puyo
- Visit sugar cane processing facilities at El Vallecito
- Dinner in Puyo

Friday, April 17th
- Breakfast at hotel
- Go to Centro FRATES
- Visit La Libertad – do Abono charla with community members. Learn how to build a cobertizo and learn about sugar cane cultivation, organic agriculture production, and agro forestry in the Oriente.
- Lunch
- Go to San Pedro for a charla by PCV Jason Kamisky and community members on how to build and maintain fish ponds, as well as, how to raise fish.
- Visit the Reserva Hola Vida
- Dinner at the Centro FRATES

Saturday, April 18th
- Breakfast at the Centro FRATES
- Return to Puyo and check in to Gran Hotel Amazonico
- Visit Waorani store and Manuela Ima (President of AMWAE) about artesenia and maintaining a small business
- Lunch
- Visit Parque OMAERE – Take a tour with Chris Canady (Vice President) of the ethnobotanical park. Receive charla and work with Chris on composting toilets, trail maintenance, and soil erosion prevention.
- Dinner in Puyo

Sunday, April 19th
- Breakfast at hotel
- Travel to Tena
- Check in Hotel Los Yutzos II
- Travel to Archidona
- Work with the Association Ruku Kausay on cacao, fish ponds, small animal management, and eco-tourism
- Traditional lunch prepared by the Association Ruku Kausay ($3.50/person)

(These Pictures need a caption - We are eating Chonta Curos, or grubs...delicious!)
- Visit Jumandy Caves ($3.00/person with tip)
- Return to Tena

Monday, April 20th
- Travel to Quito/Cayambe

As you can see, the trip was packed with interesting and fun stuff. The Trainees said that they learned a lot and really enjoyed themselves. This trip was the biggest thing that I had to plan for training, so I’m glad that it went well. After we got back, the Trainees gave presentations on their trips. The kids who went with me gave a nice presentation and even wrote a poem to thank me. That meant a lot to me.

Now that the Tech Trip is done, the Co-Trainers are pretty much done too. We were supposed to help out with the final evaluations and reporting, but they decided that they just wanted to PC staff to do that. The Trainees Spear-In on Wednesday the 29th, so that will be our last day of “work”. I have to do my final medical stuff before I can COS (Close Of Service), so next week I’ll be spending most of my time at the Doctor, Dentist, or talking to the PC nurse. My COS date is on May 4th, so I’ll be in the office that day to have all my bosses sign me out, turn in my cell phone, and finish up any other paperwork that I have to do. One more week and the Peace Corps will be behind me.

I also recently found out when I’m going to fly home. I have a flight booked for May 28th at 9:15am. I should be arriving in St. Louis that night around 9:00pm. I can’t wait to see everybody and to meet my nephews. First though, I’m going to do some traveling. I plan on going south to some of the cities in Ecuador that I’ve never been to and also to go to the Isla de la Plata (otherwise know as The poor Man’s Galapagos).

It’s going to be a fun month, hence it’s new name…The Merry Merry Month of Jay

Response to a Comment

Anonymous said...

"It's kind of strange to think that in two hours we decided the next two years for 20 PCVs, but I guess that's how things go in a government gig."

And probably disturbing to those whose loved ones are in your hands.

This was the comment that was posted on the blog after my last post "Un-Zamboined Ice and Impropperly Oiled Lanes". The quote is directly from my post, and the commentary was added by "Anonymous".

First off, I want to thank everyone again for reading my blog. I know that at times it can get a little boring or repetitive (I try to keep it interesting and funny), but writing this all down helps me to process all the emotions that I´m going through, and your reading it helps to fulfill one of Peace Corps´ objectives, to increase American´s understanding of foreign cultures.

I also want to thank those who go through the effort of posting comments. There haven´t been that many, but I do take them seriously. I´m not sure who posted this comment, but I wanted to take a little time to clarify things. I´m assuming that whoever posted this was either a family member of one of the current Trainees, a concerned party, or just someone who thinks that I shouldn´t have taken so jocular a tone with that issue.

Because they are taking this seriously, I´m going to take it seriously too.

I need to remind people of the disclaimer that is at the top-right of the blog, and at the very bottom as well. This blog represents MY OPINION ALONE. I´m going to talk a little bit about the inner workings of the PC later, and I want to make sure that this is clear.

I would like to respond first to the commentator using the phrase "whose loved ones are in your hands". I need to say that the responsibilities of the Technical Co-Trainers is very limited. We assist in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of the Technical session, we have planned the Technical Trips, and we act as extra resources to assist the PCTs in cultural and professional adjustment in Ecuador. To say that their lives are in our hands is a gross overstatement.

I also hope that this comment is not insinuating that the Peace Corps takes its responsibilities lightly when it comes to the health and safety of all PCVs. From Washington all the way down, everyone at Peace Corps is committed to the PCVs and puts this factor first in all the decisions that they make. That being said, the person most responsible for the well-being of the PCV is the PCV themselves. Everything that we do during training is to ensure that the PCVs will be able to handle life at the future work sites, but if they do not follow the instructions given to them, they may put themselves at risk.

Instead of giving a short one-liner about the site determination process, I´ll now give a fuller explanation. Before the PCTs arrive in country, we are given access to their resumes and aspiration statements. By reading these, we (and when I say we, I mean relevant PC staff) are able to get a feel for the Trainees skills, abilities, and personal goals. When the PCTs arrive, we are constantly watching them to see how they interact with fellow PCTs and PC staff and noting their participation levels during training sessions. We then have introductory interviews where we can talk face to face with the PCTs to clarify their background and find out what they would prefer in their site (for example hot vs. cold climates, city vs. rural, working with a NGO vs. a community). We also do a skills assessment and have frequent individual conversations to get to better know the PCTs and if they are having any problems adjusting.

Training is an intense period where the PCTs learn a large amount of material on a multitude of subjects very rapidly. It is almost like cramming for an exam in college. For the staff it is the same. We are trying to get to know 45 PCTs in the weeks before the sites are determined.

When it comes to actually picking the sites, first we can assign the married couples to the few sites that can accommodate them. Then we assign PCTs who have special skill sets (computers, animals, business, chemicals) to the sites that have specifically requested a Volunteer with these skill sets. We are able to place the majority of the PCTs without much discussion because they are clearly a good fit for a certain site.

Several of the remaining PCTs were assigned based on their desire or ability to learn a third indigenous language.

The rest of the PCTs were placed based on a combination their site preferences and abilities. At the end of this process there were only one or two PCTs whose sites we felt could have been changed.

After the Co-Trainers and Technical Trainers had created this list, we submitted it to our boss. I have to be honest here. I do not know what decisions or meeting take place at the HQ level on site assignation. I would assume that the PC nurses and Safety and Security Coordinator have a say in the site determination, but because of privacy issues, we are not, nor should we be, privy to that information. In the case of the current PCTs, the final site assignments were the same as what we had decided.

We are faced with difficult decisions and have a limited amount of time to make them, but I feel that we did a good job getting to know the Trainees and made the right choices with the information that we had. I´ve heard the other countries make this determination before the Trainees are even invited to join the PC. When I received my PC invitation it just said "Ecuador", but I think they feel that if the PCT knows from day one where they are going, they can be better prepared for their service. Another model would be to give the PCTs their sites at the very end of training so that we can use as much time as possible to get to know the PCTs. I think our system of assigning sites at the middle of training is the best option, but each of them has its benefits and down sides.

So there is the real story. We do take this very seriously. As I said, I think we did a good job placing the PCTs, but the reality is that the Peace Corps experience is what the Peace Corps Volunteer makes of it. They will be put in a variety of situations and all have the opportunity to use (or not use) their skills where they feel they can be productive. Sometimes its scary, and often you may hate your site at first only to grow to love it.

It is a crazy two years, but what do you expect from a government gig!