Game Time

So I'm in my plush, air-conditioned room at the Sheraton Hotel at Penn University in downtown Philly, digesting my final round of enchiladas con mole for a good 27 months. We have finished an intense two days of training, going over all the dos and don'ts, ways to stay inspired, aspirations, anxieties, the whole gamut. We have 64 people going over, most of which are in their early 20's, from all over the country. Everyone has been incredibly outgoing and upbeat, definitely helping us all along our journey into the unknown. We are all pretty exhausted from all the good-byes and talk about this trip, and are anxious to get there and get our hands dirty. Everyone is in one of four programs: Health, Environment, Sustainable Economic Development, and Teaching. Its been great to tell everyone why I'm doing health; since I have a background in architecture, of course.

Tomorrow we start at 7am with a trip to some federal clinic to finish our vaccinations for yellow fever and malaria. Then at 3pm we are off to Charles de Gaulle for a pit stop on the way to Cotonou. I am still in the whirlwind of emotions and thoughts, just trying to keep everything organized. All day I have wavered between thoughts of the stereotypical Africa... drums, animals, bright colors, and then to sickness, lack of food, pitch black nights. It is a strange undulation of excitement and anxiety, as we discuss all of the incredibly difficult things we are about to face. The beauty is that those very things are what simultaneously make it beautiful and breathtakingly memorable. I would have to guess that if one were to boil this paradox down, it would be something about the fragility of life which is so powerful there. Not one person takes a day for granted it seems, and that mentality is what creates a culture which is so foreign to the western mindset.

I made a last minute stop at the bookstore, so I am now equipped with some Nietzsche, Voltaire, Joyce, Campbell, Tolle, and my architectural bible, Design Like You Give a Damn. I will be dropping my cell phone off at a recycling center just before we leave the hotel tomorrow, leaving me with only a camera and a half-functional ipod as my only pieces of technology. It feels amazing to be living out of a duffel bag and a backpack... I can't think of anything else I need right now. And I must say that in my entire life, I have never been as unclear about my future plans as I am right now. I always had something in the future I knew something about, or had experienced already once before. Fortunately this extreme unknown is becoming very powerful, and honestly, is giving me a feeling of great awareness of existence. I feel like there are no demanding expectations or assumptions being made, and my path towards the darkness is making me feel in the best word to describe it, well, alive. Anyway, there will be much more to cover tomorrow once we open the airplane doors and step down onto the tarmac while the heavy wet Benin air slaps us awake from our jetlag. I hope everyone is doing well and I am thinking about you all as I take of tomorrow. A plus tarde tout le monde.