Alaska!

So I found myself unexpectedly back from Peace Corps: unemployed and living at home.  A situation I never wanted to be in.  So I applied for stuff like crazy, back in Africa and all over America.  I finally found a position though the SCA with the Juneau Forestry Sciences Lab.  This stuff is a lot more like what I was doing in Ohio than for Peace Corps.  I love working with forests and doing research in them.  I also love working internationally, in other languages and with other cultures.  Someday I hope to combine those two loves and work with forests and communities on a global scale in the fight against climate change.

Anyway, I'm in Alaska now!  Probably till Christmas but maybe longer.  Most of the work I'm doing is inside, analyzing and organizing data.  I do get some exciting field time, though. Here are some pictures. (The last four are thanks to my friend Andrea!)


Here are some shots of the Mendenhall Glacier, literally down the street from my house:

"Bergy Bits" - little icebergs that have broken off the glacier

A photo from on the glacier, which is actually really dirty 

These are from a 8-day data collecting trip I took down to Prince of Wales Island

 The float plane that I took to get down there!

 Some of the crew and our leader, "El Jefe" at snack thirty.

 A visual sample of the slash we had to deal with.  Slash is all the crap (branches and logs) left behind after logging.  It is unstable, rotten, and often several feet deep.  Probably the most challenging terrain to get through anywhere ever.

Our camp!

And finally:

The northern lights!  Felt so blessed that I got to see them.  It was such a miracle that the sky was clear at the same time as Auroral activity this far south, it really felt like it was meant to be!

Mali ends

So my time in Mali was cut short.  What an unexpected disappointment.  I had put so much work and personal investment into Mali: committing my time, learning the language and culture, making amazing friends in my village, getting close to other PCVs...

It took months, the better part of a year, to adjust to my life in Mali.  But I saw it as an investment: work hard to live in such a strange and uncomfortable setting, so I could get to know people from a totally different way of life as my own.  I wanted to get to know them on a level that could only be achieved through two years of total immersion.  I wanted to make lifelong friends, and even, possibly help them improve their lives.  

I was really looking forward to that second year.  It was all set up to be one of the best of my life.  I was just beginning to have an amazing time, and getting the ball rolling on some big projects.  I guess I didn't get as big a return on my investment in Mali as I was expecting.  But I still got a lot.  I met some amazing people, learned Bambara, and fell in love with West Africa.  And even if I didn't get the full Peace Corps experience, I got enough to be certain that I'll be back.

And as disappointing as it was for me to leave early, my troubles are nothing compared to what the people of Mali have had to endure: an ethnic revolt, islamofascists, civil war, a coup d'état, an embargo for a landlocked country, destruction of ancient religious shrines, a drought, withdrawal of much of the Western aid Mali has become dependent on.  And no clear resolution in sight...

Ala k'a nogoya