8.22.00
Tomorrow we trainees will be sworn in. Today was filled with a lot of laughter and tears. We will be sad to leave each other but we are very prepared to begin work at our new sites. I will move to Kilingi on Friday. The swearing in ceremony will be great.
8.18.00
A few days shy of swearing in now...More info soon I promise. I am alive and very happy. Estonia is a beautiful country.
6/25/00
I am now in Tartu, Estonia. All is pretty well and Peace Corps training is keeping me busy. We have all these language classes and cross cultural sessions and TEFL sessions. It is good though because it leaves only a little time to miss my awesome family. Estonia is actually very beautiful and overall the people are very welcoming. I am still working out communication with my family, the best times to call and stuff but other than that there is good internet access here. I will write more later, email me at eriecanary@hotmail.com
General record of my life at the moment:
5/17/00
I spent almost the entire day making copies and typing letters to give to friends and fam with my PC address, which is by the way: Erin Gray PO Box 1216 Riga, Latvia LV1050. Admidst the papers I did manage to sqeeze in a single mocha at Lakota. I took the advice of the current Estonia volunteers and bought some CD's I didn't have. They aren't new really but I second hand CD's work just as well- Pearl Jam- Vitalogy, Beastie Boys- Ill Communication and good ole Hootie. I'm still bummed that three of my CD's have vanished- I don't know where they are- it is possible I left the case on the plane in Charlotte. Oh well. Umm, what else. I tackled the packing finally and when I took my stuff to have it weighed at Mail Boxes Etc.- I was way off, underweight which is good- so I have about forty pounds I can add. This made me so happy because it was my first attempt and I didn't have some items in there. I will have to resume this later, I'm off to Shakespeare's for some pepperoni pizza due to the fact that I have been so caught up in stuff that I haven't eaten yet today- it is now 6 pm so.. happy surfing everyone, I'll write more soon.
5/12/00
I know it has been a while. Sometimes you just have to wait for something to set you off- so I'll identify my source. While looking over the periodicals at Missouri bookstore I found The Washington Times publication - The World and I. It is basically chock full of current events articles/political flurry and opinion pages. I took special interest in an article by Dmitry Shlapentokh, titled "The Fate of Jews in Post-Soviet Russia". I was drawn to it because I am currently at the point in a book -The Baltic Revolution- where the author has begun to discuss the struggle of the Jewish people in Estonia throughout the former Soviet occupation. Naturally this article is directly tied to the material in - The Baltic Revolution.
The author of the article, Shalpentokh, is Jewish. His perspective which includes political theory and recent Soviet press statements is offset by his own childhood memories and stark acknowledgement that -there is no perfect solution. It wasn't so much the material of these sources alone that ignited my critical thinking. Anti-Semitic is a term I hadn't even heard of until high school- even then it was only identifiable with a news report on CNN. There weren't any Jewish families among my small town- so I never thought about it either way. It wasn't until college that I developed a friendship with a Jewish person. Sarah was from Chicago and we became instant friends because I wanted to know what it was like to live in Chicago and she couldn't imagine growing up in a town as small as Boonville. It wasn't until much later that we began to talk about our Catholic and Jewish backgrounds.
Diversity among friends was not new to me and really didn't matter- I had friends from Baptist to Jehovah's Witness.
What really struck me from reading these materials is that I never think of my friends or community from the side of religion. Over and over I find instances where specific religious communities were blamed for the horrors of Soviet occupation- maybe the United States just doesn't have enough history under the belt. The concept of blaming a race or religion for my own setbacks has not occured to me- this is good. I am so happy that Sarah became friends because I had the chance to learn so much- when Sarah ate Matzo so did I. That is just what friends do for each other.
4/26/00
Long day at work here, twelve hours mimimum. I broke out onto the Katy Trail and got in at least four miles before the sunlight withdrew. Today I got a great email from a PC volunteer in Estonia regarding surface mail/religion in Estonia and other stuff. Now I need to contact the post office and find out how much a few boxes/certain weight will run. I'm beginning to wonder how many other people are out there wondering what to pack, how they will learn the language. One thing, I'm going to miss making quesadillas- maybe they sell tortillas in Estonia but I can alway improvise. If you are looking for thermal gear at a low price try ebay/ I've had some luck so far.
4/23/00
Two weeks left of work at Crossroads Clinic. Easter is come- along with a three and a half hour mass. I am crossing things off my packing list. Invested in some new sneakers since my New Balance ones were biting the dust. I was going to break them in to night but its a rainy evening and a bit dreary- I sold the daylight to a movie with my Mom. Keeping the Faith- was worthy of some laughs. A good movie if you just feel like a lighthearted comedy. Contacted some more PC's with general questions- no reply yet but then again I use the computer several times daily- not everyone has the access. So it seems Elian is back in the arms of his father, or Cuba- not sure which really. Children are a direct gift. I amazed by their resilience.
4/15/00
~ So let the countdown begin. I about three weeks left of work- at the University of Missouri Columbia. Then I'm going to spend three weeks drinking lots of mocha cap.s at Lakota, going over my pc checklist and weighing my suitcase often. The thought of heading to Riga in just a few weeks makes me very exited and nervous all at once but this is the best. There is nothig better than that little rush you get when you dive in and try something new. When you enter a room full of people you have never met. It is great. Right now I'm narrowing down my sleeping bag search, I found one from The North Face company. I'm trying to stay local since mail order isn't always dependable and there isn't a lot of time. My hiking boots are ready too- Gortex/waterproof and I tested them- try a Missouri conservation area in early March- it was cold, wet and very muddy.
EMAIL ME: eriecanary@hotmail.com
 WebSpawner Page Machine |
| My full homepage |
| Peace Corps |
| University of Missouri, Columbia |
| Ebay |
| North Face Gear |
Send E-Mail to: eriecanary@hotmail.com