Orientation, Philadelphia, and Zsa Zsa

The day I went to the San Francisco airport to head to Philadelphia began like any other day for a member of the Schatz household who is moving to a foreign country begins…with teary goodbyes and excessive luggage. My flight was scheduled early out of SFO to Philly, and like the diligent, responsible human being I am, I arrived early and prepared. I would be moving to Ghana for 2 years, a country I knew little about beyond the meager research I had done before going, and from what I could tell, Ghana was poorer than the United States, and had less available hand sanitizers. I knew I couldn’t bring the United States with me to Ghana, but gosh darn, I was going to try. And try I did. With the help of my overzealous, caring parents, I packed much; much much. Clothes, books (lots of books), electronic accessories, survival gear, and hand sanitizer. Equipped with 2 monstrous bags, a mid-size travel bag, and a backpack, I trundled into the airport and went smoothly (if bulkily) through check in and security arriving at the gate with little stress, except for the overwhelming sensation of complete change and teary goodbyes, early mornings, and vast unknowns.
Little did I know, but the already tiring, draining trip to the gate would be the least of my worries that day. First, my flight was delayed, then delayed more, then delayed yet again, then cancelled. Because of the repeated delays, almost all of the other flights to Philly that day had already left or were fully booked. I grabbed my checked in luggage and began running (sprinting) around (ALL bags in tote) the airport and waiting in ridiculously long line after ridiculously long line trying desperately to get to Philiadelphia so that I could actually go to Ghana. Fortunately for myself and for the two other PCVs I met in SFO, Richard and Chelsea, we somehow managed to get on a flight and arrived late, late in the night in Philadelphia where we had already missed some of Orientation and were forced to tip-toe into our respective rooms without unduly disturbing our snoring roommates. Despite my skill at carrying excessive luggage, David heard me come in and woke up. It was 4:30 A.M. when I went to bed.
I arose at 6:30 to begin Orientation began. I could quickly see that the fuss over arriving late to Orientation lacked reason…Orientation was boring. I spent a lot of time, sitting in rooms, waiting in lines, and trying (futilely) to get to know the other 71 volunteers who would be shipping over with me to Ghana. The setting was not conducive to conversations of any depth, and we were really just being shepherded through administrative necessity after administrative necessity—the Peace Corps trying to do what they had to make sure we all went to Ghana legally. Orientation also was short. We spent two days in Philadelphia before driving up to New York and JFK airport, from which we would ultimately fly to Ghana. The highlights of Orientation undoubtedly were the overpriced Philly Cheesteak I consumed (my last non-kosher meal—more on this later), and the night we all went to Karaoke for Kevin with the superb mustache’s birthday. I sang Crocodile Rock. I am a ham.
When we all went to JFK on busses, it became very clear to me just how much I had over-packed. The roommate whom I had disturbed, David, had brought little more than a hiking backpack with him. I, with my 4 bags, 3 of them rolling, was the Zsa Zsa Gabor of Peace Corps. Channeling Zsa Zsa, and all the socialites that came before me, I strutted my way through JFK and into Ghana.

This, the first blog entry, is, like my life, late and out of order

Greetings from Ghana! Greetings from an official Peace Corps Volunteer!

I have been in Ghana for 12-13 weeks now and this is my first blog post…sorry.  Please trust that I have been incredibly busy, had very little internet access, and that I always planned on starting up a blog as soon as training ended.  See how I deliver on my promises?

Well training is done, and I have begun my service as a PCV (Peace Corps Volunteer), and there is so much to tell that I don’t know whether to start from the beginning or the end or in medias res, but I think stream of consciousness perhaps will work best, because otherwise I think this will take far too much time, and I’ll enjoy it far more if I do it in rhyme, at least until the stream runs dry, and from lack of inspiration I break down and cry.  So hear it goes I'll give a try, and yet here I am still delaying, oh how the time flies...ok, enough with that!  Here are some facts:

In the beginning...I had been living in Shanghai for 2.5 years, had a steady job with Global Shares, and a well developed life, which I left in a whirlwind fashion after hearing with little advance notice that I had been accepted to join the Peace Corps in Ghana as a Small Enterprise Development Volunteer.  It was a very emotional time in my life, and I really did leave a lot behind.  I still miss my friends and colleagues in Shanghai and hope to remain in contact with them.  

Yet a life in the Peace Corps called to me.  The adventure, the challenge, and the opportunity to orient my life towards bettering the world, particularly towards utilizing the resources and dynamism of capitalism to the benefit of the world's poorest billions proved to be an opportunity I could not pass up.  And thus, I quit my job, broke up with my girlfriend, gave up any hopes (fledgling as they were) at Chinese Pop Stardom (capitalized), and moved back to the States, where I would spend 2 weeks at home in California with my parents before heading off to Peace Corps staging in Philadelphia.