The following are strictly personal views/observations and in no way reflect the views of the Peace Corp nor the federal government of the United States.

Well, the American Independence party on July 1st was great fun. The United States Marines were the organizers and those men certainly know how to throw an excellent party. The party goers were principally Peace Corp volunteers; apparently, if you offer volunteers free food and drink we show up in droves and consume all that is before us in a manner similar to locusts.

This past weekend we visited our future sites, where beginning in mid August we will be working and living for the next two years. While at site we auditioned host families, whom we will live with for a period of at least 6 months and potentially for up to 2 years; thus, the audition is important because living for an extended period of time with a family whom you do not feel comfortable is a quite intolerable situation.

During this audition I found that there is great variety in outhouses. In America I had copt many a urination in a port-a-john but never an outhouse; thus, I had always assumed that outhouses all consisted of a shanty protecting a hole in the ground. I was quite wrong. Now that I have utilized many outhouses I see there many varietals. There are squatters, boxes with a hole, benches with cushions, there are boundless opportunities for creativity in the realm of the outhouse. What is most interesting is that people are proud of their outhouses, they take great pride in the quality of their outhouse. However, no matter how much effort, thought, and creativity are put into the creation of an outhouse it is guaranteed that they all smell!

While at my site visit, my future colleagues took me on an outing to the nearby lake. It was a very enjoyable afternoon, we had barbecued rabbit, chicken, and fish as well as cucumbers, tomatoes, plachenta (pie made with meat or cheese or cabbage), cookies, cake and lots of alcohol. Rabbit is an interesting meat to consume, I found it a bit stringy and tough. Personally, I think a rabbit makes a better pet than a source of protein.

Many in the party went swimming in the lake. However, I found that the plethora of litter present, floating on top of the lake and on its shores, as well as the smell of fecal matter emanating from the water was a bit of a repellent to swimming. I just could not make myself wade through empty beer bottles to get into water that smelled like feces, but I also do not care for swimming.