Where am I?

• Teamclaudia's Profile
• About this blog
• Entry from Miami

Trip Start Jul 01, 2007 Previous
Entry Trip End Aug 17, 2009 Next
Entry

  Miami, Texas, United States
Monday, July 2, 2007

"Where am I?" This was the first thought to run across my mind this morning. When the phone rang at the hotel ( for our 6 am morning call) I was confused as to why I was in a hotel room with a roommate who is at least 50 years old. And then it hit me...oh yeah...you are in the Peace Corps.

You read it right. Yes, my roommate is at least 50 years old. There are 8 other volunteers who are at least 50. I happened to get roomed up with one of them. It was a unique experience for the both of us. I am sure she thought they would pair her up with another volunteer her age at least that is what I thought. But it wasn't as awkward as I thought it would be. We ended up talking about her kids and my family. So there is about 59 of us volunteers. Here is the breakdown. Out of 59 people:
* I am the only Texan (I have met people from Michigan, Minnesota, Georgia, New Mexico, Florida, California, North Carolina....everywhere and anywhere but Texas. Most people are curious about me being Texan and they are asking me a lot of questions)
* I am one of three black volunteers
* More than half of the volunteers are women
* Majority are in their twenties but there is a good number who are in their thirties
* A lot of the volunteers are vegetarians. I have never met so many vegetarians in my life. I joked with them that it is against the law in Texas not to eat meat. Most of the people that are vegetarians are going to be in the environmental program in Jamaica. Each one of them said that the reason they became vegetarians was because the killing and packing of meat is not environmentally friendly. They taught me that cows consume a lot of wheat and the amount of wheat that they eat is enough to feed millions of people. So their logic is instead of letting the cows eat the wheat let people eat the wheat. Plus the mentioned things about water consumption, energy and transportation involved with the meat industry that if changed can benefit the earth and many more people. Their argument made sense ( I'm really not doing it justice by what I just mentioned) but when it comes down to it I'm not giving up my chicken. Side note: each of the volunteers who said they are vegetarians have recently taken up eating meat at least chicken and fish just because they joined the Peace Corps.

So we leave tomorrow morning for Jamaica. We arrive around 11:00am. It's only a little over an hour flight. Training was amazing. I really enjoyed the staff and they provided us with some great information about Jamaican culture, how to stay safe, how to integrate into our community, Peace Corps policy, etc...

I am writing this in the hotel's computer lab as I sit next to a guy from St. Lucias. He isn't with the Peace Corps but he thought I was Caribbean and decided to chat with a fellow Caribbean not knowing that I an not. It's amazing the diversity in Miami. Yesterday we had dinner at a Cuban restaurant and for lunch today we ate at a Latin diner.

I miss you all. Thanks for the words of encouragement it means a lot to me.

Claudia

Print this entry Share Cambridge hotels

Previous Entry Next Entry