Mounting Difficulties

       I've yet to set foot on a plane and I'm already having troubles. Medical clearance is all due within 3 days. I have been working on it for the past six weeks. Dental work, physical examination, blood work, immunization shots and proofs. The Dental work was easy, with my relatively lax work schedule I was able to fit into canceled appointments the next day. The rest... hasn't been as smooth.

       One of my biggest problems arose from a website which is only sometimes compatible with my chosen web browser. This website has a great deal of information and 'how to's' relevant to many of the things I need to do, passport and visa application guidelines for instance. Well after a few unsuccessful tries to access this website when it was given to me three or so months ago... it fell into obscurity and I had forgotten about it until last week. While reading I discovered a single piece of paperwork that needed to accompany my passport application, as well as something I had done wrong with my visa application. Both of which had been mailed out the day before. Submitting new forms was not an option considering the 20 dollars worth of passport pictures accompanying the parcels, as well as my current, unduplicatable, passport.

       Knowing government agencies to be the giant balls of bureaucracy that they are I realized that upon finding incorrect forms they would likely hold onto them for six weeks before returning them to me, effectively ensuring that I would be unable to resubmit them prior to my scheduled departure. Never one to give up I did a little research and discovered that UPS permits changes to delivery addresses while the package is en route, there was hope. I spent a few hours figuring out how to do this only to find that the account which had printed the label alone could alter the address, and upon calling the outlet I used to ship from discovered the attendant didn't even know such a thing was possible. I looked up a step by step guide and walked her through the procedure to redirect the packages back to me. Crisis averted, although mailing the items cost 20 dollars, redirecting them cost 50, and I'll need to pay again to send them out a second time.

     Acquiring documentation of immunizations has been quite a chore as well. I was first directed to my high school records, which of course everyone working within the school system is on summer vacation and unable to help me at all. Two weeks of phone calls between a primary care provider, two hospitals, and a walk in clinic that supposedly has my records turned into a fun carousel of each directing me to the next or back to the vacant high school. When I finally did manage to get my grubby little hands on a form all it says is (Disease), which according to my Peace Corps nurse informant is insufficient. Here I managed to outwit chaos by discovering that a blood test can be done to confirm the word (Disease), basically giving me another piece of paper which I can use as proof.

      I know such things are supposed to stress a person out but I find myself somewhat enjoying these shenanigans. People often complain or suffer from apparent crippling distress when anything becomes difficult, but life is supposed to be comprised of difficulty. If everything was easy we wouldn't have any reason to desire improvement. Some people think that what they desire is the victory itself, and if that's the case I suggest you repeatedly play your preferred game against a two year old. You'll likely win every time, but you don't feel the same because it didn't challenge you. What challenges us forces us to improve if we choose to work towards overcoming something.

       Here is a paragraph on perfection from something else I wrote. " Humans will never be the perfect lovers or engineers because perfection is unattainable. It is merely a concept we have constructed to describe the upward border of progress. Many times a cartoon will depict an animal chasing its preferred food tied with string to a stick attached to the animal, as the animal moves forward so does the food. Humanity is in this comical scene and perfection is tied to the string. With each step forward we never close the gap between ourselves and perfection. Yet the concept gives us something to move towards. Although we will never reach perfection it remains at the top giving us something to set our sights on, without it we would lack a clear objective, and have no motivation to move forward."

       So while I find some of these things difficult I also find joy in them, because they facilitate the transition from what I am to what I wish to eventually become, and it is this mentality that will be my secret weapon against hopelessness for all of the difficulties I will undoubtedly encounter throughout my two years of Peace Corps service.

Miscellaneous Information for Friends and Family

Presented here are some links and bits of odd information one might find interesting.

       A link to a Handbook for volunteer families. Probably applicable to friends as well though.
On the Homefront

   
        This is an overview of the country and so on that was given to me, but you might find interesting.
Senegal Welcome Book

        Here is the address I will be at during my first few months of training.

Your address during training will be:
PCT Thomas Barnes
Corps de la Paix
B.P. 299
Thiès, Senegal
West Africa

       Several proposed packing lists.
pre-arrival-packing-list
mike-toso-s-minimalist-packing-guide

       A look at possible living conditions.
MTV-Cribs-Africa

       A PC Senegal Calander
Calendar

       Pictures! Hundreds of them.
photos

       Audio clips of current volunteers.
Ourvoicesoursenegal.tumblr


       I'll probably add some quick reference numbers and additional material to this over the next few months.

Where It Began

       The name of this blog represents the mentality by which I try to live. Agnosia is from an ancient Greek word and means 'absence of knowledge' or 'ignorance'. The second word is the french word 'but'. Together I hoped they would portray me as aware of my own shortcomings, but searching for the knowledge to increase my human potential.

       These writings are to share my experiences, revelations, and hardships pertaining to Peace Corps service with anyone who might be so inclined to care, or anyone wishing to live vicariously through my actions.

       The first question I usually get in regard to my choice is 'why?' While many motivations directed me to this choice, my typical answer is that I wished to test myself. I've spent the last five years of my life improving my mind and training my body. Through the process though I had forgotten something, I'd forgotten that the reason I was progressing wasn't for the sake of progress itself, but because if I stopped now to work on myself then in the future I would be better able to help out my fellow man. This realization occurred to me about a year and a half ago, and wouldn't I be so lucky as to have a friend join the Peace Corps at the same time. 

       Such an undertaking had not crossed my mind, yet upon examination everything fit perfectly. I'd been training and working for four years but didn't really have any means of evaluating my efforts. The Peace Corps presented such a challenge, with an exquisite bonus of helping people to be the primary objective of Peace Corps service. Everything seemed to fit on the macro, and being the thorough individual that I am I started looking at the small things too. Service seemed fiscally responsible, everything is paid and loans are deferred for the duration of service. I wasn't in a relationship and had no plans to start one. I'd likely pick up a foreign language and not only see parts of the world but really live them. I'd be without the usual companions but I spend most of my time alone or in my head anyway, not much of a change really. Background reading revealed that excessive amounts of down time would be likely, perfect for reading and training in an environment lacking internet and modern distractions. What's not to love?

       A year has passed and I am two months away from departure. Paperwork, planning, and packing lists dominate my mind, Doctors visits and immunization shots occupy my time, and excitement mixed with unease seep into my demeanor. One could say to me "You'll have a tale or two to tell when you come back."