Travel with me for 27 months of service as a Peace Corps volunteer in Moldova!

Thank you for sharing in my experience and please keep in touch by leaving comments! Om Shanti

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

First Post

Welcome to my first ever blog!  I am excited to invite everyone to travel with me and join in the Peace Corps experience.  I officially leave in about a month on June 8th!  I will be working with the Health Education in Schools and Communities program as a Health Education Specialist.  This program sounds like a perfect match for me and when I first read the details it was like I had created the job description myself.  The program takes a holistic youth development approach to health ed with programing in and out of the classroom.  I will be teaching completely in the Moldovan language so learning the language will be the first challenge to tackle.  With just over a month to go till I leave, I am getting everything ready, enjoying my time stateside and spending time with everyone I love!

For a little background, Here's an update on what I've been up to for the past few years.  I finished graduate school in Dec. 2007 with a Maters Degree in Health Education and Behavior. While in grad school I focused on holistic health and youth development.  During that time I worked with and helped design an outdoor education program for at-risk adolescent girls, called Project Challenge.  Probably one of the coolest jobs ever, we used rock climbing, white water rafting and camping activities to increase the confidence and self esteem in these girls to positively affect their health outcomes.  After graduation, I did a solo backpacking trip around Europe for 5 months, which added fuel to my passion for traveling.   Returning to the US, I became a tour guide for Trek America, a small group adventure touring company for people aged 18-35 visiting America.  With this job I led cross-country tours, driving 15,000 miles in one summer and camping in some of the most beautiful places and national parks.  Then I spent some time in California before accepting an internship in Colorado with the Breckenridge Outdoor Education Center.  I spent the winter of 2008 living on the top of a mountain in the rockies as a ski instructor teaching people of all abilities and disabilities how to ski and enjoy the outdoors.  During this time was when I decided to submit my application for the Peace Corps.  After Colorado, I moved to upstate New York to live and work at Omega (now one of my favorite places!).  Omega is a holistic health community nestled in nature and seeping in love, discovery and spirituality.  At Omega, I was a faculty assistant and helped visiting faculty prepare for their workshops and retreats.  After staying a whole season at Omega, I went on a musical tour with a bunch of friends (the Dharma Bums) down the East Coast spreading peace, community and environmental awareness from the wheels of the Dharma Mobile.  For the past 5 months, I've been living in beautiful and wonderful Charleston, SC.  In Charleston, I embraced many opportunities, including working and living at a hostel, developing a strong yoga practice of Jivamukti yoga with amazing teachers, learning all about raw, vegan cooking and acupuncture, and using my bike for transportation with no car.  During this month, I am going back up to Omega for 2 weeks, visiting family and friends in Florida, taking a trip to Arizona and then getting reading to head out to Moldova for the next 27 months!!!

Hope this background information was helpful!  Looking forward to keeping in touch with everyone!!  Have a great Day!