Staging

Today was staging. From twelve `til sevenish, we were in the meeting room of a hotel. First was the ice breaker. We had to find twelve people, ask them their names/where they’re from/a question. The questions had to do with Peace Corps (such as what have you done to prepare? what do you think’ll be most challenging? When was Peace Corps founded?). After, we split into groups and had to draw representations of what we’re most anxious about and most excited about. Then we split into new groups and each group was given a potential problem we might face. The groups had to write a list of how to prevent and/or reduce the problem. We then split into new groups again and had to act out a scene demonstrating one of six Peace Corps policies (mostly dealing with social interactions and potential obstacles). Afterward, we went over the schedule for tomorrow (waking up, going to the airport, a little bit of what’s gonna happen once we land).

All in all, there are 63 of us, ranging from mid-twenties to senior citizens. About half are working in Youth Development, and half in Small Business Development. Splitting into groups was good, definitely helps with the name-learning, though I’ve still got a ways to go.

Then we went out to dinner. Peace Corps gave us money to cover it. I went with a few other volunteers to a pub, got a burger. Really, we all had a good time there. All the volunteers seem pretty cool, looks like we have a good group going to Morocco.