After many deep and profound brain things inside my head, and much invaluable help from my brother who knows about these computer things and internet stuffs, I have a blog to document my many bang ups, klutzy moments, cultural gauffs, accidental insults, confrontations with the dreaded fossa, conversations with the cannibals, poor attempts at mastering Malagasy and encounters with the Man-Eating Tree.

I am guessing that if you are reading this blog you already know enough about me to skip the next paragraph but if you have chanced to stumble across this blog in the vastness that is the internet then here is a short intro. My name is Amie Shindelar, I am a 23 year old native of Minnesota, with a BA in Anthropology and Global Studies from the University of Minnesota. I have three sisters a brother, and much extended family without whose support I could never go on these crazy adventures. My newest label is "Peace Corps Trainee" I am getting ready to embark on a two-year adventure to Madagascar. That large island off the southeast coast of Africa, which was immortalized in the dream-works film by the same name. To learn a bit more about Madagascar check out the "Madi" section of this blog.

I do not know what type of internet access I will have once I reach Madi, but I know it will not be ubiquitous like in the States, so I can not promise a daily or even weekly update, I will do my absolute best to get to this blog about once a month for the next 27 months to update you all on my life and experiences as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Madagascar.

Why the Peace Corps?

Peace Corps is one of those things that I always thought of myself doing, as a junior in high school I concocted a plan. At the time I was an AFS exchange student in Southern Italy, and as part of our introduction to the country we got to meet the U.S. ambassador to Italy. When I met this man, whose name I no longer remember I thought "this is who I want to be when I grow up" (or at least a bit like him, not exactly him) and then I mapped out a plan in my brain that would get me to that point. It went like this: finish high school - go to ivy league college- get degree in International relations - join the Peace Corps - join the Foreign Service - become ambassador. Well things didn't happen exactly that way; there have been a couple of detours. I took a year off and was a nanny in Sweden, I didn't get into an Ivy league school, and ended up at the U of Minnesota instead (which I loved), my degree is not International Relations, and for a long time I had no desire to join the Peace Corps or the Foreign Service. I mean do I really want my name attached to the U.S. Government in any way at all? No, not really. But then there is the old cliche, of changing things from the inside; it is easier to make an organization better when you are part of it.

So, when I was having difficulty finding a job in the field I was interested in (forced migration) after graduation, and at the insistence of my father, I decided to apply for the Peace Corps and see what happened. I think my dad started to regret his pushiness when I told him I had really decided to take the plunge.

What will I be doing?

As with most questions related to the Peace Corps, my answer is "I don't really know" Now this isn't because I haven't taken the time to try and figure it out, but because the PC doesn't like to tell you anything. I have signed up as an Agroforestry volunteer, from the information I have gleaned from the PC and other sources I could be doing any number of things related to environmental conservation and sustainable development. It is most likely that after training (approximately the first three months that I am in country) I will be placed in a Malagasy village to help address a particular aspect of grassroots development. So maybe I will be building a fish farm, or working to increase yields on paddy rice fields, or creating trails and eco-tourism infrastructure in a national park.

But a current PC volunteer in Madagascar told me "Forget about your "agroforestry" assignment. It means nothing. PC Washington creates these labels but once you get here you are just an environment volunteer. You'll have an interview a few days after arrival and then the powers that be will chose your site irrespective of PC Washington's label." So I could end up doing pretty much anything. If I remember correctly this volunteer ended up doing mainly community health service work.