Statement of Purpose

To quote the Peace Corps website -



In 1961, President John F. Kennedy established the Peace Corps to promote world peace and friendship.

The Peace Corps' mission has three simple goals:

1. Helping the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women.
2. Helping promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served.
3. Helping promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.



In pursuit of the third goal I'll be writing this blog to share stories and observations from my time "over there". This is my first time to write a blog so excuse any clumsy mistakes and inevitable spelling mistakes. I will also be writing in 日本語 for all my J-friends and students.

I will try to organize this blog into a few categories.

1. WORK - An area that seems to get skipped over in most Peace Corps blogs I've read. I hope to write a bit about the day-to-day details of what a "Community Economic Development(CED) Advisor does. This may be of no interest to anybody except those who may someday join to do the same work.
2. CULTURE - This could be anything from boring details about what kind of hat one should where on National Founding Day, to the slightly more interesting details of how one uses a 'squatter toilet', to a detailed description of how roasted lamb's eyeball tastes.
3. PERSONAL - If I dont know you skip this part. Its none of your business.
4. OTHER - As noted above, Im a blog virgin so I dont what I'll write about, how much I'll write, how I'll write it, etc.

As writing this is technically part of my job I will try to write at least one post per week and to upload it ASAP. But I dont know what kind of internet (electricity, water, heat....) access I will have.

Its important to note that the semi-diplomatic nature of the job I will have to censor myself regarding some some of the things I write. All opinions expressed here obviously do not reflect those of the US government, the AZ government, the Peace Corps, and due to the afore mentioned censorship may not reflect those of myself nor reality. Others have been kicked out of the Corps for reporting undiplomatic observations and opinions.
You have been warned.

Stay tuned.