Back From Hello

I’m happy to report that Lindsay and I (and our bags) made it safely to Suriname. The group arrived a little after midnight local time and we were greeted at the airport by some of the PC Suriname staff. Bouquets of flowers were passed out, greetings were exchanged, and we all loaded onto two small buses for the roughly 45 minute drive from the capitol, Paramaribo, to the NAKS training center in Lelydorp.

Upon arrival at NAKS, we piled off the bus and were greeted by a small army of current PCVs (Peace Corps Volunteers) who cheered our arrival, unloaded our luggage, and gave us each a pangi (that’s a thin cotton garment that is used for anything from a towel to a skirt). It was an awesome way to be welcomed into the country after a long few days of stressful travel.

Each day since we arrived has consisted of session after session on what’s expected of us, what to expect as trainees, safety, medical issues, cultural understanding, language, food, and tools to use as we work out in the field. Needless to say it’s been tough trying to digest all of the information that’s being thrown at us, but we’re doing our best to stay on top of it.

We’ve both also officially had our placement interviews with the staff and we will find out what our village assignment is on Monday. We’re anxious and nervous and excited but it’s all good. Whatever comes next comes next and we welcome the challenge. I can’t speak for Lindsay but I really want to know what language we’ll be learning so that we can get started on trying to communicate with everyone around us. I normally don’t do well with languages, but I’m not sure I’ve ever had a solid instructor or lesson plan, so I’m really looking forward to the immersion training that comes with being a Peace Corps Trainee.

I’ll try to keep you guys posted on how all that’s going, but we’re not sure how often we’ll be able to connect to the internet. So, if you don’t hear from me again for a while, don’t worry about it. As long as there’s nothing on the news about Peace Corps Trainees in Suriname, there’s nothing wrong with us.

Well, I’m off to play some volleyball with the rest of my cohorts. Take care of yourselves and we’ll do the same.

(Good luck getting that little ditty out of your head.)

Oh boy, do Lindsay and I have some big news to share (no, it doesn’t involve a baby). Chances are that if you’re reading this blog you already know about this but, since this is my blog and I do with it as I please, I’m using this space to formally announce that we applied for and were invited to serve in the Peace Corps.

Yeah, you read that right. No, it’s not hippies smoking pot on the savanna to avoid getting a real job. This isn’t your parents’ Peace Corps (and contrary to popular belief, that wasn’t your parents’ Peace Corps either). We’re going to do real work for real people with real needs. Frankly, we’re stoked.

The country in which we were invited to serve is called Suriname and no, it’s not in Africa. It’s a tiny, former Dutch colony along the Northern coast of South America, just north of Brazil. As a former Dutch colony, the official language is Dutch (fancy that), although it’s not necessarily the language spoken by the majority of the population — all 470,000 of them (give or take a few thousand). Given its history of European colonization, slavery, indentured servitude, and its prime location near Caribbean shipping routes, the population is staggeringly diverse, and the list of languages spoken by its people reflect that.

In the coming days and weeks, I’ll post more about what our jobs, living situation, and cultural experiences are like (at least that’s the plan anyway), but given the fact that we’ll be incredibly busy trying to sell everything we own and pack for the next two years, you should probably study up independently. So, here are your reading assignments:

First off, you’re probably wondering “What in the world is the Peace Corps?” and “What do they do?”

Interesting, right? Let me guess, now you want to know, “But what about this Suriname place? What would you guys be doing there?”

Hopefully those links will get you caught up a little bit and buy me some time to compose a better blog post for your next visit. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got way too much last minute packing, life organizing, paperwork filling out, and shopping to do to be hanging out here writing blog posts.

Ed. note: If you’re viewing this on Facebook, click here to visit my site.

The title of this post comes from the show that put my production company on the map. The Real World has been running continually since 1992 and given that MTV has signed on for four more seasons, it’s not exactly showing signs of slowing down. Now, say what you will about the shows we make, but the people I work with are, as a general rule, very talented, very creative, and very funny. Nowhere else is this better on display than at our annual Halloween party. This year was certainly no exception as we saw a nun, a mouse, Quailman, Tony Stark, Mr. Herbert from Family Guy, and even T-Pain.

In years past, I’ve dressed up for the party but this year I was saving my costume for the extracurricular festivities. I’m not going to go into detail about it here, but I strongly suggest that you head over to Lindsay’s blog and read about our Halloween.

So anyway, here are a few of my favorite shots from the 2009 Bunim-Murray Halloween Party:

You should really check the rest of them out because there’s plenty more where that came from. Happy haunting!