What Is This About?

It's probably appropriate for me to start this blog off with a proper introduction.

Hello, my name is Dan Dutcher and I am leaving the United States to go to Morocco with the Peace Corps. I will be working as a health worker (really health volunteer, sorry I'll try to keep the B.S. to a limit here). That means that for the next six months I'll be learning how to speak Berber (whichever dialect I get stuck with) and how to wipe with my left hand in some far off place near the Atlas mountains. I will simply be learning how to live in a world that is alien to the one I currently know and love. After those preliminary six months, I should have a good understanding of what is going on in terms of health problems that people in my village face everyday and will spend the next 21 months trying to better their predicament.

Everyone so far has asked me why I am doing this, so I feel that it would be good to clarify that question right now. I grew up in the suburbs of St. Paul reading a lot of comic books and living with my mother and father who are border-line superhero's anyway. My dad created his own accounting firm and saw it to success all while getting two masters degrees in business and taxation and having my brother and sister and I. My mom had the harder job of raising us and working at Qwest. Today they still pull full time jobs but now spend their free time working to get those who have been crushed by the economy out of debt and back on their feet. And they do this all for...yep you guessed it....free! So it's no wonder that I fell in love with the idea of someday being a superhero, swooping in to save the day, you know people like superman and wolverine, tights and all baby. Ever since my X-Men days I've desired to be that person but couldn't figure out how to do it. College was a big problem, because you were told you were equipping yourself to do those sorts of things but really you knew you were just sitting behind a stack of books and interacting with no one. When I got out of the college cage last May (2008) I realized, I still wasn't even close. I had no skills and worse, no job! I found myself relying on everyone else to save me and help me out (thanks parents) and was soon isolated behind another stack of books while I studied for the MCAT. I was watching my friends leave to go to new states and new adventures in life as they accepted decent jobs in their respected fields. Then I got a life line into satisfying my superhero complex, "would you like to go to Morocco where you will sacrifice all luxuries to help out a group of people from unknowing health problems? Don't worry, we'll pay you next to nothing." Hell yeah!

Of course I've had a few months to prepare and during that time I've realized certain things about what I want and what I've signed up for. I want to be a hero, save the day, and have everyone love me. Unfortunately, I've signed up to be completely lost and need the help of everyone around me. I have very few relative skills except the ability to research and learn new information, which will come in very handy with no internet and few books in English (that's sarcasim by the way). Also, I'm leaving everyone who loves me already. All my friends and family who know me best are here in the states. Stupid right? Maybe not. I will still get to help others and overcome challenges that will leave me and those around me feeling like a hero anyway. I'm going to work harder than I've ever worked before but this time I'm going to love it! The people there will give me a new look at what success in life or being a hero really is. And hopefully at the end of it I will know what I want to do with my life (medical school? public health? professional hobo?). But for now, I'm just getting ready to leave and enjoying the company of good friends one last time. Currently I'm in Santa Rosa California visiting one of my closest friends and harassing sea lions on the local beaches. I will fill you in on more in the coming weeks so visit again.