My name is Brittany and I am from the great state of New York (specifically Upstate). I am Temple Made with a BA in African American Studies. After graduating I moved my entire life in two suitcases to Istanbul, Turkey where I began my love affair with the ancient Ottoman/Byzantine city. While I was there, I had a blog called “Siyah In Turkey.” Siyah is the Turkish word for “Black” and it was a cute little play on words (Siyah = See ya! Get it?). Out of my love for Turkey, I decided to keep the Siyah when trying to come up with a title for this blog.
After I came back from Turkey, I became an AmeriCorps member with City Year Philadelphia. I served two years with City Year on the Civic Engagement Team where I helped plan City Year Philadelphia’s large scale phyiscal service events. I am currently a Youth Development Volunteer in Peace Corps Peru living in wonderfully hot Amazonas.
I love all things history and Netflix. I love reading, especially Historical Fiction, of course. I love cats, Game of Thrones, cemeteries, my solitude, and The Blessed Glory that is Idris Elba.
Siyah En Perú 
Wow. I am so inspired by your desire to live a life of service and your commitment to understanding cultures. You rock, girl! Can’t wait to keep up with your posts.
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Thank you so much -I appreciate it! Looking forward to your posts too! I Good luck in, China! Also I see that you have natural hair. How do you plan on maintaining during your service are you going to braid? I still haven’t quite figured what I’m going to do yet!
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Well, I’ve been working on simplifying my natural routine already. I’ve been to China already, and I KNOW there is no products that I will be able to use. I’m going to bring about 2 bottles each of a generic rinse out conditioner, a leave in, and a deep condition. I’m only bringing one bottle of shampoo. Once all of this is gone, I’m going to rely on natural oils (which I use frequently) and food grade conditioning (eggs, avocado, etc). I’m probably just going to have to have things shipped to me. I should be find with styling it. I do lots and lots of twists for protective styling and then my regular twist outs. Do you have any idea of what to bring and such?
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BeeDub –
Remember to email me your address. I am living vicariously through your exploits and, like the poster above, am inspired by and proud of your dedication to a life of service.
M.Moellering
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Thanks so much Mr. Moellering! I won’t know my permanent address until about week 8 of training but I’ll definitely keep you posted!
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Hi Brittany, I’m Colleen – a PCV in Kyrgyzstan. I just binge-read all your posts and love, love, love your writing and your take on life in Peru. Good luck with service, and I’m looking forward to reading more about your work 🙂
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Hey! I’m so happy to hear you like the blog! Good luck in your service too. Kyrgyzstan seems amazing!
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Hi!!! Philly girl born and raised here. I move to Colombia with the PC in 3.5 weeks. Loved your PST post. I plan to share it with my fellow PCV’s. Hope to hear back from you, Brittany : )
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Hey! I’m glad you enjoyed it! And congrats and good luck on your Peace Corps Invite. I don’t know much about Columbia’s program but I’m sure youll have an amazing time! You wouldn’t have happened to go to Temple? Your user name is in the format of a Temple email lol
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I sure did! Temple made : ) I knew there was something I was forgetting to mention in my original message, haha.
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Haha I figured! I still remember mine – tub73627 lol
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In Amazonas? Thats cool. I was Youth development 06-08 in La Libertad. Cool to hear that new states are being added. Hope you are having fun!
Jacob
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Yup! And we’re still fairly new to Amazonas there were only two other YD volunteers here before got here in November
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Hi! I love reading your blog, and hearing about your experiences. I especially appreciate that you are just open and honest with us- we need that lol. I was wondering if I could email you a few questions I have about the application process- I’m in the middle of mine right now!
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Hi Lily! Thanks for reading and yes you can definitely email me (brittanydelores.white@gmail.com). Although I will warn you that I applied under the old application system back in may/June 2014 so I am no familiar with the ins and outs of the new application system
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