“All my bags are packed I’m ready to go /… / ‘Cause I’m leaving on a jet plane”

My personal belongings from home for the next two years

Whew!  What a whirlwind these past two weeks have been.   When I found out in mid-June that I would be leaving in September, I envisioned having every detail taken care of weeks in advance and spending my last few days in the states leisurely enjoying time with family and friends.  As it turns out though, my pace ended up being a bit more frenetic than the ideal.  From taking care of financial matters, to selling my car, to shopping for and purchasing last minute items, my life seems to have been an endless amount of To Do lists.  All in all though, I’m feeling confident that whatever I forgot to pack or do will be minor.   Unfortunately, amid this chaos came the news that my aunt (my mother’s sister) passed away suddenly and unexpectedly.  As you can imagine, this really shook our family and I’m praying that all who knew her are given peace during this loss.

After an ‘all-nighter’ packing experience in which I considered and reconsidered every item that went into my  suddenly-much-too-small bags, I was off to Philadelphia.  Yesterday was full of paperwork and other administrative details, including various requisite icebreakers and sessions on goals/missions/expectations.  There sure are a lot of us in this group – 50 PCTs (Peace Corps Trainees) at this point, split pretty evenly between Agro-Forestry and Health initiatives.  This morning we were all up early to trudge to the health clinic for the first of many vaccinations (today: Yellow Fever), then we boarded our charter buses to New York.  Two hours later, I had made it through check-in (total checked baggage = 66 lbs…potentially a record low?!).  I’m currently at JFK awaiting our departure to Cameroon, via Brussels.  We’re all a little physically and emotionally drained at this point so I envision a low-key red-eye flight for the first leg of our trip. 

My next post will be from Africa!...though it may be a few weeks.  Wish me luck!