One Week Count Down

Hello All

I leave for Miami in one week! I arrive in Miami at 10AM and then take myself and my 2 years worth of stuff to the hotel to meet up with the 51 other volunteers. We have what the Peace Corps calls 'staging' for the rest of  January 10th. I think this is just PC for fill out a bunch of paperwork. Then we all get up early the next morning and fly in our business casual attire to Panama City, where I have been told that we will have the opportunity to use the restroom before we all go through immigration.

I got an email from the PC not too long ago that actually had some useful information it. It looks like the group will have a couple of days together to settle in and get some basic health, language and logistical info before we are shipped off to live with our training host families and start our intensive, 10 week training. My training site is in Los Mortales in the Chorrera district, 2 hours west of Panama City. Training is 6 days a week, 8 hours a day and starts with 4 hours of language training in the morning.

After 4 months of worrying and preparing, I am just about all packed and getting excited. I have my two bags stuffed with clothes, flashlights, toiletries and Friends, and my Kindle is full of books thanks to my parents. And it is nice to have a little bit of information about where I will be and what I will be doing.

Thanks to you all for being supportive and positive. Don't forget about me in the 27 months to come, and keep checking in!