On the Verge

After a largely successful and humorous PC two-day staging extravaganza we are about to get on our way to South Africa. I have found that the stomach is not a relatively stable organ of the body and that it seems to feel the need to change location whenever possible. I do not yet feel nervous, but know that I am, because my stomach has moved from the very bottom of my abdomen to staying in my throat for ten minutes at a time almost every hour. Or maybe it is just the absolutely delicious Indian food my roommate and I ate tonight…amazing! PC provides the volunteers with a relatively large spending allowance during staging. Maybe this is because they love us…or maybe because we might be eating some unfamiliar and perhaps less than delicious delicacies in SA. Who knows? Not me. However, I am feeling more anxious than anything else because I just want to get there and start with training and really begin the SA experience.

Being at staging is surreal. It is a sentiment that has been passed around a lot these few days. We have been waiting so long to finally get going and now the moment is finally here. It is a triumphant beginning. We waited months, some of us years, in the application process to finally step foot here…triumph. We passed the very intrusive and exhausting barrage of medical, dental, and eye tests…triumph. We wrestled with our luggage and packed and re-packed until we simply could not do it anymore….triumph. We said our tearful see-ya-laters to the friends and family that supported us enough to get us here and still managed to tear ourselves away to get on the plane…triumph. We navigated the murky waters of breaking the ice and getting to know other PC Trainees while undergoing almost 15 hours of training sessions…..triumph. We have accomplished so much in such a short amount of time and will soon conquer many more feats as the days progress.

This is it. I have waited for this and I am ready. Yesterday was tough and today was better….no, make that wonderful. I am by far the luckiest person I know to have this opportunity to serve but I am also going to miss my friends and family more than I can express. So any letters or packages would be greatly appreciated. You could be my best friend for life…well until the next letter comes from the next person and then they are my new best friend, but you can regain the BFF status by sending more packages or writing Nida and requesting such a status…you see the pattern…let’s make it happen folks. Don’t be offended when I do not respond or write back for the first few weeks. Communication back to the States is going to be difficult…at best…so I can only do so much. But I promise to keep in contact as much as I can.

On a heavier note though, if you are reading this please pray for my friend Elena and her family. They have suffered a great loss this week with the sudden death of her mother. Any and all prays will help.

Until next time…

Uhambo

Uhambo means "journey" in Zulu, and that is exactly what I am about to embark on in 3 days, 21 hours, and 48 minutes. I leave for Philly on Sunday at 9:25 a.m. and arrive around 10:30. Hopefully, I will be able to get a quick shuttle to the hotel so that I can have a few hours to myself to see the city before PC registration starts at two. After that it will be a day and a half of training before we get our vaccinations and are off to SA from NYC. We get to stop over in Frankfurt for twelve hours so hopefully I will get the chance to see some of Germany with my soon-to-be Peace Corps friends. 

Many of my friends and family members have been asking me how I have been feeling since the date is so close. My honest answer is that I really have no one word or sentence to describe exactly how it feels to be leaving everything that feels safe and everyone that I know and love to pursue a dream for two years and some change. I feel excited, anxious, happy, sad, impatient, calm, at peace, tormented, but mostly just hopeful. I have been waiting for almost a year now to actually be able to step foot on a plane and step out of my present life and into other circumstances. I am thankful for this opportunity because I know I am so blessed to be able to do this. However, that does not make it much easier to leave those that I love the most.  I have been saying a lot of "see you laters" to people these past few weeks and will continue that for a few more days before actually leaving. As hard as it will be to be away from my family and close friends, I am welcoming the challenges that I will face soon. There is much to do before I go, so I should cut this short.  

I better get back to wrestling with my suitcases. I am about to have to throw down WWF style on my bags to make all my junk fit. Hopefully I will come out on top, but I don't underestimate my suitcase...it is a worthy adversary.If you have the time, send a prayer up to the big man for me for a miracle to happen that my bags will magically expand to fit all of my stuff...no worries...que sera, sera. 

"Not all who wander are lost."

J.R.R. Tolkien