Staging. . .

As my departure date draws closer, I've gotten much more nervous about this. Sure the Peace Corps sounds like a great idea: helping others, travel, and personal growth. Along with that comes two years of questionable communication and missing my friends and family. There are so many unknowns, but I'm slowly learning more about what I'll be doing until October 2007.

For example, I received a mailing stating that the staging city is Philadelphia. After flying home to Wisconsin on August 7, I will fly back to Philadelphia on August 15. Here, I'll stay at the posh Sheraton on Society Hill (to the right) and attend two days of conferences telling me more about my Peace Corps experience. Although I'm going to be learning more about the Peace Corps, none of it will include information on South Africa or my specific job there. All of that information is reserved for when I arrive there. A benefit to spending time before flying to Africa, is that there should be bonding time amoung the people that are serving in South Africa. I expect it to be like a conference, not much free time, instant friendships, and slow discoveries. We're also given a generous allowance for food and spending money. Nothing like a little buttering up before a long flight into a third world country.

On August 17, we fly to New York, then Dafur, Senegal, arrive in Johannesburg, then a two and a half hour drive to the training location.