Here I go!

I'm about to jump! Well, across the Atlantic Ocean, in a plane. I'm finally making the big leap. One week from today I leave Kennett for Philadelphia, then on February 17, 2010, I finally fly to Africa. Am I scared? Nowhere near how scared I am in this photo where I'm about to jump off a bridge. THAT was scary! (but so much fun) Africa? Well, I guess I might be a little nervous about a few things, but mostly, I'm pumped.

If you know me, you've probably heard me talk about joining the Peace Corps for a long time, or even as long as you've known me. Freshman year in college, when I hadn't even picked a major yet, I used to joke, "I have do idea what the heck I'm going to do with my life, maybe I'll just join the Peace Corps!" 6 years later, here I am.

For the longest time, introducing myself involved something like, "I'm doing such-and-such, but I'm applying to the Peace Corps." Then I finally got my application essays done and submitted the thing (Jan. 20-ish, 2009). It was so nice to have the ball rolling and be able to say, "I've applied for the Peace Corps." I had thought and thought and talked and talked about it for years by the time I finally decided and got my application turned in. By this point, I was ready! So I interview, fill out more paperwork, and within 2 or 3 weeks, I was nominated! (got through the 1st stage of the application process) Sweet!
Feb. 09: Oh, wait, I'm nominated to leave a whole year from now? Well, maybe I'll get through medical clearance and placement stuff quickly, and I'll get to leave sooner. Nope. I got everything medical done by June. Then I waited and waited to find out even what country I would get to go to. All I knew was Africa.

Lesson #1 of the Peace Corps: Patience.

So in the meantime, I read a few books by returned Peace Corps volunteers (example). Watched documentaries about Africa (example 1 or 2). Followed African headlines on BBC news. I enjoyed Columbia and my friends there without a serious to do list over my head. I also got the heck out of Columbia, when I could, to visit other friends. :) While in New Zealand in November visiting Jennifer, I got an email from PC saying to call them when I got back in the States. Hooray! I was finally going to find out my country!

3 or 4 weeks later (mid-December 09) my invitation packet FINALLY arrives in the mail! AH! And it says, ZAMBIA. "Zambia," I think to myself, "Do I even know where it is? I've even been studying up on Africa and its geography, and all I know about Zambia is that I've heard of it and that it's in southern Africa, somewhere, maybe." So (roommate) Jen and I get out the map. "Oh, ok, there it is. Sure, sounds great! I have no preconceived notions of Zambia whatsoever so that'll be cool--to start from scratch. I get to learn about and go to a place that I know nothing about and would probably never go to otherwise. Let's do it!" It was seriously great to finally be able to have a country instead of a whole continent. Africa is a huge and diverse place, I hated lumping it all together.

Since then I've been slowly getting ready to leave. Quit my job at the lab at Mizzou, moved my stuff home to Kennett, celebrated Christmas, visited friends in Kansas City, Hawaii, and Columbia. And now, packing.
Right, packing...I'd better get on that.