I´m here!

I have made it to Cape Verde!! We left Atlanta at 4:30 pm on wednesday and arrived in Dakar Senegal at 4:30 am Thursday morning. It was pretty surreal getting on that plane and thinking that when it lands I will be in Africa for two years. Don´t worry I waived goodbye to the US as we flew away! We had a six hour layover in Dakar, so the Peace Corps took us to a hotel for the day. Now let me just say that Dakar is a pretty dangerous airport anyways, but coming in at the wee hours of the morning with 29 americans and more crap than we could carry, definately caused a stir with the locals. No one good is out at that time of day, I don´t care what country you are in. So after a pretty tense transition to the buses we got to the hotel and basically hung out by the pool all afternoon until it was time to go back to the airport and get on the flight to Praia, Cape Verde. We are staying at this hostel type place and I can see the ocean from my window. We have been in constant training sessions since we got here (no rest for the weary, i finally got to bed at 11 last night after 36 hours of being awake) and there is no end in sight. We got about 3 hours of free time today and I am glad I get to tell you all how things have been going. oh, we also received all of our shots this morning and are going to a big dinner tonight. In case you were wondering, local time here is 3 hours ahead of eastern time and 6 ahead of the west coast. Well the computer is buzzing at me because i only have 5 min left so i have to wrap up but I am great and already loving it. Can´t wait to get to my host family on Sunday and start learning some Kriolu!!!

It’s real…

 

Today was our final day of staging in Atlanta. Tomorrow we pack up our extremely heavy luggage and fly away to Dakar, Senegal and then to Praia, Cape Verde. These past two days of training have been so interesting, getting to know everyone in my group (there's 29 of us) and learning more about the Peace Corps and Cape Verde. Now most of you who know me, know that I am non-emotional (or at least according to girl standards) but today was just so amazing. We were wrapping up our session for today and they popped in a video that the Peace Corps made for their 45^th anniversary and it showed John F. Kennedy making his speech about the implementation of a program that sent trained men and women abroad to help. To watch him speak gave me chills and to imagine what he would think if he could see what his little idea has become. When the video was playing I was looking around the room at these other 28 people who have decided to make this life changing decision with me and I just thought "whoa, this is real now". We are really getting on a plane together tomorrow and we are really living in Cape Verde for two years…it's real, no more talking about it, no more planning for it, it's real. Then to cap it all off, we stood in a circle and just said how we were feeling about everything. And the one that got me was when someone said how funny it was that we had all just met 24 hours ago, but we had already formed this bond and blended together so well. He said that for the next two years we were each others family and it was just awesome to see this group of people that had come from so many states and from different backgrounds but we were a solid group now…and for me that is powerful.

Ok, that's as sentimental as I get…no Amy there were no tears!!

So, now I am off to have a final dinner in the United States and then finish packing. The real trip begins tomorrow and those of you who were in Yosemite with me will understand…I am ready to suck the marrow out of this adventure!!!

What it looks like

Well since I told you I was packed, I thought I would show you what packed for two years abroad looks like. And I wanted to practice uploading pictures!!

I’m underweight!!

I am packed and ready to go and amazingly I am under the 80 lb limit!! Don't know how that happened but it did! Just thought I would let everyone know!

Wow, what a party!!!

Unfortunately, since I am running out of time to do everything, this post is not only serving as an update, but also as a thank you letter to all of you who were able to come to the party last sunday. It was amazing to see all of the people I love in one place together!!! It was so much fun, and boy those margaritas were delicious!!!

Anyways, I am back in Phoenix after my month long fairwell tour of California. I feel like I have been in a whirlwind the past few weeks, never being in one place for more than a week!! But I would not have traded it for the world. I started out my journey driving from Tucson to San Diego, flying up to Roseville for Michelle's wedding and hanging out with the Coupe family for almost a week. I flew back down to LA to stay for a couple days with my parents in the RV! It was my first "camp out" in the luxorious RV and I think I did pretty well. Then it was up the coast to visit the Scott's in Santa Clara and have lunch at Google with Julia (very impressive!). I then went to see my bestest friend Emily in San Mateo and that weekend we met up with my mom, Celeste and Heidi for a girls weekend in Santa Cruz. Let me just say that Emily and I had a lot to learn about drinking from those old farts!!! Finally, I ended up at the Ingols' in Roseville, helping Amy get ready to start her big girl job in San Francisco! I capped off the road trip with a big bang party at the Dodds' that turned in to more than I could have ever asked for!!! The drive back was long but mom, dad and I put in some portuguese tapes so I could start practicing one of my new languages!
My challenge now is trying to get packed before I leave on Sunday. I have A LOT of stuff and I don't think it is all going to fit and if it does it is going to be way over the weight limit so I need to get going!!! Hopefully I will be able to post again before I leave the country next wednesday, but if not, the next post will be from Cape Verde!!!