Monday, May 25, 2009

my first true act as a Peace Corps volunteer

I very recently had a great visit with Odyssey Community School, my alma mater, the school that opened its doors for the very first time my very first year...what a trip! The Odyssey students and I are going to be keeping in touch with each other during my time in the Peace Corps, and this past Friday I was the guest speaker at their all-school meeting. A group of fifth graders put together an awesome power point presentation about Burkina Faso, Lia said some wonderful things about me, and then I was invited up to talk about myself, Burkina Faso, and the Peace Corps. I answered a lot of great questions and was filled with a renewed sense of excitement about the connection that I'll have with all those great Odyssey students. It's pretty cool to have had a chance to talk with the students with whom I'll be keeping in touch during these next two years.

After I visited OCS, I spent Friday up at Mount Holyoke cheering on the alum vs student rugby game. Thank goodness I purposely neglected to fill out the health form and bring cleats because I was eennnnnnnvvviiiiouuuusssssssssssss of everyone on that pitch kicking butt, and I know that playing rugby after such a long dry spell in physical activity SO CLOSE to my departure day would have been tempting fate severely. After going four years without a significant injury, it woulda been a crying shame to twistpoptearbreak anything that needs to be intact. ...but it was so great to see so many of my Moho peeps from so many different years. I love Mount Holyoke reunion time.

My mother and I were planning on taking a little trip to New York City this weekend but decided against it due to the loud and rainy weather forecast. We didn't really want to be walking around in the rain and thunder...we're such wimps! (...no no...just flexible see?) Instead, my mom and dad and I went shopping for some of the final things on my packing list. I actually can't believe how much time I was able to spend shopping, I'm usually quite terrible at that.

My final weeks are shaping up quite nicely. I have adopted a pretty stellar go-with-the-flow mentality, and I am loving the pace of my life as I am living riiight on the edge of something new and exciting.

Part of the free and awesome feeling I'm exuding these days probably has to do with the fact that I am not formally responsible for anything but myself right now...no job, no real commitments...I'm essentially on vacation right now. A very local, very shoestring budget vacation. I love it. It's great. I love how great it feels to say "yes" to adventures and social gatherings and spending time with friends. I love how flexible my plans are. I love that lots of the people in my life seem to be indulging this flexibility and jumping on for whatever part of the ride they can. And I am jumping on for whatever parts of THEIR rides that I can. Intersectionality. The way I am spending these days is very good for my soul.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

departing from Hartford CT at 9:32 am June 9th

...thaaaaat's me! I just got off the phone with SATO travel after speaking with the same gentleman who helped me fill out my passport and visa application forms. He's a trip, he got right down to business after half-jokingly (?) reprimanding me for waiting until so late in the day to call. I felt a little lectured when he was presenting me with my flight options...but whatevs, I've got a flight and I don't have to do anything but show up.

Departing: Hartford CT 9:32 am
Arriving: Philadelphia PA 10:40 am

Staging will take place at a hotel in downtown Philly, registration is from 1:30 until 3:00, at which time we'll begin our first bit of orientation training. (Why, then, couldn't I have taken the flight that leaves Hartford at 11:30 and arrives in Philly at 12:40? Good question.)

Now there are about a billion little things I have to get sorted and signed and put together. I have to defer my loans, grant my mom Power of Attorney, make sure I've read/signed everything that these Peace Corps folks want me to read/sign...I have to finish quite a few more hours of the Rosetta Stone, acquire the rest of the things on my packing list. Purge all of my belongings and random crap. Hm.

...no more job! That's official. I was going to push it out until tomorrow but the chips sort of fell in a different way. I have a lot of little things I need to do before leaving, and I'm running out of...time?...money?...neither one of those things, actually.

This is just SO FUNNY! It's almost weird to think that after all of this waiting and such, I have a flight booked to staging (and, I hope, to Ouagadougou). I have a hotel room waiting for me on June 9th in Philadelphia. SATO travel man let it slip that there are 68 trainees heading to Burkina Faso...sixty-eight. That can't be right, that's such a large number. Sixty-eight. Hm.

Hm hm hm. I'm gonna chip away at some of the stuff I have to get done now. Four weeks to the day until I leave. I have to remember to take my final exam tomorrow evening. Maybe I'll tie a string around my finger. I have a trip to Canada to look forward to this weekend...I'm going to visit Rahel's friends and family with her for a few days. After that, I am wiiiiide open. A lil' visit to Odyssey Community School so that I can talk with the kids who will be following me on my Peace Corps adventure...a lil' good-bye party the next weekend so that I can see a lot of the people I may not otherwise get the opportunity to see...a lot of outdoor time and friend time and cooking and eating and being merry, and I think I'll be good to go four Tuesdays from now. Or I'll be peeing my pants. Perhaps inclusive or.