The start of my voyage....no more America

Hello everyone!
This will be my last post for the next 8 weeks since I am going to be in training in the bush and won't have access to any phones or internet. I leave tomorrow and am very anxious and nervous. One thing I am very nervous about is this fly called something like the pootsi fly and it lays eggs in your clothes when you hang them up to dry and then you have to iron ALL of your clothes or the larvae crawl into your skin and lay more eggs or something like that. They create boils under your skin and the only way to get rid of them is to put some topical cream on it to suffocate them and tweeze them out. GROSS!!!!!!!!! How do some places have such awful bugs?

So, during staging, you learn about how to keep yourself safe from petty theft, HIV/AIDS, gastrointestinal problems, and other random stuff you can get out in the bush! PC also focuses a lot on integrating into your village to make your life easier. Staging was in beautiful Philadelphia, with 85 degree weather and lots of humidity. since i got in a day early with 5 other people, I was able to the tourist thing and see the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, and the Ben Franklin area. since I had been there before, I was able to play tour guide.

It was really hard to leave my parents, PAUL, my family, and my friends. I felt nauseated all day on the plane ride here.

I thought that since it takes about a month for letters to get to and from Malawi, you might want to know what I will be doing for the next 8 weeks... I will be doing a lot of language training for Chichewa and cross-cultural. We will be living in a village with a host family, where we will learn about living the simple life and how to make meals on three stone cooking, wash clothes by hand, and being a Malawian. Here's the rundown of week by week besides all of that:
Week 1: Intro to culture and language, and health issues of Malawi
2: Extension approach and community assessment tools
3: Disease prevention, Community Health and HIV/AIDS
4: Food security, nutrition and human body, and field visit
5: Promote interventions for support and adoption of healthy lifestyles
6: Site visit-field orientation trip
7: working effectively with community groups, sustainable livelihoods, and networking with other agencies
8: field and office visits, and briefing on PC/Malawi
For the first week I am there, I will be living at the Malawi College of Forestry in Dedza, about 1 hour from Lilongwe, the capital. We will be just doing language and culture...
I think I am ready for this adventure!! Like PC says, "Life is calling, how far will you go?" Write me lots of letters since that's all I will have from home to remind me of how weird my situation is! I miss you guys lots!!! I will try to get on as soon as I can find some internet in 8 weeks!

4 days til I'm on a plane

Well, time is getting to the wire and things are picking up here. I spent my last weekend in Eugene and got to spend some much needed quality time with Paul. We went to our thai restaurant for the last time where the waitresses know us and what our favorite dishes are. Paul surprised me by taking me to the very first restaurant we ate at in Eugene! It was very anti-climatic the entire weekend, no real "last time we are doing this moments." Everything felt like it was just another weekend, but for me and Paul, we realized it was our last weekend. Wow, didn't realize how very hard it is going to be to leave him. Its hard thinking about the fact that I won't be talking to him every night about what I did for that particular day. I can't believe that I am leaving the person I love, but I know that I am doing it for a good reason. He's one person that I can count on to understand why I am thinking about things the way I do.
It still doesn't seem very real to me to think that this time next week I will be on my way to Malawi and won't see anyone I know for 2 years. I am very scared, excited, nervous, anxious, and every other emotion you can think of. I know that everything will be shocking and crazy when I get there with being emotionally drained and physically exhausted from jet-lag and lots of flying.
While in Eugene, I got to spend some time with the girls at Morgan's birthday party, brunch the next day, and watching Desperate Housewives for the last time....someone's gotta record them or something for me over the next 2 years...
So, this week will be very busy seeing people before I go, lots of last minute shopping for toiletries, must haves, and lots of organizational packing. I will get to spend a lot of time with my parents, since I know I will miss them alot.
Well, maybe I will get on here before I fly out of Portland...not sure when I will get to write on here when I am in Malawi...depends how often I get to a big city with an internet cafe! I wish everyone lots of luck with everything they are doing!! I am going to miss all of you so much!! If you feel like you need to write or send me anything, ask mom and she can tell you how to do that...or email me before I go!

It's getting closer!!

Hey everyone,
Sorry I haven't written on here in quite a while. Things have been pretty busy around here preparing to leave in a few weeks. So, things I have been up to lately involving PC:
1. went to a potluck held by a return peace corps volunteer that had about 10 other RPCVs. This was very cool. I met a lot of very interesting people who were very excited for me and wanted to help me out as much as possible with any questions I had. All of them wished that they were in my position so they could go back since they all said this was the best experience of their life! I met a former country director. He gave me alot of useful information about the country and what I could do after I served in Peace Corps as a job. I guess they give you a cookbook when you get there so that you don't starve not knowing how to prepare foods on a three stone cooking apparatus. At this potluck, I also met a woman, about 40 years old, who is do the exact same thing as me and leaving the exact same time as me! So, at least I will know someone when I go for training. She is just like me, very excited and ready to go!
2. I received my itinerary for my staging event. This is where Peace Corps tells you all of their general ideas on safety, what to expect, and some light training in general. I will also be starting my many vaccinations. I will have my staging event in Philadelphia from May 28th to May 30th. I actually get to go a day earlier since I have to be ready to do everything at 2pm on the 28th and it takes to long to fly from Portland to Philadelphia to make it in time. So, I will get to do some sight-seeing since my hotel is literally blocks from things like the liberty bell, hard rock cafe, and some interesting quaker stuff. In case you are interested, here is my flight itinerary for going to Malawi:
leave JFK in NY at 5:55pm on the 30th
arrive in Johannesburg at 5:05pm on the 31st
leave Johannesburg at 10:20am on June 1st
arrive in Lilongwe at 12:45pm on the 1st
3. attended Peace Corps send off party for invitees last night with family. We went to the Lucky Labrador in SW Portland last night to eat pizza and meet some RPCVs. I met a woman who was in Malawi in the early 90s. She was very excited about her experience and just kept saying how wonderful the people are there. I think this helped calm my mom down some since she was able to ask her some questions.
So, that's it for now... if you have any questions, just let me know! I have 19 days until I am outta here for 2 years!! If you want, you can come to my going away party on the 13th at my parents' house...let me know if you want to come!