The Last Leg

I made it through Philadelphia and I have graduated from being a Peace Corps invitee to a Peace Corps trainee.  Wooooo! While in DC I was able to meet up with another volunteer who was from Oregon.  We made it to Philly together and found a shuttle to take us to our hotel.  When she and I climbed into the shuttle we were greeted by 4 other volunteers!  Pre-service Training was filled with meeting everyone and struggling through matching new names and faces.  I'm feeling a little tired and a little anxious about arrival, but most of all excited!!  I fly out of New York at 12:35 am and will arrive in Guyana around 7.  It's finally sinking in that I am actually doing this!  Keep your fingers crossed that all of the volunteers and the luggage arrives safely.

En route

As I sit in the Washington D.C. airport awaiting my flight to Philadelphia, I thought I would take a few moments to reflect on the day thus far.  My morning was filled with running around to take care of last minute errands.  I was constantly checking my bags to make sure that I hadn't forgotten this or that.  I was allowed to take two pieces of checked luggage that weighed a total of 80 pounds with neither piece of luggage weighing more than 50 pounds.  It sounds a little bit like a word problem.  As I placed each bag on the scale while I was checking in, I was holding my breath!  My rolling suitcase came to a total of 47 pounds and my backpack came to a total of 33 pounds.  Which comes to a grand total of 80 pounds!  This makes me feel as if my packing, unpacking, and weighing the bags at least 10 times was worth it.  

Saying goodbye to my family was hard to say the least.  We walked around together for as long as possible before I had to go through security.  My little brother hugged my waist tightly and cried and told me he didn't want me to go which was almost to much for me to handle.  But he gave me a little frog stuffed animal that we named Joe Gilbert Stiles to travel Guyana with me and keep me company.  My mom cried a little bit and my dad and I didn't cry.  They have been so supportive of my doing this and I don't think I could have done it otherwise.  Thanks family :-)   Thank you also to all of my amazing friends who sent me on my journey with kind words and well wishes.  

My next challenge will be getting that 80 pounds of luggage from the airport in Philly to the hotel.  Here's to hoping it goes smoothly!

Pre-departure Update

I have packed, unpacked, and repacked my luggage to help prepare.  I am taking a large rolling suitcase and a backpacking backpack. They are both large and I am putting as much into them as the weight limit allows.  This is two pieces of checked luggage weighing a total of no more than 80 pounds, with neither piece being more than 50 pounds.  Keep in mind I will have no help carrying around these monstrous pieces of luggage.  To make sure that I will be able to get them through the airport and to the hotel and to where ever I am going to be living I have been walking around my house with my large backpack on and rolling my suitcase behind me.  So far, so good.  I have gone through everything I am packing and slowly but surely have gotten the clothes down to a manageable amount.  I have printed out a ton of pictures and spent a lot of time laminating them to hopefully protect them from the hot humidity of Guyana. I have made about a million and two checklists making sure that I am not forgetting anything too important.  From everything I have read and the people I have chatted with who are already in Guyana, I will be able to buy almost anything I need there, but I feel more at ease knowing that I already have most of my necessities.

My Backpacking Pack before I put anything in it.

Reading the directions and trying to figure out how all of the straps on this contraption work.

Today I was able to practice Skype-ing with my students from Petsworth Elementary School.  I'm giving the address of my blog to all of the students so that they can keep up with what I am doing.  So, here's a hello for all of the wonderful third graders at Petsworth!! I will miss you all very much and I hope to be able to continue to Skype with you!  Keep working hard and keep passing those Mad Minutes.

Tonight I had a very American meal with my best friends from high school.  I dined on a cheeseburger, french fries, and beer.  Not my healthiest of choices, but man was it good.  I am going to miss the familiarity of being around people who have known me for so long.  On the other hand, I cannot wait to make new friends.

AHHHH!!!

My leave date is rapidly approaching and I am so excited!  I am ready to be on a plane to Guyana! 19 days and the countdown has begun!