Hi, my name is...

So this will be my last post in the United States of good ol' America.

Staging has been exciting, fun, overwhelming, exhausting, but pretty much how I expected.  We've been doing lots of meetings in a conference room all about expectations, why we're here, what our anxieties are, how we plan to overcome challenges, logistics of actually getting to Uganda and doing icebreakers.  Although, for the first time in my life, I wish we had done a few more name games.  Everyone is starting to blend together, and I feel so silly having to ask for everyone's name a zillion times.

Probably the best thing about staging is realizing, oh wait, I'm not alone?  Our training class is going to become a big family in the upcoming weeks, which we're all looking forward to.  Right now, it's just the: where are you from?  What did you study?  Where did you go to school?  What did you do before Peace Corps?  Oh, and I found some girls that are into yoga, so hopefully I can keep that goal at least!  We've already discovered that we all have very similar aspirations; more importantly, very similar anxieties. Which included everything from not fitting into the community to big spiders in our beds.  In one of our group activities, we had to draw our aspirations- the most important for me was making a difference, in any way.  Someone came up with drawing change over time (the goofy mathematical way, of course):

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I liked that idea: the change needs to be slowly, over time.  We can't just show up and expect to suddenly change everything in some whirlwind, stellar project.

While I thought I was prepared, luggage-wise, in every sense of the word, I found out, unfortunately, I wasn't.  Why did I think it was a good idea to buy new electronics, but never use them or test them out before I left?!  When my roommate offered to fill up my external hard drive with all kinds of movies, tv shows and books, I jumped at the opportunity for free entertainment!  Realized that my external hard drive was not formatted for Macs and would not even accept documents or information.  Thankfully, dad's only a quick email away, and walked me through the formatting steps.  I was stressing that I would have to find some place to buy a new one.  Same thing happened with my camera... yeah I know.  I couldn't get it turn on, even though I had charged it before I left.  Then I couldn't get my computer to recognize it.  Uhhh, another few emails were sent to my dad.  I was actually the one to figure it out... the battery was in backwards.  Honestly.  Unbelievable.  Speaking of photos, here's a silly one of me with all my luggage.  Remember, it's for two years, so try not to judge!  Plus, it seems like most people feel like they overpacked but can't figure out what in the world to get rid of.  I'm done worrying about it.

Despite some technological setbacks, things have gone very smoothly so far.  We have to "get up" at 2 am tomorrow to check out of the hotel and board a bus to JFK.  I'm taking advantage of the internet, electricity for charging all my techie goodies and the hot showers.  And just for Grant, I had a famous Philly cheesesteak, and yes, it was amazing.

Once we get to Uganda, we will be at the training center for the next two weeks, which means no communication.  Usually, we would be going to our homestay families by the second week, but they're taking all possible precautions in light of the upcoming elections on February 18th.  Hopefully by the third week, we'll be settled into our families so we can further our language and culture training.

Excited for the upcoming journey, while dreading the 15 hour flight!  Next time you hear from me, I'll be in UGANDA.  I'll try to post when I can.  Love and miss you all.

Goodbyes, well, suck

Already I feel like I'm falling behind on my blog, and given that I haven't left yet, that's pretty sad; however, the last few days, weeks really, have been crazy busy.  Every moment of every day was planned with breakfasts, lunches and dinners with specific people.  In between all that, I was trying to wrap up my apartment, pack my bags and do all those last minute errands.  It feels like it finally dawned on everyone that I was actually leaving.

It was so nice to see everyone for one last time.  Whether that was the final group dinner with my high school friends in Huntington, the last skype date with my college friends, or hanging out with my all my family members.  I do realize there are some people that I didn't get a chance to see or even call before I left.  For all those people, I'm sorry I didn't get around to it!  And I feel super guilty about it, but, I, of course, want to stay in touch with you all, so be sure to write or continue to email.

I hate goodbyes anyway.  I'm not very good at them, mostly because they never feel real to me.  And it still doesn't feel real that I've left Newport Beach for good, let alone the United States.

Just an additional note: for anyone that was around me these last few days, you know that I've been so worried about my luggage and taking so much.  I was just facebook chatting with another trainee, who's already at the hotel in Philly (!), and she's just as concerned about how much luggage she has.  So I feel better and justified.

I've got two days of staging in Philadelphia ahead.  It includes a trip to the health clinic for vaccinations, some icebreakers and an overview of Peace Corps expectations.  We will be leaving Thursday morning at 2:30 am from the hotel to be bused to JFK.  From there, we'll be taking a 15 flight to Johannesburg and then it's a hop, skip and jump to Uganda.

Again, goodbye to all my friends and family still in the states and hello to my next adventure.

The 'Stache

People underestimate or don't give enough credit to all the friends and family members state side who are supporting Peace Corps volunteers.  I know that I wouldn't have made it this far if my support network at home wasn't behind me 100%.  It's funny though- everyone has a different way of showing their support.  Some people promise to read this very blog whenever there's a new a post, others vow to mail care packages to make me feel more at home, some even say they'll come visit me in Uganda.

My younger brother, Grant, is the most unique, of course.  What once started as a joke at the Christmas table has become a quite production.  Grant has vowed to keep a mustache until I come home in support of my Peace Corps service.  I hope I'm not being too hard on Grant here, but I want everyone to be aware that growing a mustache won't necessarily come easy to Grant because his facial hair grows slowly and patchy.  But to make matters more interesting: he is very blonde.  So, once he has his mustache, it tends to look pretty dirty for a while as it grows in or before he uses "Just for Men" to make it a little more bold.  Nonetheless, Grant's going for it.

This morning, the two of us went to "Mr. Balboa," the barber shop on Newport Beach Peninsula who specializes in straight razor shaves.  Grant wanted to do it right by getting an old school shave as his last one for the next 27 months.  Below are pictures to catalogue our adventure.  Did I mention this was done at 8 a.m. so Grant could catch his flight to Australia?  He won't be around for all my final farewells, but he is making his goodbye pretty memorable.

As you can see, he's going to have the dirty look down for sure.  Let me be clear: I never asked him to do anything like this, it was his own idea and willingness to follow through.  It obviously means a lot to me that Grant would wear his support straight on his face.  Besides the encouragement, I'm interested in how he can further bring home my experiences to his group of friends.  As one of the Peace Corps goals, I've been trying to figure out how I'll bring my service and cultural understanding back to the states.  Grant has already been directing people to my blog when they ask about his "Uganda 'Stache," about which he's been telling everybody.

In the end, I want to thank everyone for the never ending support you've all given me so far, and I'm sure I'll continue to rely on you.  But, I wanted to especially acknowledge Grant for his wacky and zany ways.  Aside from all my college friends who I've already been away from for the last nine months (can you believe it?!), Grant will be my first real goodbye.  One week 'til departure, and it's finally hitting me that I'm leaving.