Wednesday, November 12, 2008

The First Day, Plus . . .

Habari za asubuhi my family and friends!

The first day was good fun, meeting new people and generally getting oriented to the Peace Corps way and turning in paperwork, etc. We have a large group (43) from all over the US - 2 of us from Central Florida. Most are young people just out of school or very early in their careers, about 6 or 8 are closer to my age, all singles, I believe. Nine of them are Deaf Educators the balance of us are teachers, business and technology folks with a wide variety of backgrounds. The instructors are full of energy and a wonderful group of return volunteers.

Today we leave for Kenya; bus departs at 10:00 a.m. (of course I have been up since 5:00 a.m. or so) then our flight leaves JFK at 6:15 p.m. arriving in Nairobi (Jomo Kenyatta International Airport) at 8:25 p.m. on Thursday. We spend one night at the Lukenya Getaway 30 minutes from the airport. We begin (Friday) with breakfast at 6:00 a.m. followed by a few hours of administrative paperwork, instruction and meeting our in-country Peace Corps staff. Then at 10:30 a.m. we depart for Loitokitok (where they are just beginning the rainy season and expect it to be very wet and muddy) by bus for a 6 1/2 hour (270 kilometers) trip. The next two days are spent learning about our host families, receiving additional immunization shots as needed. We started malaria prophylaxis last night and that will continue during our entire service. We will also meet our medical and training teams and begin one-on-one interviews with trainers, I expect for placement purposes. That is what I know for now.

I am thrilled to finally be on my way. I can't stop smiling, my heart is filled with hope and my eyes (at the moment) filled with tears of joy!!

More later . . .

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