Almost There!!

Aaaahhhh! I leave in only a few days! It is so crazy to think about. I remember getting my invitation almost three months ago and thinking it would be forever until I would finally be at this point, and now its here and I cannot believe I am leaving!

I have been pretty busy lately visiting friends and family and trying to get everything into order before I leave. I finally packed tonight (with the help of my super folder/organizer Mom of course). It is amazing how much stuff weighs...especially when you are trying to squeeze two years of toothpaste, floss and toothbrushes (I kind of like to brush my teeth) into your bag. I think I kind of went overboard on some things (I have a ridiculous amount of toothbrushes) and maybe should have packed more of others. But I figure I won't mind not having that extra pair of socks when I am loving life in NAMIBIA!!

I still have a lot of running around to do before I leave on Monday. There are things I have forgotten to buy, papers to fill out, and just those little things that need to be taken care of before I leave. Hopefully, I can knock all that out tomorrow and have the weekend to relax! My going away party is Saturday...if you are in town, please swing by (its at 7pm at my house!).

Here are some pictures from the past two weeks!


Visting my sister at Purdue!

With Ande at Homecoming saying goodbye to CJ's



On a Homecoming-Best Friend-Double Date


With my Sara at Homecoming!


Dinner with Grandma!


With Aunt Aloyse!

3 Weeks!

Three weeks from tomorrow (Monday, October 8th), I will be on a plane heading to D.C.!

I will spend October 29th-31st in D.C. for what the Peace Corps calls "staging". Staging is a brief orientation all Peace Corps members go through. I will be there with the whole group of people going to Namibia with me (I have heard there could be up to 70 of us!). I will celebrate Halloween with my first round of shots at the PC health clinic, then we head to the airport for a 15+ hour flight to Johannesburg, South Africa. We will spend the night there and then arrive in Namibia on the 2nd!

We will spend the first two weeks in "technical training." I think it is a lot of language classes and maybe some "how to teach" classes as well. Then we find out where we will be living for two years (yay!). We spend the third week in our future home sites. Our fourth week is spent shadowing another Peace Corps volunteer. Then the rest of the training, I will be living with a host family and working in a model school (I think it will be like student teaching.) Then, on December 28th, I will be sworn in as an official Peace Corps volunteer!

Right now, I am just kind of trying to get everything ready ("kind of" and "trying" being the key words here!). This week is my last week at work, then I have Homecoming this weekend (so excited to go back to Miami!) and then I will really need to kick the packing/preparing to leave for 2 years into gear! So much to do!

Oh, and I also have my address in case you want to write me letters! They say the best way to send is a letter is to address it to "Sister Aly Martin", write in red ink and write Bible verses and holy phrases ("Jesus is watching"; "God bless you", etc,). I guess they are very religious/supersticious and won't mess with your mail/packages if it is religious (who would want to take a nun's letter?!?!).

"Sister" Aly Martin, PCT
Peace Corps
PO Box 6862
Ausspannplatz,
Windhoek, Namibia

OK. I am going to bed! Only one more week of work....yay!!