One hour until I leave...all-nighter!

I just realized this is the first all-nighter of my life, even after having gone to college and grad school! Here are the first few pictures, by anyone in my group I think of Group 37's Staging! My post is down below the pictures.

It’s 12:17am here in Philadelphia and I decided not to sleep because I am getting up in less than one hour to leave for Namibia. I got to Cleveland yesterday around 4:50pm. I left Sacramento at 7am and arrived in Minneapolis around 12:30pm. Then I flew to Philly from there. The first flight was great; the second flight was on a smaller airplane so my body (plus the major jet plus losing an hour due to daylight savings time) was/is sooooo sore. I love talking to people on airplanes though. I had good conversations with 3 different people and they were very encouraging and almost admiring of my future service in the Peace Corps. Anyways, I spend the evening with my aunt and uncle and had a GREAT time catching up and having heart-to-heart chats. We also ended up watching I Am Sam. I got up today and had breakfast and left for the hotel. We went by subway. I really appreciated my aunt and uncle’s help. It is so wonderful to have my immediate family and my extended family support me in my journey.

I got to the hotel and caught up on Facebook. I was a litter jittery, but I decided to go downstairs to find some of my PCV friends. The first person I met was Bonnie. It was great to see people in the flesh, but also surreal because we had been talking on Facebook for about 4 months. Around registration time I was also happy to meet the people who I call “The Mysterious Three” (the people who didn’t join our Facebook group). Orientation was fine and there were a lot of good activities. However, I was somewhat longing just to talk and interact with the other volunteers. It is so interesting to me, especially as a social worker, to see the group dynamics and learning from everyone’s nonverbal cues. There are some hilarious people in our group. There are some leaders and followers. There are introverts and extroverts. There is a lot of diversity from religion to age to accent to upbringing to race and much more! I cannot wait to talk to everyone else. I definitely feel some bonds growing already. I also feel great because I am back in my element. I loved being home, but I get to be with amazing, intelligent, fun, energetic people. I get to use the knowledge that I have in a useful way.

I am also looking forward to any leadership roles that I can fill. I already have one small one here. To some, this may come off as wanting to be the center of attention, but to me, it is putting myself in a somewhat uncomfortable and challenging position. I do not necessarily want to be the leader, but I will put myself there because that is a very important way to grow. I am going on an adventure, which will be scary, but so rewarding. Anyways, after orientation, I went with four other PCVs on a longgggg walk to Chilis. It was a very enjoyable meal with an enormous amount of good conversation and openness. We then walked back to the hotel and here I am, writing this blog. By the way, Peace Corps has definitely taken good care of us! The hotel is great; the arrangements for our trip our superb; the money was MORE than adequate.