Quickie

Hey everyone!

I only have 5 mins left on my internet cafe time. Just wanted to let everyone know that after the first 3 weeks of PST I am having a wonderful time and I hope I will have internet sometime soon in order to post a more detailed blog post about life here in Botswana. At some point I am also going to post a list of things I might be craving in your standard care package. For those of you that may be writing letters now, if you wanted to sneak a pack of taco seasoning in with your standard letter, I would appreciate the heck out of it.

I love and miss you all bunches, and hope this post finds you happy and healthy (I sure as heck am!)

~Claire/ Tlotlo (new Setswana name, means Respect)

I'M IN AFRICA!! Tehehehe :)

Hello Wonderful People of the Blog, 

I just wanted to send everyone a quick hello and let people know that I arrived in Gaborone safely a few hours ago. Staging went really well and the group I am traveling with are just an excellent collection of individuals. We are all so passionate about what we are doing and everyone comes from such a wide variety of backgrounds and experience. I could not be happier with the situation I am in currently.

We went from Philly to JFK at 3am, only to get to the airport to realize that the gate we needed to check in at wasn't open until 7:30am. Apparently this is a relatively common practice for Peace Corps, since every volunteer we have met in country has told us to get used to a lot of waiting. After getting 45 people checked in, and bags tagged, we hung around the airport until our 10:30am boarding time. I lucked out majorly on the flight since I was, not only on an aisle seat, but also had two empty seats between me and the next person. I bought one of those little neck pillows and had as decent as flight as one can have for 15 hours in an enclosed space. 

We hung out at the Johannesburg airport for about 6 hours after landing and all played games, walked around, got to know each other and napped on the floor. After a quick 50min flight across the boarder I landed safely in Gaborone (pronounced: Ha-bore-onie) and checked into the lodge. We met with our country director, had dinner, and hung out with some currently serving volunteers who came to meet us at the airport. We also found out we will be taking in 3 volunteers from Mali this weekend, since the country has officially been evacuated and they are looking to reassign the volunteers. Heading to bed under a mosquito net tonight (though the bugs have not been bad at all, I want to get used to the feeling) and then waking up tomorrow nice and early to travel to Kanye where I will be training for the next 2 months. I will also be meeting my host family! 

So that is pretty much how my first two days in Africa have been. I am still a bit jumpy from nerves but so far the experience has been excellent and I can't wait to see what tomorrow will bring. Since we will be starting training this may be my last post for at least two weeks, but I will try and work something out to stay in touch.

Smooches, 

Claire

Night Before

Finally the night has come, the one that I have known since the start of all this was going to be the hardest. The mix of emotions is hard to put into words but it something like the urge to cry, scream, throw up, jump around, run laps, kick, punch, dance all at the same time. It is almost too much for my system to handle but I know it will all be better once I can just get on the plane and focus on the task ahead. It is not the "going to" that is creating this mixed bag of emotions, it's the "leaving from." My family, my friends, my comfort zone, my favorite foods, my music, my ability to transport myself freely around where ever I damn well want at any given time...my toilet...all these things that I have grown to take for granted in my life and now I have to go and see what life is like without them.

I'm scared, and I think that anyone that is at the point that I am at right now and isn't feeling the same hasn't thought about how much of a game changer this all is. My family and friends have been so amazingly supportive and wonderful and kind and caring and fabulous and I can't even begin to say how much I love them and how blessed I feel to have them in my life. They are amazing beyond words and I am going to miss them more than would be possible to describe.

I'm going to try and pass out now, get a few winks before waking up and heading off to philly. Will try and update when I can.

See you on the other side ;)

Love,
Claire