12 days until it all begins!

Yay! I've finally managed to get my blog up and running, which means that my time left in the states is coming to a close (how weird!). I just received an email a few days ago with an overwhelming amount of info about what is going to happen as soon as I get to San Francisco for Staging, and the LONG travel schedule thereafter. So, now I can share all of the info I know, which should answer the common questions I keep getting, such as "where the heck are you gonna be?"

It all begins Tuesday, July 21st, when I will fly to San Francisco in the early morning to meet all of my fellow PCV's (Peace Corp Volunteers) and Peace Corps staff. The day will be filled with paperwork, an insane amount of handshaking, and I'm sure A LOT of information about Cambodia and what's in store for us. There are 46 of us (we are called K3's, as we are the 3rd group to go to Cambodia for Peace Corps), consisting of 15 men and 31 women. I have been lucky enough to meet one girl who actually graduated from USC a few years before me, and have connected with a few other people going in my group via facebook (gotta love technology). After our busy day in San Francisco, we will leave early the next morning and fly to Toyko, then Bangkok (sleep in a hotel for a bit since we have a long layover), then fly to Phnom Penh, where we will stay one night before heading to our training site.

After Phnom Penh, we will head south to the Takeo province, where we will spend 3 days of Orientation, getting vaccinations and preparing to live with our training host families. This will probably be my only opportunity to access the Internet until after I officially swear-in as a Peace Corps volunteer on September 24th. So don't be alarmed if you don't hear from me!

Training is a nine-week period, Monday-Saturday, during which we will have language classes in the morning (the language is Khmer, and I have only learned to say 'rice' so far- "bai") and technical training for the rest of the day (learning how to teach English as a foreign language, learning about Khmer culture and customs, etc). We will be split up into two training districts, after which we will move to our host family's home. I have no idea who my host family is yet, but I am pretty certain they won't speak any English, so it will be a lot of miming and miscommunication for the first few weeks!

After swearing in, we will then all be dispersed to our permanent sites, and these may be anywhere in Cambodia- no idea! So at that point, I will let everyone know my address and so forth, and will hopefully have more access to internet cafes!

And that is all I know! Am I scared? No, not really. Excited? DEFINITELY! I guess it's more surreal right now more than anything. I will try to keep this blog updated as much as possible, but I have no idea what my internet access will be like when I get there. But PLEASE do stay in touch because I would love to hear how everyone's doing stateside! Other than that, guess I'll see y'all in 27 months (except the few brave souls that can't live without seeing me and care to venture to Southeast Asia for a visit :)

Peace and Love!