12 Hours Left (and counting)...

Welkom!

Glad fi si unu!

Good to see you!

I think that might be correct. 11:30 Miami time, and the only reason I am not asleep already (I need to be awake at *gasp* 4:30 to leave the hotel 5 hours before our flight... PC policy) is that this time change is killing me. Also, I miss Nemo. Also, he asked me to say that. Though probably still sort of true.

The first two days of my Peace Corps experience have come to a close, and so has my staging. PC staging was a whirlwind of meeting cool people, participating in strange icebreaking exercises, and after a day and a half of general training, finally starting to hear some country specifics. As it stands now, I think the training class (52) people will be told their exact assignments in the coming days, and definitely within the next two weeks.

What I know: I am one of three HIV/AIDS advisors in the 52 person class. We are all working in the youth sector, along with about ten more general youth volunteers. The first one, Grace, passed her nursing boards three days ago, and is awesome. The second, Amy, is equally awesome, having worked in an HIV/AIDS clinic at UCSF for the past year. I think those details are correct. Regardless, with my EMT experience we make a pretty powerful team. 

One of our staging exercises was an anxieties/aspirations session. While informative, it might have actually created a lot of anxieties I didn't have, or otherwise brought to the surface issues I was somehow avoiding. I am quite nervous at this point - in a good way though (I think) - and am as ready to go as I ever will be.

Honolulu today was 86 degrees, and Miami was 90. I think Kingston will be around 92, and the forecast is thunderstorms. And hurricanes until the end of November (one of those newfound anxieties).

I did hear some interesting news as far as keeping in touch -- I should have wireless internet during the Kingston portion of my training. That means for the next two weeks, I should be able to stay in relatively decent communication. Also, as of tomorrow my 808 cell phone will be turned off indefinitely and I will have a new Jamaican number and be looking into international calling options.

This is the last post I will make (obviously) before leaving the country, and also should be the last blog entry I make without some ridiculous story about how I made a fool out of myself, which will naturally happen.

My dad sent me a song on iTunes today, "Jamaica Farewell" by Harry Belafonte, which was awesome, and the first of many things today that brought me close to tears.

For those of you I got to talk to, and those of you I didn't, I will miss you all, keep checking the blog (I hope to update about once a week) for new information, shoot me an email, or otherwise stay in touch. Thanks for the memories (even though they weren't so great). Hah. Ok when I start quoting Fall Out Boy I know something is wrong.

Bed time here--

Love,

Me