Farewell, USA

We are at training with very limited time to go eat before we have to meet again and get our things together!! Today has been crazy, it started off with my roommate's cell phone ringing (thanks to me calling a wrong number the day before) and us in disorientation and frantically getting ready for the day. So we were on time to orientation by Texas time...but everything was fine.

Everyone seems very cool and I'm so excited to start this adventure with such wonderful people. After our very long trip which consists of eight hours to Sao Paulo, Brazil, a 4 hour layover, then a few more hours on to Asuncion, we will be greeted by Peace Corps staff. We will then have one more hour to drive on to our training site in Guarambare where we will be living for the next three months, and then we will meet our host families. I am still pretty sleep deprived after a very stressful week of packing, so I can't really put this all into words well at the moment.

My luggage consists of two pieces that are jam packed and not easy to maneuver with...in the airport I discovered if I stand on one foot, I could easily fall over carrying so much weight. As soon as found the right place to be yesterday in the Miami airport, I spotted two guys (both of them named Andy), and knew those were my people. One of them had a Peace Corps luggage tag which I hope I'm being given today, they sure did not send me one earlier.

My friend Fernando that lives in Miami and is from Ecuador came and saw me off yesterday! That was so very special because I haven't seen him in a few years and he and I worked together at Hands On Gulf Coast where I was an Americorps volunteer.

Last night all the volunteers ate Cuban food across the street from the hotel and everyone was on the same page with each other as far as feeling nervous, excited, anxious, etc. We needed no ice breakers, I think everyone will connect very well. There are 49 of us in our training group!

I can't think of anything else to say, I just wanted to write because I am slowly realizing my whole life is going to change and I am uncertain when I will get a chance to sit down and use the Internet again.

I love all of you and thank you so much for your support.

I wanted to share a few links with you while I had the chance, too. The fist link is a video that was made by other Peace Corps volunteers about Paraguay. The second link is a photo contest in Paraguay that shows some of the beauty of the country and the third link is what another volunteer in Paraguay uses on the daily. I thought it was interesting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZA78xUzwTA

http://picasaweb.google.com/guidetoparaguay/GuideToParaguayPhotoContestConcursoDeFotos

http://picasaweb.google.com/domingusj/ThingsIUseInParaguay