22 and then Two Years

If you know me, you know I love my birthday and I think I always have. A trait that comes from my mom, I have grown to appreciate and overly-celebrate birthdays and hope that quality in me never leaves. I turned 22 on the 29th and then left for two years for my service with the Peace Corps on the 30th. When I originally was accepted to this position, the staging date was August 16th, but quickly after it got pushed to August 30th due to classroom schedules and things of that nature. I spent most of my birthday packing (how does one do that for two years? I have no idea), but also got to get a wonderful dinner with my friends Emma, Erin, and Mary Grace. I spent close to ten dollars at Starbucks (FREE though for my birthday drink) and close to $17 at Yogli Mogli (not free, thanks dad). I called people I love and hugged the people who were with me. I cried saying bye to my dog, Maggie, and stole her bandana. Then, I packed up my kindle and my favorite jellycat and left for Philadelphia where I met the 26 other volunteers in my cohort.

Now, I have completed two days of staging and am on my second day at site one of a few. I have decided to start this blog so I can share with friends and family (and strangers??) my whereabouts and hopefully provide some inspiration to others and insight as to what is different here when compared to American life. We are staying in Dar es Salaam until the 7th of September, where we will move to Korogwe town to begin living with a host family and go through three months of what they call Pre-Service Training. This will look like lots of language and culture work, safety information, and time spent visiting clinics and counterparts to learn more about our day-to-day permanent site work. Also - I actually learned today that I will be either in/near Dodoma or Iringa for my two years after PST (off to go to some research on that!). From what I've learned so far, Dodoma, the country's capital, is flatter, drier, and hotter, while Iringa is cooler and wetter with a higher elevation and more wildlife or natural beauty. Obviously I will update you all with where I end up in a blog post. For now, I am eager to meet my host family and ready to unpack in a more long term sort of way!

Two years is a long time, but this is the beginning of the rest of my life, and I don't plan to find myself through the Peace Corps, I hope to create myself. During staging, we were asked to create a venn diagram of our aspirations and our apprehensions. I placed in the middle "this is what I was meant to do". I would be a fool to not have worries or fears, but I also have dreams and goals and new friends, plus my people back at home, to get me through it, and this is what I was meant to do. As I work to become the person I want to be, I am going to share with you all the experiences I am living. This blog won't be perfect, or likely consistent, but it will be a way to see how I change through my service and give me a way to connect with people from all over. I am 22 and I am in the Peace Corps!

Okay talk to you guys soon.