Well it is about 8am of the morning I leave for D.C. (February 17, 2007, to be precise), and with the knowledge that I may not have internet access for quite a while I thought I better give you all something to chew on for the next couple of months.
I have spent the last couple of days saying my goodbyes, packing and other odds and ends. I've managed to do a little bit of research in the last couple of days; my mom and I went to the zoo and observed the primates and hung out in the tropical encounters exhibit, it was a great way to acclimate. We also watched Madagascar, I learned a lot about zoo animals, not sure how much I learned about Madagascar. Other than the fact that it is the wild, "the live-in-a-mud-hut, wipe-yourself-with-a-leaf type wild"
I don't know a lot about what the near future holds for me, I leave in a couple of hours for DC, where I will spend tonight with my Aunt and go to "Staging" tomorrow. At Staging I will meet me fellow Peace Corps Volunteers, there are 24 of us going to Madi, one of the largest groups they have ever had, we will get some basic info and sign our lives away. I am also going to see my dear friend Kristen who I haven't seen in almost two years, and at the moment that is the thing I am looking forward to the most. On the20th we fly from DC to Johannesburg South Africa, where we have an overnight and then fly on to Antananarivo (Tana), Madagascar the next day. Upon arrival in Madi we are met at the airport by Peace Corps staff, put on a bus and shipped off to the training site, Anjozoro village Mantasoa. About the only thing I know about Anjozoro is that it is approximately 3 hrs north of Tana, it isn't in the guidebook. If I understand correctly I will be in this village for the next three months for training. In Anjozoro I will be living in a host family and training with the other volunteers, on a typical day we will have class in the morning from 8-12 and again in the afternoon from 2-5, the remainder of the day is to be spent studying and practicing Malagasy. If I make it through training I will be sworn in as a Peace Corps Volunteer on May 2nd, at which point I will also be traveling to my permanent site, which is as of now still unknown.
I am sorry this is so short, but I am running out of time. So here are a couple of websites you can browse to learn a bit more about Madagascar and the Peace Corps.
Official Peace Corps Website What Wikipedia has to say about Madagascar Photos from Madagascar News From Madagascar
And if you are really bored, the blogs of my fellow volunteers: Erin Faith and Tom Helen Jake and Erin Jeanette