Monday, January 25, 2010

Leaving on a jet plane

It is Monday night at 11pm and I am all packed and ready to go! I have two checked bags. A 40lb backpacking backpack and a 30lb rolling suitcase along with a carry-on backpack. I fly to Washington D.C. tomorrow for staging which consists of orientation, introductions, shots, safety, etc. Thursday night at (Jan 28th) at 5:40pm we (35 other volunteers and I) leave for South Africa. After a quick stop in Dakar, Senegal to refuel we arrive in Johannesburg at 6:20pm Dec 29. It's just under an 18 hour flight.
The first week that we are there we will be staying at a college 2 hours outside of Pretoria. After that we will move in with host families. The pictures I posted last time are of the training center we will be at until March 25th. The training we will be going through is an immersion program which consisted of language, culture, safety, and technical training.
Upon arrival in South Africa I will be able to call home and let my family know of my safe arrival, but other than that I will have very limited contact (if any) for the first several months. My sister is kind enough to update my blog while I am out of contact with civilization.
The 10 day forecast for Pretoria, SA is highs in the low 80s and lows in the 60s with thunderstorms everyday.
My address for the first couple months is: (PLEASE write)
Erin Jamison
Peace Corps
PO Box 9536
Pretoria 0001
South Africa
(Hint: write airmail on the envelope)
On a side note, I want to thank my family for all their love and support. This would not have been possible without you! Love you a million (sloppy kisses)!! And thank you to my friends, you all are truly amazing, your love, support, and encouragement mean the world to me! I will miss you all dearly!

Now it is off to bed for a sleepless night of excitement and anxiousness!
Good bye Colorado. Good bye United States. Good bye family and friends. Look out South Africa, here I come!!!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ah.. you took the small suitcase approach. I thought I could get under 50 lbs with my Samsonite, but figured as long as I could squeeze under 80 lbs, I'm OK, since I'm at about 76 lbs total for all my checked baggage. It's not ideal, but it works and I'm too tired to do any last minute purging.

Unknown said...

Erin, even though there was a part of me that did not want to see you go. There was also a part of me that was able to celebrate a dream coming true. What fun it was to spend time with you and help you shop, pack, unpack, pack again and hash over what should go and what should not. I have loved reading the Peace Corp info, books, and blogs. Yes, I know I'm living vicariously through you and loving it. I know planning our trip to see you will keep me positive. Can't wait to hear from you.

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