Ghana manana!!

We'll be up and at 'em at 5 am eastern tomorrow morning. I'm still on West Coast time so It'll feel like I'm waking up at 2am. The past two days have been a bit like a corporate conference only the topic has been interesting. We've had ice breakers and group break out sessions and notebooks to update. We've talked about SMART goals, excitement and anxiety. Mostly, it's been an opportunity to meet 47 other (30 female and 17 male) Peace Corps Trainees. We're all scheduled to volunteer in Ghana through late 2009 and it's been awesome to share stories.

The best part has been that we can enjoy elaborate conversations without taking breaks to answer questions about Ghana. I didn't mind answering the questions but it's quite a relief to chat with people who have had the same experience.

We went to get Pat's Cheese Steaks today for lunch and had a huge New York Strip for dinner. While it's been nice indulging for the last month, it might make for an extra rude awakening when we're eating Ghanaian cuisine for the first time.

As far as our itinerary is concerned, I'm up at 5am to be down in the lobby by 5:45. I've been selected as one of the group leaders so I'm in charge of ensuring that all luggage is loaded on the bus, that all bellman are properly tipped etc. I'm also in charge of distributing the passports of 7 other prospective volunteers. Our instructors said to be extra careful with our government passports since they'll draw as much as 30 grand on the black market. The way I look at it, if I freak out at the last minute, I've got almost a quarter mill in my back pocket. Nice huh?

From the hotel, we go for 2 hours of immunizations followed by a bus trip to JFK airport. We depart JFK at 4:35pm and fly from New York to Frankfurt to Lagos (Nigeria) to Ghana. We'll be in Ghana at 5:30pm on Tuesday and will officially start our life in Africa.

It may be a few weeks before I'm able to blog again but I wanted to get some notes in while they're fresh. If you have any specific questions, please let me know. I'd be happy to address certain things about the training or what we have planned for the next two years.

To those of you who are reading this but didn't get a goodbye call/e-mail. Sorry, I love you and keep in touch.

See you next decade!!