It's all real now!

So, today was the day! The Peace Corps, Moldova, me leaving it all became real...really real. I received my staging papers via email this morning with instructions for booking my flight and where I’m meeting and how much I can pack. Well, you know me, I like to plan, to get things lined up so I know what to expect (which is really ironic that I’m going into the Peace Corps where you never know what to expect or that I LOVE working with kids who are the complete opposite of expectation/predictability).

I called the travel agency and made all my travel arrangements for getting to our orientation before heading out of the states. So, I leave in about 31 days. WOW-it’s real. Which then made me remember I have this blog set up and have for a while now, but wanted to wait until I had something to say. I realized now, I was just waiting until it sunk in fully. And, now I have stuff to say.

Some basics…
I am leaving on June 8 at 6:10am (which for those who know me really well are laughing at how early I’m going to be up that morning). I am flying to Philadelphia, PA and should arrive about 5:30pm. Which is nice because I will actually be there a little earlier than most since check in for the orientation is not until June 9 at 12pm. Time to hop on the metro and check out the sights a bit. I’ve never been to the east coast so I’m excited about this.

We have orientation from noon until 7pm, and then the volunteers can all do whatever we’d like. Then the next morning we fly out at 6am (again you’re all laughing) for Moldova!!

So as of June 10, I will be in Moldova for 27 months. I still do not know exactly where, but according to the itinerary we fly into Chisinau, which is the capital, with a 6.5-hour layover in Istanbul. Any suggestions?!?

I’m getting excited, but there is still so much to do. The check off list (that’s for you Jen Piatt-you know how I’ve always loved your lists) is getting really long, but I am enjoying the little check marks I make.

Tomorrow night the girls and I are getting together and hopefully we will get some more of the party plans worked out. Oh yeah, its June 6-William Land Park-BBQ-anytime you want to come on by between 11am-5pm. More details to come.

Next post will be some information about the country itself since I’m sure some of you are scratching your heads saying Moldavia? Moldivin? Monrovia? (my dad said that one for awhile). It’s actually a cool little (and I do mean little) country.