5/29 -- Getting There

With only three packing days left, I figured I should add a quick note here before I go into a panic/overly stressed mode.

I'm at my parents' computer (in their sweltering office room ... why the AC never kicks on in here is a mystery), printing out important documents for my staging and pre-service training. Staging is "PC Talk" for Stateside orientation.

All the volunteers in my training group, the A-19ers will meet in Philadelphia for a day and a half of attending meetings, signing papers, and gearing up for the next 27 months. I'm grateful that our staging event is in Philadelphia simply because it means one less flight for me! We (my parents and I) will drive up to Philadelphia early Wednesday morning and hopefully be able to grab some lunch before I have to check in at noon. I'll be staying at the Hilton Garden Inn, pretty much in the center of Philadelphia (near City Hall, Convention Center, Love Park, etc...).  There are sessions planned throughout Wednesday afternoon, including "Who We Are," "What's Expected," and so forth.

Thursday morning we check out of the hotel and board a bus to JFK Airport in New York. Our flight out of JFK isn't until 5:40pm; it seems June 2nd will be spent sitting in the airport. Better charge up my Kindle! We are scheduled to depart JFK at 5:40pm that evening, taking an 8+ hour flight to Vienna, Austria.

We should arrive in Vienna around 8am local time on the 3rd.  I'm not even sure what time zone I'll be in at that point. There are fourteen hours until our departing flight to Yerevan, Armenia. Apparently we will be given a day hotel in Vienna. Ideally, I'll spend the day traipsing around the city with some other trainees, exploring whatever I can find (suggestions welcome!).

Our last flight is a breezy 3-hour skip from Vienna to Yerevan, the capital of Armenia. From there we'll have a 1.5-hour bus ride with Peace Corps Armenia staff to our training site, a town called Nor Hajn.

Once in country, we'll spend a few days in a hotel and attend more information sessions. We'll be able to meet current PCVs who will help us through the adjustment period. On June 7th, we move in with the families with which we will stay throughout PST. These families are located in the neighboring villages (Kotayk, Akunq, Mrgashen, Nurnus, and Argel). There will be other trainees in each village, but everyone will have their own family. Over the next eleven weeks, we have training classes both in our village and in the capital. Most of our sessions will be held in our small village, but we will also travel back to Nor Hajn to have sessions with the full group. These training sessions include language lessons as well as basics to become a successful Peace Corps Volunteer.

Whew! That turned into a longer post than intended. But I've been getting a lot of questions about these topics, so I felt it was necessary. At the top of my blog you'll see a tab called "My Address." Right now, it has my mailing address for PST. I'll be at this address from June 7-August 16, 2011. In July I should find out my permanent address for the remaining two years. Please send mail!!! I'd love to hear from you all!

I don't know when I'll post next. My access to internet will likely be few & far between over the next week or two, but I will try to post as soon as I am settled in somewhere.

Thanks for reading!