Flights, Virginia and Philly

Packing

I don't know how this happens. Three days before departure, I had everything neatly packed and it all fit in my bags nicely. The day before departure, I bought a few little things I still needed and went to "officially" pack for the flight on Friday. Somehow, my stuff multiplied itself (like freaking tribbles) and nothing fit anymore. I suddenly had waaaay too much stuff. I ended up frustratedly throwing things around the room ("I DIDN'T WANT THIS ANYWAY!" *Chuck*) and finally getting it down to where it fit. But I still feel like I have a lot of stuff. Everyone else kind of had comparable amounts, but it's so exhausting to drag two 50-lb bags around the airport -- I can't even fathom dragging them around Africa. I'm just not going to think about it until I need to. In the mean-time, I'll do some bicep workouts to prepare...

Kallie helped me pack.

The final product.

Virginia

On Friday morning, bright and early (ugh) I flew to Philly via Dallas. Unfortunately, Friday morning is also when American Airlines declared bankruptcy. Three guesses as to what airline I was on. So in Dallas, of course, once we had already boarded the plane bound for Philly, were bucked in and ready to go, the pilot announces that due to "malfunction" we would have to disembark again and get a new plane. Fantastic. Luckily, they did actually find another plane (which I was not expecting) and we were delayed about two and a half hours. So by the time I got to Philly, had the rental car, and made it down to Virginia, it was late and I was HUNGRY. Luckily my friend Alicia, who I was staying with, makes delicious food and I scarfed down a concerning amount.

One of the coolest things I was able to do in Virginia is go back to the little town I grew up in, Burke. As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, I am doing the correspondence match program with my third grade teacher, Mrs. Swartz, and I was actually able to go visit her and even meet her class. I talked a little bit about what I was going to be doing and answered some of their questions. It was really cool meeting my teacher and her class! I'm really excited about the correspondence match program.

Mrs. Swartz and me, circa 1998.

Mrs. Swartz and me just now.

Mrs. Swartz and her class.

I was also able to wander around my old neighborhood, take some pictures, reminisce. It's amazing how big the tree in our yard got. I had half a mind to knock on the door and introduce myself, but I resisted. Instead I took a walk in the woods (which have not changed a bit) and swung on the swing-set for a little bit.

Me in front of our childhood home.

 Staging (Philadelphia)

Yesterday afternoon I arrived in Philadelphia. I returned my rental car and met a bunch of other Peace Corps people at the airport. We all got a shuttle van to our hotel. I didn't technically have a room, so two very nice lades, Jackie and Gina, let me share their room. I let my inner child out and made a fort in the closet. But today I DO have a room, so I checked in early and claimed the window side of the room (hope my roommate didn't want it...)

It all officially starts today. We have staging in about 45 minutes. There are 55 of us in the Mozambique group. For some ungodly reason, we are leaving the hotel at 2 a.m. and driving to New York, where our flight for Johannesburg departs at 11 a.m. It's a 14 hour flight... that'll be fun. I find that, even being a fairly normal sized adult, I'm super squished in those seats. I hope (against all rational thought) that the plane is devoid of people except Peace Corps volunteers. We could have 3 seats each. The chances of that happening are quite low, but I can dream, right?

NOTE: It was brought to my attention that it was kind of hard to comment on this blog. I hadn't ever actually checked my commenting settings, but now that I have you can comment without logging in or doing any of that crazy word recognition stuff. So... leave comments.