Staging

Posted in Staging by Dom on September 27th, 2006

Staging. What was it? Apparently it’s a bit like college orientation. A lot of ice-breakers and a lot of activities to help you learn about foreign cultures and Peace Corps policy.

The first day was kind of long because I planned on taking a nap and a shower in my hotel room since I’d been up since 4am with 2 hours of sleep and no shower for two days. Alas, that was not to be the case. Check in wasn’t until 4pm. It was 10am. Registration began at 2pm; there’s a bit of a conflict there. So I went and got a chicken philly and, as I’ve come to find out, paid way too much($10.25).

After a 10:45am “lunch” I decided to go wait in the lobby, since I didn’t have anywhere else to go. I ran into some other PC people there. They were going to The Gambia. (the prado) Anyway, it wasn’t until I met a few others that some Malawi people started to show. I walked with them to lunch. I didn’t eat, but it was nice conversation. Also, that was when I noticed that I really liked Philadelphia. Which was only re-affirmed over the next day or so.

After that I had to get back to change in the bathroom since we were suppose to be “business casual” and I had on cut-off camo shorts and flip flops.

It turned out to be cool. I got my passport, which is huge. The people I met have been great so far. I think it’s because we all came in with an attitude of wanting to be friends with each other.

Now though I just got through resituating my packing. Apparently we are only allowed 80lbs not 100lbs as I previously assumed. And we can only bring one bag with us to training. So I had to figure out what I might want for three months of 5-6days of intensive training and living with a family. Oh and I had to drop some weight which was real fun when I have no scale. Both my bags seemed lighter after repacking, which by the law of conservation of mass, makes that quite strange.

This may be the last time I get to use a computer for the upcoming months so I hope you guys take care and don’t worry too much. I’m sure it will be great.