Back in DC

Today Tim is driving me to the Arlington Holiday Inn where I will officially start my training for the Peace Corps.

The last few days have been great, we had a picnic where Max brought the parachute from his preschool and we played with it on the mall.



Shivvy came back on Monday and after having about one hour of sleep hung out with me all day (I got sunburned). We ended the evening at JR's for showtunes. (If you're unfamiliar with this wonderful establishment, think of a bar full of gay men singing along to the classics). It was nice because there were tributes to Bea Arthur as well as other great music.

Must go pack.

Heading to DC

So I fly out to DC today. I'm PRAYING my bags aren't going to be too big/heavy etc. I tried to weigh them, but the weighing scale broke....I'm taking that as a sign from God that I am not meant to weight them, not that they are too heavy.

I'm thinking a picnic on the Mall on Sunday afternoon, let me know if you're around!

Just South of the Scottish Border

Easter 2009.

As a sort of “last hoorah” I drove up to Newcastle for Easter with Nathan where we celebrated Easter with Granny, Uncle James and Aunt Janet and the entire Australian contingent of the Wood family (including, Uncle Ben, Auntie Liz, Alice and Harry).


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The drive up was great, other than the fact that Nathan and I were a little under the weather (some people call it being “hung over”, I call it living a little) and the weather itself seemed to feel the same. The dreary rain chased us all the way up to Scotch Corner, where we turned off the motorway and were suddenly faced with a breathtaking sunset and the MOST adorable baby lambs EVER:



So I’m carefully watching the beautiful-ness and cute-ness all around me and therefore (obviously) stop paying attention to where we’re going and end up 45 minutes west of where we were meant to go (we were about 2 counties west…oops!).

Luckily we made it there and back in one piece.

Now I am back in Brockenhurst and figuring out how to pack all my stuff for two years into one bag…any suggestions?

And we're off...

So in 16 days I will be flying out of London and heading over to DC for a weekend of frivolity before 12 hours of pre-departure training which includes (but is not limited to): team bonding, government paperwork, immunizations, more paperwork and packing.

On the 29th (very, very early in the morning) we will be flying out of Reagan and on our way to Guatemala City (via Miami), where we will start our three month in country orientation.

During orientation we live with Spanish speaking families, have language and cultural classes and work with people who will prepare us for our jobs once we begin. I have been practicing my Spanish on the Rosetta Stone program (free from the Peace Corps, and quite a perk), however, I'm still super rusty and know that the first few weeks/months will be a struggle.

Anyway, it is going to be a crazy few weeks but I'm really excited, (well, more nervous excited, but excited anyway), and can't wait to finish up all the preliminary stuff (paperwork/ insurance/ packing/ shopping etc.) and roll out!