Hello all!
My first post from Ethiopia :)
Staging in Washington D.C. was a whole lot of ice breaker, getting to know you, and getting ourselves set up to leave and be prepared once in Ethiopia. I was nervous that I was the only one freaked out enough to start crying, but for our last exercise, they had us close our eyes, turn around, keep our eyes closed, and think about who we had to call tonight, what we had to do, and what we would miss. I definitely heard more than just my own sniffles in the audience.
On our last night in the USA (for a while), the PC let us do our thing for dinner. I went with 3 other friends, and we went to sushi. We seriously stuffed ourselves full, and I don't think I could have been happier with the food-- but I was also terrified and I definitely had a few tears that last night. Calling my parents was really difficult. Even now, people have phones to text and I am not going to think about that right now because I know if I tempt myself with the idea of talking to them like I do at home, then I will convince myself I don't need to do this.
The plane ride was uneventful, although very long (about 13.5 hours). The airplane was super nice, we had individual movies, they gave us food, and we could sleep and walk around. That doesn't erase how long the flight was, thought it made it much more bearable.
You could feel the excitement and nervousness from our section of the airplane (we didn't officially have our own section, but we pretty much took it over) as we landed. It took us awhile to gather our bags. With 70 people, plus at least 4 bags of luggage each (most weighing more than 50 pounds), it was an interest sight to see. When we finally got our bags and headed to the buses, I knew this was going to be an interesting ride.
For one, the driving in Addis is the scariest I have ever seen. There are no rules and unlike other places where they say that, but there is some sort of stability, this place is just go, go, go. It seems very much like the other capital cities I have heard of, where the capital has so many people that it just seems more clogged than the rest of the state or country.
After getting to our hotel and dropping our bags, they gave us a few minutes to "relax" before we went straight into information sessions. Today was mostly information about PST (pre service training) and a brief overview of the information we would be learning in depth about soon. They gave us a few breaks, and during one of them I went to my room and napped for 15 minutes. I was doing everything to try and stay awake during the information sessions, because their voices are soothing and because I was so tired from being up for so long/the time change. Most everyone else was feeling the same and you could tell by the end that our brains were fried.
My most interesting moment of the day came when one of our leaders (a 3rd year PC volunteer/leader) was in my bus on the way to the hotel and he told everyone, "We can hook up the tv's to watch the World Cup," which reminded everyone that we missed the game. He sadly told us that the American's lost, but he continued to give us every detail about the game, to please everyone on the bus.
I seem to have internet at the hotel, which is nice. I'm getting used to using it while I still have the option. Over and out-- I'm off to sleep (at 6pm).
Kelsey
My first post from Ethiopia :)
Staging in Washington D.C. was a whole lot of ice breaker, getting to know you, and getting ourselves set up to leave and be prepared once in Ethiopia. I was nervous that I was the only one freaked out enough to start crying, but for our last exercise, they had us close our eyes, turn around, keep our eyes closed, and think about who we had to call tonight, what we had to do, and what we would miss. I definitely heard more than just my own sniffles in the audience.
On our last night in the USA (for a while), the PC let us do our thing for dinner. I went with 3 other friends, and we went to sushi. We seriously stuffed ourselves full, and I don't think I could have been happier with the food-- but I was also terrified and I definitely had a few tears that last night. Calling my parents was really difficult. Even now, people have phones to text and I am not going to think about that right now because I know if I tempt myself with the idea of talking to them like I do at home, then I will convince myself I don't need to do this.
The plane ride was uneventful, although very long (about 13.5 hours). The airplane was super nice, we had individual movies, they gave us food, and we could sleep and walk around. That doesn't erase how long the flight was, thought it made it much more bearable.
You could feel the excitement and nervousness from our section of the airplane (we didn't officially have our own section, but we pretty much took it over) as we landed. It took us awhile to gather our bags. With 70 people, plus at least 4 bags of luggage each (most weighing more than 50 pounds), it was an interest sight to see. When we finally got our bags and headed to the buses, I knew this was going to be an interesting ride.
For one, the driving in Addis is the scariest I have ever seen. There are no rules and unlike other places where they say that, but there is some sort of stability, this place is just go, go, go. It seems very much like the other capital cities I have heard of, where the capital has so many people that it just seems more clogged than the rest of the state or country.
After getting to our hotel and dropping our bags, they gave us a few minutes to "relax" before we went straight into information sessions. Today was mostly information about PST (pre service training) and a brief overview of the information we would be learning in depth about soon. They gave us a few breaks, and during one of them I went to my room and napped for 15 minutes. I was doing everything to try and stay awake during the information sessions, because their voices are soothing and because I was so tired from being up for so long/the time change. Most everyone else was feeling the same and you could tell by the end that our brains were fried.
My most interesting moment of the day came when one of our leaders (a 3rd year PC volunteer/leader) was in my bus on the way to the hotel and he told everyone, "We can hook up the tv's to watch the World Cup," which reminded everyone that we missed the game. He sadly told us that the American's lost, but he continued to give us every detail about the game, to please everyone on the bus.
I seem to have internet at the hotel, which is nice. I'm getting used to using it while I still have the option. Over and out-- I'm off to sleep (at 6pm).
Kelsey
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