The Journey Begins...

Well, the day has finally come. I begin my journey to South Africa for Peace Corps tomorrow, Monday Feb 2nd. After a year and a half of applying to Peace Corps, months of saying my goodbyes, and weeks of packing, I'm not exactly sure how ready I am, but I'm as ready as I'll ever be. I'm definitely nervous, but more than anything I'm excited for the adventure before me. I'm still pretty clueless as to what I'll be doing and where I'll be, but here's what I know so far:

** Most importantly to all of you, I WONT HAVE PHONE OR INTERNET ACCESS UNTIL AFTER APRIL 2ND (see mailing address below)**

Mon Feb 2nd: Fly to Philadelphia to officially register as a Peace Corps Trainee

Tues Feb 3rd: Fly out of JFK airport in New York on a direct flight to Johannesburg, South Africa ( a whopping 17.5 hr flight!)

First 5 days in South Africa: Begin PST (pre-service training) at an educational center 1.5 hrs outside of Johannesburg with all peace corps trainees. Each day we will have one-on-one interviews with Peace Corps staff to help them place us in the organization and host family that best suits us.

Mid Feb- April 2nd: Move in with host family and continue pre-service training.

April 2nd: I am officially sworn in as a Peace Corp Volunteer

April 2nd and Beyond: Hopefully at this point Ill have internet access and can start blogging regularly. I'll be moving to my permanent site where I'll spend the next two years living with a host family and working in the community as an HIV/AIDs outreach volunteer.

Well, I suppose that's it for now. I love you all dearly and dont know how I will make it through the first two months without any communication, but I'm sure Ill have plenty of interesting stories to tell by then. I'll be thinking of you all every day and missing you until my safe return! Getting mail is great, and I promise to write you back! My mailing address during Pre-service training is below. Just be aware that mail to South Africa really is 'snail mail' and it could take 2-3 weeks for your letter to arrive to me, and vice versa when I write you back. Unil then, my loves, keep it real. Yeeeeehaw!

My address in South Africa for the first few months:
Heather Brand
Peace Corps
PO Box 9536
Pretoria 0001
South Africa