Staging day for our departure to Mexico in 2 days on Wednesday February 8th!
As I so often read on the other applicant's blogs, our last few weeks getting ready to arrive here at staging have been unbelievably hectic! So any visions we might have harbored about being the "cool, calm, prepared volunteers were wiped away in either a: mental sweat of trying to get the new electronics set up and working together (new laptop and tablet/reader) or b: a physical sweat of hauling around way too much luggage. Luckily, we were able to take some of the clothing we took with us to Europe last spring to our storage, now that we know we will be going to a relatively warm climate versus one of the "cold" countries.
We also are a bit jet lagged from all the place rides. So where have we been?
We stopped in Paris for a few days to say goodbye to friends and family and buy some little presents for our new friends and host family in Mexico. I hope they like French stuff :)
Starting on the 12th of January, we flew from Paris to Florida where we spent a week, just enjoying some of the pleasures of being back in the US and taking advantage of the beautiful beaches in Miami and Sarasota. It was a bit chilly to swim, but made for some great short walks and just hanging out for a week. We had the added bonus of knowing that since we decided to stop in Forida, we didn't end up in Seattle during the only week this winter so far that they were hit hard by snow. So we didn't have to worry about power outages and slippery roads. Thank goodness!
Next was Seattle. We mostly spent the week there visiting friends, and attending meetings at the company I advise for, Ivy Corp. We even flew in our new French consultant and got to attend the belated holiday party, so that was really special! Again, it was hard here to say goodbye to family and friends. Luckily, we are confident we will be able to coax many of them down to visit us in Mexico once our initial settling in period has passed.
After rainy Seattle, we got to spend a few days drying out in Los Angeles. The highlight there besides seeing friends and going to eat at many of our favorite foodie haunts, was being able to check in and see our house. It gave us a chance to check in and make sure everything is okay there and reassured us there was nothing more to do on the home front before we flew back to the East coast.
So, last but not least, we landed in Washington D.C. last night! We came out a day early so that we could feel a bit more rested and catch our breath. We met a woman on the plane from LAX to Dallas who is part of the PCM-12 Mexico group! So that was really fun to be able to compare notes. And at least we now know we aren't the ONLY ones going! It will be fun to meet the other volunteers tomorrow. We found out that there is also another peace corps group staying here at our same hotel that is going to Zambia. So eventful days for both groups!
I will write another post when I can either before we take off for Mexico once we have met the other folks in our group, or after we get there. We will just see how the time and internet connection goes.
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