There once was a girl who joined Peace Corps,
Relocated to Guinea's sweet sea shore
While she frolicked with manatees,
Pachyderms and chimpanzees,
She still every day missed her dear friend-core
After hours of packing, re-packing, donating clothes, donating books, packing again, donating more clothes (for someone as Plain Jane jeans-and-t shirts as me, I sure had a lot of excess apparel), and saying goodbye to all of my loved ones, all that's left is semi-lucid poetry and this:
One.tired.ginge.
To my family back home: Thank you for the gorgeous send-off. I have had enough pork and delicious micro-brews to tide me over for at least two years :)
To my friends in Boston: Thank you for the amazing last couple of days. (Even though you made me cry. A lot. I will consider forgiving you so long as you keep in touch.)
Now, here's my...
2-DAY ITINERARY
SUNDAY
CRACK OF DAWN A.M.: Fly to Philadelphia for registration/staging.
NOON-ish: Meet other Guinea volunteers. Try to convince them I'm cool.
AFTER DINNER TIME: Probably re-pack my suitcase again. Sleep?
MONDAY
MORNING: Learn many interesting things about Peace Corps. Get a million vaccinations.
NOON: Eat something?
NIGHT: Fly to GUINEA
After that, I will be entering my 3 months as a Peace Corps trainee! As far as I know, we'll be in a town called Dubreka, about 50 km away from the capitol. I'll be living with a host family, learning a lot of French, exploring the city, embarrassing myself in front of the locals, and doing all I can to adjust to this new world.
Don't fret for me, just keep me in your thoughts. You will all most definitely be in mine.
Sending all my love your way, until next time!!
-Kelsey
When I got home I popped by CVS to pick some stuff up and came across a brilliant card that you will receive in about 3 weeks time or so (depending on the combined prowess of the Swedish and Guinean postal services). I figured it'd be much harder to find a similar one in Sweden so yes I bought you a card within an hour of our parting which borders on the ridiculous but it was too good to pass up. Enough excuses. Try and get some sleep, a tired ginge is of no use to the Peace Corps ;).
ReplyDeleteagain, how do i follow this loveliness of blogage?
ReplyDeleteI TAKE IT BACK.
Deletejust did it.
love the way you grow :)
Kelsey!! I am so excited to read about your journey!! Not much here has changed, as it's only been a new york minute since you've left. I will miss our sign practice! Good luck, and can't wait to hear what's next :)
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