I'm in Africa!!!

It took 15 minutes to get to this site and I only bought 30 and I'm on a french keyboard so this is gonna be short. The trip to get here was long but safe so I'm super thankful for that!! We are in the capital city and it is amazing. It's beautiful and the people are really super nice. I'm experiencing sensory and information overload. 3 shots so far, more tomorrow and every week for the next month - better than getting yellow fever I guess:) We go to our training site tomorrow and I'll be able to get more time. Love you all!!!

Info

Ok, so the in-person good-byes are over. Today was rough. I'm in Philly now - 1st day of training is done. I've met some awesome people today that are going to my country with me - half in the business sector and the other half are in the health sector. The emotions are all over the place.
Here is my itinerary for the next week -
Monday Sep 25 we have training all day in Philly.
Tuesday Sep 26 we go to the clinic in the morning for vaccinations, then we take a bus to JFK and take off for Paris at 11pm. This will be the last time I'll be making phone calls from my cell.
Wednesday Sept 27 - after a 4-hour layover in Paris, we arrive in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (the capital city) at 8pm BF time (which is 2pm Indpls time).
Thursday Sep 28 we spend in the capital city having info sessions. THIS IS THE FIRST TIME I WILL BE ABLE TO CALL - probably around afternoon Indy time.
Friday Sep 29 we also spend in the capital city with more info sessions. Friday afternoon we travel to Ouahigouya (80 km north of the capital city). This is where we will have pre-service training. That evening they have a welcome ceremony for us.
Saturday Sep 30 is more training and info sessions.
Sunday Oct 1 we have our adoption ceremony and meet our host families. I will live with this family for the next 11 weeks. There will be at least 5 other volunteers in this community at other host families.
It looks like I will have phone and internet access in the capital city and in the training city - so I will communicate as often as possible.
Obviously I am and will be experiencing information overload. I miss everyone so much already. Take care and I will post asap!

Yo Ref! Time out!

I was driving home after a great evening of watching the season premiere of Grey's, and I got this overwhelming urge to call a time out. You know when you're playing basketball and you need a minute to catch your breath and make sure everyone's on-board with the play, so you yell, "yo ref! time out!" That's what I felt tonight. But no sir, not in this game. There are no time outs. Sure, you can step to the sidelines and watch the game go on for a while, but the game clock of life stops for no one. That quarter flew by! Now it's time to get in there and play.

Thank you

My going-away/30th birthday party on Sunday was AWESOME!! The weather was perfect, so many people came, we had great food and drinks and CAKE, the Colts won, who could ask for anything more? Thank you to everyone who took the time to come wish me luck and congratulations. I had a few breakdown moments as I said my last (well, last in-person) good-byes to family and friends.
It's now crunch time...The car is off to auction - keep your fingers crossed that somebody wants to pay me what it's worth...Gotta get those last few items and pack my bags - also keep those fingers crossed that everything fits in the bags and that the bags don't weigh too much:)...I'm at the end of my "getting rid of everything" phase and I still have so much. The last will go to Goodwill this week.
I'm in the process of doing all my "lasts." I had one last reggae night at the Casba. One last "drinks after work with the managers" is tonight. One last lunch with my old Blue co-workers is tomorrow. One last Grey's Anatomy session with Norm is Thursday. One last night with the girls is Saturday. And then this chapter closes and my Africa chapter begins. Life and time - phenomenal concepts.

Getting ready

Ok, I thought I better start on this since I have 12 days left before I leave. Here are some of the main things going on right now:
The garage sale last weekend went great, but I still have a ton of stuff left. The rest is going to have to be donations. It's a liberating feeling to be able to say everything I own fits into 2 suitcases (which cannot weigh more than 80lbs total and can't measure more than 107 inches - w+l+h for both). But it's more than a lot of people in this world have. I'm disgusted with myself to see how much "stuff" I have. I'm a glutton when it comes to clothes - bottom line.
My car still hasn't sold. If anyone wants to buy my 2001 Acura TL with 66,500 miles for $14,000, please let me know. It really is an awesome car.
I have 9 more days of work at the hospital. My co-workers have been pretty awesome.
My going-away party is this weekend. It looks like a lot of people are going to make it, so I hope the weather is nice.
I'm pretty sure I have purchased everything I need (or at least everything I'm going to take) for this trip. I call it a trip, but I should call it a move. Who goes on a 2-year trip?
This past week was difficult. I think I've been reading too many blogs and I had information overload, which prevented me from sleeping and gave me some pretty intense dreams. I'm calmer now, which is good considering the next 12 days are going to be full. I have officially determined that saying good-bye is going to suck. My life is great and my friends and family rock.
I have one correction for my first post - I'm flying to Philadelphia for "staging," not D.C.
Obviously, there is plenty more to come. Check back in a week.