I'm now starting to feel a little more pressure as I get ready to leave in something like two weeks! I've been strictly instructed by Peace Corps to make my goodbyes meaningful and make sure to load up on all my favorite foods before I leave... So I've been doing just that. Even though I feel totally underprepared to speak Malagasy and expand Malagash small businesses, atleast I've fattened up over the holidays. (Just kidding uncle john, i've been doing some reading on Madagascar too and I won't embarass our family)
I'll be leaving February 11th for Philadelphia to go to Pre-service training, called "staging". This is where we'll fill out paperwork, get shots, meet the other PCVs et c. Then we fly out of JFK on the 13th to Johannesburg (17 hours!) then to Madagascar the following day. I have mostly all my essential packing items together and am pretty confident that I won't regret packing light. ALTHOUGH, care packages will be greatly appreciated and can be sent to:
Jessica Alice Duncan, PCT Peace Corps
Corps de la Paix
B.P. 12091
Poste Zoom Ankorondrano
101 Antananarivo
Madagascar
This adress is for the first three months of training, after that I'll be relocated to my permanent site. For training, we'll be about an hour outside of the main town, Antananarivo. I'll have access to a phone while training but will rarely be able to use it, but I'm planning on getting a cell phone once I get to my site. I've heard the people in my program are located in larger towns with service, and some texting is free or cheap.
For email, I'll still use my jessicaaliceduncan@gmail.com account, but I have a new peace corps account that I may be checking more while I'm over there, it's pcvjessicadmg@yahoo.com. I think facebook is going to be an outlet for me to keep in touch. And Skype!
Well, for now, I'm in Colorado spending some time with my dad, then back to the keys Feb 2nd until I fly out on the 11th. Hopefully I'll be posting again before we leave the country.
