Reconnected

The long cruel wait is finally over dear readers as the powers that be have seen fit to respark my love-hate relationship with that most wicked of misstresses...the internet. The last two months have been a big budget hollywood style action packed flurry of events that would challenge the very limits of time to reccount in it's entirety but I'll do my best to hit most of the main points as I attempt to fill you in.
May 23 - Staging - The Peace Corps gives me a taste of what is to be expected for the next 2 years as I'm upgraded to "Rock Star" status for my flight to the East coast. The flight crew is visibly taken aback by this upgrade and prolonged double takes are given by all whose hands my ticket must pass through. My shaggy profile is clearly inconsistent with the airline's typical priority class fare. Laboring women, business big-wigs, and heads of state alike are forced to stand aside as my boarding takes priority over all others bound to a physical form. I strut boisterously down the aisle, perching my soiled footwear on every seat I pass as I make my way to the sitting area designated just for me. "So this volunteer business has some perks" I say to myself. I assume my fellow Peace Corps enlistees are receiving comparable treatment as they embark on their respective journeys to the staging event in Philadelphia, but am surprised to learn that the rest of my cohort have been treated as mere mortals up to this point. Unacceptable.
May 26 - Nairobi - After back to back transcontinental flights we arrive in the capital city to be greeted at the airport by a host of in-country Peace Corps staff eager to size up the latest batch of talent. As one of the first off the plane I immediately set to work lowering expectations for the group by mispronouncing my first greeting in Kiswahili to the country language coordinator before immediately reverting to English to state that I've left all of my customs paperwork of the plane. They decide to go ahead and keep the group in Kenya anyway and soon we're whisked away to a guarded compound just outside Nairobi. We awake the following morning to a security briefing on how, other than that big red spot on Jupiter, Nairobi just might be the most dangerous place in the solar system, if not in all of the milky way. According to the Peace Corps this place is bad. Real bad. Like the hubcaps steal from each other kind of bad. Clouds are even afraid of this place and only drop down rain as a distraction in hopes of affording themselves an opportunity to escape on the first jetstream to a safer place. Despite the advertised dangers our group manages to make it on to the next destination more or less unscathed................................................................... May 29 - Loitokitok - Our group arrives on the trianing grounds nestled cozily on the lower slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro. The majesty of the mountain and the beauty of the night sky are matched only by the dustiness of our surroundings. Dust, as it turns out, is Loitokitok's chief export with over 90% of the world's dust originating from this location. The next time you vaccuum your residence, empty the contents of the bag directly into your sinus cavities and then you will start to have a sense of the environment here. The days are short and long at the same time. Language and technical training sessions test our endurance during daylight hours while the "before dark" curfew policy has all of the trainees in their respective homestays tending to various household duties by 6:30. Despite a handful of bumps in the road, our group of 36 makes it through training without losing a single trainee to homesickess, culture shock, or gazelle attacks .To finish training without losing a single trainee is an uncommon feat in the Peace Corps and one that reflects very highly on the training staff here in Kenya.
July 21 - Swearing In - Our group returns to Nairobri, the subject of security scare talks among Kenyans and Americans alike, once again for all official i's to be dotted and t's to be crossed on our paths to bonified volunteer status. It will be the last such gathering of our group before being scattered to various remote villiages around the country. Wheras the first trip to Nairobi had an air of group bonding about it, this latest trip has an entirely diferent feel altogether. Anxieties are palpable as the time to start living like the pictures in the brochures is fast approaching and the support system we've found in one another will be forced to persevere with the variable of distance added into the equation. As for myself, I can't say that I'm nervous so much as eager to settle into the community where I'll be spending the next 2 years. While goodbye's are never easy this one is lightened by the knowledge that each of my fellow volunteers is embarking on the same adventure as myself. I know that each of us is about be plunged into a unique experience to be had nowhere else and I look forward to meeting again to compare notes and share stories about the 36 independent adventures that we're all on together.