Leaving on a Jet Plane

I’m on the plane heading to staging right now. For the next few days I will be in Philadelphia meeting the other 50 or so volunteers going to Azerbaijan with me. I’m surprised at the feelings of calm I’m having. I thought I would be freaking out a bit more right now. I don’t know if it’s the early wake up, the fact I was running late, or the chance that I might actually be ready for this.
I’d like to give everyone a brief synopsis of the last few months leading up to today. I first started the application process in September. I had my first interview up in Seattle the first week in January. About a week later I had a second interview over the phone. About a month later I received my nomination from my Peace Corps recruiter. This began the long process of getting my medical, dental, and legal clearances. After proving I am healthy and not a criminal I received an invitation to work in youth development in Azerbaijan. Throughout the process there were many set backs and frustrations which made me think Peace Corps made it this hard to weed out anyone who wasn’t really serious about this, but now as I sit here with all that behind me it doesn’t really seem to have been too bad.
I want to thank everyone who came to my going away party last night especially my mom who put so much work into it to make it run so smooth. I couldn’t think of a better way to spend an evening before I leave than with friends and family with a good ole American BBQ.