The wait is OVER!! IT'S ON!!!

So, yesterday I was coming back in from another rousing day out and about. If your reading my blog, then you know I've been checking my mailbox everyday looking for news from the Peace Corps regarding where I'm going to be posted. As of my last post i was on Defcon 1... it was in the mail!!

So I stopped by the mailboxes (which in this neighborhood are located at the corner of each street) and checked my box. Two flimsy pieces of junk mail. " Oh well." I thought. It was only put in the mail on Friday. It would have to be some sorta miracle for it to make it that quick.

I went back to the car, got some groceries out and headed into the house. "A few more days won't kill me."

Then I looked down at the doorstep and saw this.


HOLY CRAP!! THIS IS IT!!

I took my stuff inside, puff puff, and puff, tried to puff, puff control my breathing. I picked up the envelope and took it inside. I sat down at the table and slowly, tore open the package.

Yep, it was my invitation kit alright!! Inside this blue packet was the culmination of a long, eight month qualification process. Hours of trepidation for myself, and for those that were with me. From my personal interview in Ft. Collins Colorado, through my medical testing in Virginia, all the way through the circus that was my Dental clearance. It all came to this. Where would it be? Philippines? Cambodia? China? Thailand? or maybe the frozen tundra of Mongolia? I decided not to wonder anymore. It was time to open the kit, read the letter and embrace my future...at least the next two years of it.


CAMBODIA!!! YEAH BOYEEEE!!



The Kingdom of Cambodia (or Kampuchea as the natives call it) is amazing. It's a land of mountains and floodplains. Of ancient and mystical Angkor Wat, and the brutal Killing Fields. The Cambodians a people proud of their 1000 year heritage, but still overcoming the "near total destruction of their educated workforce" by the Khmer Rouge in the mid to late 70s. Over 1 million people were killed during this attempt by the communist regime to erase all traces of western influence from Cambodian society. It's going to be awesome to be part of helping a proud people complete a economic, social and cultural comeback! My volunteer class will be only the second group in, with the Peace Corps program starting in Cambodia in 2007.

This of course comes with some challenges. The first I'm coming up against is language related. It seems that Khmer, the official language of Cambodia is not yet supported by programs like Rosetta Stone and the like. It will be up to me to seek out what resources I can and give myself a leg up prior to my Pre service training. I guess this is the point of going to help out. To help Cambodia grow and be more of a part of the global society. My welcome kit went over a few more potential challenges to give me an idea of what I was getting myself into. My favorite part of the kit though was in one of several letters included from current volunteers describing necessary equipment for exercising: "I'll pull on my cross trainers and go running along the river. I carry my ipod in my left hand and a dog-whacking stick in my right hand (Dogs are feral animals in this country and attack if you enter their territory. They're not lovable pets, but they are delicious)."

Yeah... count me in!

So there you have it. I have between now and July 20 to get a few more ducks in a row and then I'm off! It's kinda funny that here I am, writing about my "Pupa stage" and I get posted to a country that is also in the midst of its own transformation. Sounds like a good match to me.

Chat at ya soon!

Meeyatch

song of the next two years: Run to the Hills and Wasted Years by Iron Maiden.