Bon voyage a moi!

Hi everyone who reads this -

I just finished my training in Philly with my group of 28. It wasn't nearly as boring as it could have been, although I'm going to have to get used to sitting in a classroom for an entire day...I was restless by lunch.

The PC had a Guinean man who worked with the PC for 18 years come and talk to us. He was one of those really old men who are so distinguished and accomplished that even when he was going off on tangents, all you could do was think about what a great life he's had. He's earned the right to speak tangentially!

The other 27 (was 28 until last night...) are all really great. It's hard to believe I just met them 48 hours ago and I'm currently feeling like they will be a wonderful family and support system in Guinea. We have 9 English teachers and the rest are science and math. This means that (thanks to the school systems teaching us that boys are better at numbers/formulas) we are over half guys!!! Yay! The guys were all very disappointed to realize this. :)

This morning we went to the clinic for some shots and malaria meds. Now it's a 36 hour journey (Philly to JFK to Brussels to Dakar to Conakry), so I'm sure we will be exhausted when we are finally done. We have one night at the PC office in Conakry and then 4 days at an agro-forestry school, where we get more information about what we will be doing, what the rules are, etc. And it's still the government, so I'm sure there will be forms to fill out. They have internet there and I'll be sure to post and let you all know what Guinea is like and if I think I can cut it for 27 months!

Oh, and there are 2 other UNC grads in our group. It's a small world.

Au revoir!