Travel plans are set!

Hey everyone-

Very exciting news today! We finally got the email we've been waiting for since April from the Peace Corps Staging Unit. So now we know that we are leaving Denver on September 19th for Washington D.C.! Staging begins the next day, where we will learn more about what it means to be a PC Trainee and Volunteer, including how to stay safe and adapt to our new lives in Ethiopia. We will also receive whatever vaccinations we still need while in D.C. This also gives us a chance to meet the rest of our fellow volunteers before the long flight to Addis Ababa on the 21st (we arrive in country on the 22nd). At this point we don't know what the schedule is after arriving in Ethiopia- I'm guessing we will find that out during Staging.

We do know there will be about 3 months of training in Ethiopia, but we don't know where in the country we will be, or even if we (Derek and Claire) will be living together during training. After training we will move together to our site, where we will be living and working for 2 years. There is a chance that we will have more than one site during our tour- some PC volunteers move around as extension agents.

Colorado State will be nicely represented in this PC group- there are 6 of us going! And we know there's a guy from CU too, so there will be at least 7 volunteers from the great state of Colorado! Nice work guys.

Thanks again for your support and for staying in touch!