Staging

Jason: Kris and I are feeling much more confident after our day-and-a-half of pre-departure orientation, here at the Holiday Inn Georgetown (by DC). I´ve never been a fan of seminars or group, team-building activies, but these were informative, well-organized, and even enjoyable. We learned that the Peace Corps´develpment strategy focuses on grass-roots integration with as many individuals in the communities we are serving as possible. We went over cultural differences between the USA and the risks, hopes, and anxieties. Throughout the entire orientation, we met almost all 34 Nica trainees, and even some of the 32 Guatemala trainees.

These people are truly a wonderous group, amiable, patient, creative, compassionate, approachable, and ambitious. I am only the least bit acquainted with them, yet they engender a trust and warmness rarely encountered elsewhere. Every one of them is idealistic and pragmatic, wildly intelligent, but with a humility not seen in other circles of rising stars. We have all left, to some extent, wealth, family, careers, and friends to follow hearts that call us to help a hurting world. We all fear what we know will be a very painful twenty'seven months. We find in these rythms of heart and spirit a bond of friendship that requires little time to take seed and flourish.

In three-and-a-half hours, a bus will arrive to take us to Reagan National Airport. Our flight leaves at 6:20 am, we arrive in Miami, FL by 8:43 am, trnafer to the international terminal, and then leave for Managua, Nicaraua by 10:00 am.

We are feeling more confident about adjusting to Nica culture and language. A language trainer will introduce us to our host families, and language staff will be in training villages the first week of training to facilitate the transistion. Kris and I will also be able to visit each other on weekends, so that is very encouraging!

Midnight Oil

Jason: It´s 1:30 am, the morning that Kris and I are scheduled to depart for Washington, DC. Kris is busy burning the last of our music to CD before we leave the world of computers behind. 170 pounds of baggage with strained zippers form a sprawling mound on the large living room floor of Kris´ parents´ house. Kris´ father, unable to sleep with any sort of activity in the house, occassionally wanders out of his bedroom to exchange a few words.

It wasn´t supposed to happen this way. The plan was to spend a relaxed evening with family, eating Chinese food and playing games, and then to get into bed early so that we would be well-rested by the time our alarm sounded at 5:00 am. But, as with most things these last three weeks, there were ten pounds of activities to put into our five-pound bag of daylight.

Grand Canyon Photo Galleries

At long last, the rest of our Grand Canyon photos are online:

• Grand Canyon Photo Gallery, Part 1
• Grand Canyon Photo Gallery, Part 2
• Grand Canyon Photo Gallery, Part 3