The Adventure Begins!

I'm sitting in the lobby of a very nice hotel in Arlington, fired up after my first day of pre-departure orientation! I guess there are about 20 trainees in my group and to my relief, I met a lot of cool people today.

That doesn't quite make up for all the people I left behind, but since I haven't yet left the area I grew up in, none of my goodbyes seemed really final. I might see some of my home friends tomorrow, actually, and my mom has volunteered to drive to the hotel and pick up anything I decide to ditch if my suitcases come in over the weight limit (a fear that has been gnawing at me for days, since I first clumsily tried to weigh my mammoth bags on our tiny bathroom scale. How do you pack for 27 months in 80 pounds or less???)

On my last night in Cheverly, my mom and I went to Five Guys for dinner and picked up cannolis from the Italian Inn for dessert. Along the way, something reminded me of the old stuffed dog I used to own -- Toto, my constant companion and the only thing I had that survived our housefire when I was 6. I casually asked my mom where he was, we couldn't find him, and somehow this became a catastrophe in both of our minds. Maybe it's because I was leaving for 27 months and I needed to pay homage to my entire childhood spent in the same little house.

Eventually I found him, petted him and put him back in his basket in the basement. But the next morning, when we get in the car to drive me away for years, there Toto was in the backseat. My mom claims he wanted to see me off and got there himself. Somehow she knew exactly what I needed.

We said our goodbyes without pain or tears, knowing we'd talk soon. Orientation was fun, but the most surreal part of it all is that most people are from much farther away than Arlington. Half my group is in bed now because they had to get up at 4 a.m. for their long flights. My roommate called me "Ms. 20 minutes away" as she was falling asleep at about...noon.

Other orientation highlights:

• Rumors circulated that John McCain and Sarah Palin were staying in our hotel, which is near their campaign HQ. Some, including me, said that was impossible because McCain probably had a house around here. Others pointed out that even if he did, he probably didn't remember it. We wanted him to come talk to us, considering he could be our next boss. However, the rumors were later dismissed.
• We had to draw pictures of our aspirations and anxieties on a big sheet of paper. Some of our aspirations included dancing, ruthless soccer playing (mine) and feeding a monkey a pupusa.
• We were given debit cards with the American flag on them that said "We The People" and were ordered to take large wads of cash out of the ATM with them because they wouldn't work in El Salvador.
• Drinking at the hotel bar, because the Peace Corps is classy like that.

Well, it's time for me to get to bed, as I somehow have to function at 8:30 a.m. tomorrow. I miss you all and if I don't update tomorrow, my next post will be from EL SALVADOR!