ALMOST THERE!!

After a stressful couple nights packing, weighing our packs, and repacking, etc, we were all ready to go. You can see me on the scale waiting to see if there might be weight problems. So far so good. Then we were off on our first flight.
Well its been a busy couple days and we're sitting in Washington Dulles airport about 2 hours before getting on to the 11 hour flight to Accra, Ghana. All our flights have gone well so far and when we finally got to meet our fellow PC Volunteers, of course they all turn out to be amazing people!! We spent yesterday in seminars introducing us to the mission and foundation of Peace Corps and some strategies on how to make it a safe and effective trip. At the end of the evening, we had a special visitor to the whole group: Aaron Williams, the current Peace Corps director dropped in to speak to us!! He was a fabulous, inspirational speaker and let us know we are about to be part of history, let alone the greatest job we'll ever love. He doesn't get a chance to stop by many staging events, so we felt very lucky.
After the seminars, we all went our to get some food. Sarah, no surprise, scouted out a great burger pub with half priced burgers and cheap drinks (way to go Sarah!). We had a great time bonding with our new friends that we'll be seeing for the next 2 years.
This morning, Sarah and I used our Coldstone gift certificate (thanks Mom) and had smoothies and ice cream for brunch, yum :) After grabbing a bagel for the afternoon, we headed back to the hotel.
Sarah and I checked out of the hotel this morning and I had volunteered to be a Group Leader that morning. That basically meant I needed to check in everyone from my group and collect their money for tips to give to the bus drivers. Peace Corps has given us a per diem allowance that helps us pay for food, and other things we'll need to pay for in the near future. So for a short time, I had to hold on to a large wad of cash before giving it to the driver. We stopped by the "clinic" before heading to the airport. By clinic, we mean the Department of Health building right in the middle of all the historic areas of Washington DC. We passed by the Washington Monument, the Pentagon, the Capitol Building, Lincoln Memorial, and Jefferson Memorial. We then got our last shot, our yellow fever shot. After that we said goodbye to our staging leaders and felt a little on our own for the first time.
Once we get off the plane, we need to be in professional attire and then the adventure over seas is really beginning. We probably won't have internet access for some time after that so this will probably be our last post for a little while. However, we do hear the cell phones are cheap there so we'll probably find one soon after landing. We'll catch you up after that.