Hi-ho Hi-ho, it's off to T-stan I go....

So I made it to Washington D.C. in one piece.... barely. I cannot beleive how hard it is to keep your stupid baggage under the 100 lb restriction. Most of the time in America, a large group of girls complaining about being "over weight" typically occupies the beginning of some Lifetime original movie about eating disorders. Here, it's just another reality as we all try to decide what not to pack in our suitcases to avoid paying the notorious "heavy baggage" penalty fees. I was only trying to bring 27 sticks of deoderant, I don't see what the big problem was.....

I love it here at training, it's amazing to finally be meeting all of the people I am going to be on this adventure with. There are 38 people in our group. The youngest person is 22 years old, and the oldest is 29, so we are all right around the same age, and it seems like that does a lot to bond all of us. Everyone is going through a lot of the same issues and emotions right now, so it makes it incredibly comforting to know that I am not the only one feeling like this. I know it's a silly thing to be excited about, but there are a bunch of girls in our group who are tall!!! There is one girl who is slightly taller that I am, and a few others who are right around my height. I love it! A group of 8 of us ladies went out to dinner tonight and had an awesome time. It's going to be so much fun to spend the next 27 months with these people.

In orientation today, we taked a lot about the Peace Corps mission and about how to successfully encourage develpment in the communities we are going to. It really hit me while we were sitting there.... this is a really big deal. What an honor to be invited into a community of people who want to welcome you into their culture and learn all about yours. I feel this huge responsibility to be a good person. I'm just hoping that I can live up to the reputation Peace Corps has established. Hopefully a smile and 2 well-functioning ears will get me far...

We have orientation all day tomorrow and then dinner tomorrow night with a group of returned volunteers from Turkmenistan, it should be really neat to meet them and to be able to ask them some quesitons about their experiences. I am so impressed with the caliber of people in this program. Everyone is incredibly friendly and outgoing, and on top of that, they are all smart and very dedicated. It makes me feel honored to know that I was accepted to be in this group when I see the other amazing people who have been selected for it.

I leave for Frankfurt from Washington on Monday afternoon, and then we fly into Ashgabat after an 8 hour layover in Germany. I think we're going to try to do some quickie sight-seeing in Frankfurt, but we'll see how everything works out..... I guess they told us not to anticipate having internet access for the first month or so that we are in Turkmenistan, so don't work about a lack of communication, I promise I will be glued to the computer for an update as soon as possible. And if things go really well, I might even get some pictures up..... keep your fingers crossed. (And thank you Jordan for my really nice camera to take pictures with!!)

I love you all and cannot thank everyone enough for the well-wishes! Keep me in your prayers and I will keep you in mine!