Officialities

I now have an official launch date for Peace Corps. I'll be leaving Denver the morning of October 2nd (that's only 10 days away!) for Washington DC, were we'll spend three or so days getting the how-not-to-hurt-yourself-and-or-others talk, turn in mounds of paperwork, and line up for (probably quite a few) shots. We also have an official dinner at the Ethiopian embassy, requiring semi-formal attire, which has limited use for the next two years other than for that one dinner.

Two weeks from today I'll be on a plane with 44 other volunteers, heading to Rome, then Addis Ababa. Yikes.

Meanwhile the packing and preparations continue apace. It seems as though everyone I've ever met wants to reconnect in the next couple of weeks before I take off for the wild blue yonder. I've never socialized this much in my life! It has been nice to get to catch up with folks a little bit, though. I had a fantastic trip to San Francisco earlier this month, and was in Kansas City and Chicago just last weekend, getting to see some family and some dear dear friends. I count myself as being very lucky that I have this many wonderful people in my life who I get to spend some time with before I leave.

School starts back up at the UW this coming week. It's a little odd not to be heading back. Hard also to believe that today is the first official day of Fall. It doesn't feel like it here in Denver, where it's probably 85° today. Probably won't feel much like it in Ethiopia, either, at 8 degrees North latitude.