Leaving America

Dear Constant Readers,

Here I am in Washington DC finishing an orientation session for us 47 up and coming Peace Corps volunteers, leaving for Peru bright and early on the morrow! Already I am excited and am having a blast with my new friends, even though I still can't balance so many names and where people are from or what their programs are or whatever.

These past couple of days have been really fun and have gone much faster than I thought they would. For the past couple of weeks, I've been starting to get nervous and so forth...Well, I shouldn't say "starting" but it has more and more begun to become a reality. I was interviewed in my town and so now everyone who reads the local paper knows that I am headed south of the border. It seems kinda strange that everyone knows where I'm headed.

I'm really curious to see if I can handle it. As my room mate said, it's all about attitude, and I really believe this is true. It will be an important thing to keep in mind, as well, because my program, Water and Sanitation, will be the first in Peru. Madness. Pioneers are we!

Anyway, please excuse the short blog. I'll try to keep this going as best I can...Certainly from time to time, anyway. But tomorrow morning means we are on the bus bright and early at 6.15 to depart.

I hope all is well!

Yours,
Tristan

PS - Ben, I'm sorry I haven't been able to see you here in DC. It's been a whirlwind of events, but we can stay in touch regradless (the grad is for grad school!)