Wait, what, 76 days until I move to Rwanda?

So tomorrow I will be officially accepting my invitation to serve in Rwanda, and I'm a mixture of excitement, nervousness and anxiousness (emphasis on the excitement though!). Not surprisingly at all, everyone at work has already asked if I've made my excel spreadsheet of tasks to be done before I go; to them I say, you know me too well! I've been known to be a, how do I say this, major excel nerd(?) so it's only necessary that I continue this tradition. It may or may not have a timeline, with deadlines/deliverables. But the scariest part was when I did the quick math and realized I'll be leaving in 76 days. No, not 76 trombones, 76 days. Luckily at that moment I also reminded myself to breathe, so panic attacks and a fainting spell were avoided. Don't get me wrong, you all know how utterly happy I am that this is finally happening, but now that I see everything I have to get done in a couple short months, it will be a race to the finish. Starting with the great dentist search 2K9!! I was informed the one I was planning to go to can't do anymore free exams until February and now I have to scramble to find another (cheap!) one, so wish me luck on that. I'd really rather my savings go towards fun things (like swiss army knives/shortwave radios/tents/netbooks/solar chargers/duct tape..) than cleaning and x-raying my teeth.

I'll post more about Rwanda and the Peace Corps program there soon, promise!

Snow, christmas trees and RWANDA!!

Yesterday. It was only yesterday I woke up to my favorite thing in the world, SNOW! It was only yesterday my roommates and I got dressed in our christmas best (aka ugly holiday sweaters), put our pup, Charlotte, in her santa coat and picked out our christmas tree, walking down U street for 15 blocks caroling and lugging the tree on our shoulders. And it was only yesterday that I got my invitation to become a Peace Corps volunteer!!!! I stood on our front stoop, snow swirling above my head, my roommates grinning (and maybe a bit teary eyed) and taking photos of me as I opened the package. The first word I saw made me scream with excitement: RWANDA!!!!! All I could do for the next 5 minutes was scream and laugh and cry and say oh my god probably a dozen times. My parents got the first call and I couldn't help but remember the time my mother proclaimed the only place she didn't want me serving was Rwanda. As many of you know though, Rwanda has been pretty much my top choice since the program was reopened. I asked mom if she was sitting down, which of course she wasn't, but then it all came out like word vomit. Luckily my parents were excited and supportive (and probably nervous as hell, I just hope there weren't any tears after we hung up the phone) as they always have been my entire life.

So, I'm headed to RWANDA on February 22, 2010!! My program is Health, HIV/AIDS and Organizational Capacity Development (say that three times fast!). I'm excited and nervous beyond words and have a ton of reading to do the next couple of days before I can officially accept my nomination. Oh and do the math, I'll be leaving in 2 and a half months, aaaaahhhh!

Finally, on a corny note, I just want to say thank you to all of you, for your support and friendship and general amazingness. You've kept me sane the past two years going through this process and I'm so utterly thankful.

More to come soon, I'll keep you updated.