Au revoir l'Amérique

Well I finished work last Sunday. I went to visit the Cottage for their end of the summer party and also a good bye for me. One of my favorite bands performed, The Phil Henry Band!!! and they dragged me up to sing with them. I knew they were going to but it was fun. And now my co-workers have heard me sing like I told them I would all summer.

Here is most of the staff of the Cottage. I will miss all of you!!!


Other than that I did a lot of the things I had put off all summer, like hiking Baker Mountain and canoeing more than once. I went done to New York City to visit my friends, Carli, Jenna and Bonnie. The plan was to stay at Carli's dorm at Hunter College where she is in grad school. However, my train got into the city about 5 hours after it was supposed to. So, I didn't get into the city until 10pm. We ate dinner and quickly walked across Manhattan to her dorm. When we walked in, we were told that she was only allowed one guest after 11pm, even though she previously had been told she could have 2. We had no where else to go, so we decided to take an hour train to Long Island and stayed at Bonnie's house. So even though it was not on the agenda, I achieved my goal of going to Long Island sometime in my life. It's been achieved, I don't intend to return.

I finially finished my packing, weighing a total of 100lbs, 20lbs over what Peace Corps requires but not the airlines. So it will just make my job more difficult to carry them but I couldn't downsize anymore. I am sure in a month or two I will realize that most of the stuff I think I will need, I actually didn't need.

So for now, in 12 hours I will be boarding a plane to Philadelphia for two days of training and shots. Thursday I will be flying out and leaving the country for the next two years. The past two weeks have gone by incredibly slow. But the 19th is finally here.

I can't believe a year has gone by since I first thought about applying. Thank you to everyone who has made my last summer in the US a memorable one. Please send mail, it will truly brighten my day to get a note or letter in the mail. And just a tip, internet in Togo is a slow dial up, so short emails simply saying hi, what's up? will be quite annoying. SO instead write a long email, print it, put it in an envelope and mail it the old fashion way. Hope to hear for all of you soon!!!