6 days...

Hey Gang, Well, the official countdown is on. T-minus six days until fly to Washington D.C., where I will hopefully be able to catch up with some old friends from school before beginning training. We have a few hours of training on Fat Tuesday, and then fly to Tegucigalpa, Honduras the following morn. I have been running around like a banshee trying to get all my things organized (rrrright) and packed so I will be set to leave for the airport at the Dad-standard of 2 1/2 hours before boarding. Which translates to 4AM. Of course, after laying all my items on my bed for a week, the pile has conspicuously grown to twice its original size. Oh well. I received a new packing list from Peace Corps today anyway, that suggests trimming my piles of clothes down to a quarter of their current size. For those of you who are not aware, I have been invited to train as a volunteer a a part of the HIV/AIDS Education and Child Survival Team in Honduras. I am extremely excited for this opportunity, as public health has been a long held interest of mine. As living is in Central America. From the information I have gathered, Honduras is the second poorest country in the Western hemisphere, and approximately 2% of the population is afflicted with HIV/AIDS. I am looking forward to working with kids in the Child Survival and Youth Empowerment programs. I will take part in training outside Tegucigalpa and surrounding areas for 11 weeks, and if I succeed I will be sworn in as a volunteer in May. A lot of excitement, a lot of anticipation. Everyone sent Emily great strength and good love. You are a rockstar, dear. Lots of loves and hugs, Dj