Last Week at Home

This past week has been absolutely insane – registering items with US Customs, getting personal property insurance, packing and last-minute shopping trips, making good-bye phone calls, establishing power of attorney, filling out paperwork, applying for loan deferments, having a good-bye dinner with my former co-workers, buying Christmas and birthday presents for the next year, and so forth. It has been a very stressful week and I am glad that the preparations are now complete. However, I do wonder if I have prepared myself enough for such a huge change, I wish that I had more time. Logistically, I am prepared. But emotionally and professionally, I’m not so sure. As an HIV/AIDS volunteer, one would think that I have experience in medicine but I’m not a doctor or a nurse, I wasn’t even a biology major in college. I’m worried that I do not know enough about the disease to effectively educate people about it. I know that I will gain more knowledge in training, but part of me still cannot believe that the government is sending me to Africa to teach people about a disease I know very little about. Training is supposedly a very trying and grueling eight-week experience and I am slightly nervous about it. Hopefully, all will go well and I will be officially sworn-in as a PCV on January 5, 2007. Wish me luck! P.S. The next post will likely be from Africa and thus, it may be awhile before I get a chance to put one up. So please don't worry if you don't hear from me for awhile.