Training has finally stuttered to a fitful close. Everything was essentially wrapped up by last Friday, so this past week has been light, filled with daily trips to the Peace Corps Office in Almaty for sessions on travel logistics and some other assorted last-minute trainings. The 55 remaining trainees of Kaz-20 swore in this morning and are now officially volunteers. Most of our group is actually on a train right now, but the groups going to Pavlodar and Zhezkazgan have trains that leave at night, while the Ust-Kamenogorsk people and volunteers within taxi/bus distance leave tomorrow. The bubble of training has burst and now it's time to get down to business.
While I have been ready to leave training for about two weeks now, it's a bittersweet moment. The 17 OCAPs in Issyk grew close over three months and yes, there were some tears shed by some people as we left. I think the other training towns are similarly close. At least we'll have plenty of couches available all across the country.
The route to Zhezkazgan once again goes through Karaganda because it's not the right time of the week for the direct train. We leave at 9:00pm on Friday and we'll arrive on Sunday morning. By the time I get to site, I'll already have logged about 100 hours on a train. I think that's one of those things I'm going to keep track of over the next two years.
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3 comments:
Does bon voyage seem appropriate?
Congratulations on your offical Peace Corps status and best wishes as you begin your work in Zhezkazgan.
Love, Mom
Good luck in your travels! We're all eagerly awaiting to hear if your new host family feeds you better than the last!
My Wellesley host family has superior food so I've been lucky :)
-Elisabeth
You will always have a couch in Karaganda. I will even give you a pillow.
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