and of course, once i had resigned myself to not receiving it, there it was! i was in a hurry to hop on the metro to meet chris and some college friends in dupont circle for some dinner, but all of that stopped mattering when i saw the big blue packet. all i could say was 'no way!' i took a photo with my phone of the invitation and sent it to chris, who was working late.
two minutes later, my phone rang and chris yelled 'it came! open it! where are we going, officially?!'
wouldn't you know it, those envelopes have that glue that doesn't tear or give at all when you tug. i yanked and pulled and finally i saw the letter and it said:
CAMBODIA!
we're off to cambodia, both of us labeled as 'english teacher/teacher trainer,' with chris' having 'youth development' written in on by hand his, and our official invitation information from our PO stating that i would be doing teacher training. we leave for staging (not sure where yet!) on july 19.
we spent some time this weekend thinking, now that we know for real, what we should pack, which bags we should fill, and which shoes are most important.
it's amazing that in less than five months, we'll be going to southeast asia, embarking on the journey that very few married couples get the chance to experience. sharing our skills, learning new ones, immersing ourselves in a new culture.
today, we celebrated by drinking a bottle of syrah at macaroni grill. it doesn't get more american than that- and we have to get it in while we still can.
cheers to anyone who gets the grace of a big blue packet this week, month, or even, how cool, on tuesday, the official 50th anniversary!?!
6 comments:
SO happy for you! I can't wait to start following this blog :)
Congrats and best wishes to both of you!
OMG this is so cool!!!! Congratulations!!! I am a long-time reader but have sort of been a lurker. I love your blog and wish you and Topher all the best!
Thank you for writing this blog! My husband and I are also considering the Peace Corps once my time in the Army is over. Congratulations to you two on this amazing new advetnure!
Thank you for writing this blog! My husband and I are also considering the Peace Corps once my time in the Army is over. Congratulations to you two on this amazing new advetnure!
Hi, I just found your blog. Congratulations on your appointment! My brother in law was in the Peace Corps in Niger and hated it, but Cambodia is a lot nicer than Niger so you will probably have a good time (especially since you're going together, I think the isolation can be the worst thing).
I went to Cambodia in 2004 and it has a lot to offer, at least as a tourist. The poverty is pretty harsh and depressing (might be a shock if Beijing is the most third world place you've visited): lots of stunted people and cripples. It might be better now though since their economy has been doing pretty well.
But (at least parts of) Cambodia isn't nearly as removed from the world as you might think. They have a huge tourist industry, which means that they have tourist amenities (at least in some places) like English language bookstores, Western food, etc, which is why they probably want you to teach English. This is good because living the third world peasant lifestyle completely sucks and having breaks from it will be important.
I used to teach English (in Taiwan though so I got paid a lot) and it wasn't too hard, though since I hadn't taught before I had a steep learning curve. I hope you have a fantastic time!
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