A little more information . . .

The Peace Corps Staging Event was a wonderful introduction to the rest of the volunteers in my group (there's 46 of us!).  We did a lot of team-building exercises and learned more about the Peace Corps policies and procedures.  This group is all Community Health and Economic Development volunteers (no English teachers).  We also found out about the logistics of the 10-week orientation in Uganda.  Apparently there is a 6-page document that has all of the answers to our questions . . . and we were supposed to get it a month ago, but someone forgot to include it in our email.  D'oh!!!  Anyway, we have the info now.  Here are some details:

• The group is taking a bus from Philadelphia to NYC for our flight to Uganda.  We'll land in Uganda around 10:00pm on August 4th.
• For the first week of orientation, we'll be in Kampala and have a crash course in Ugandan culture (language basics, tour of the city, etc.) and get our medical clearance (more shots & malaria meds).
• The second week is when we move in with our host families.  We'll be in a town called Wakiso, just outside of Kampala.
• After the 10-week training (and assuming we pass all of the proficiency tests), we will be sworn in as Peace Corps Volunteers on October 13th.  I'll have my assignment before that date.

They say that I won't have internet access for the first 2 or 3 weeks in Uganda.  Please be patient with my blog and expect that I can only write once a month.  I'll be sure to post lots of pictures next time!!!