Travel to Madagascar:
Philadelphia–>New York–>Dakar–>Johannesburg–>Antananarivo

Well, I’ve now hit the one-week-before-departure mark! I will have applied to join the Peace Corps exactly one year prior to my assignment. It’s been a long–and expensive–haul (never imagined gear and doctors visits and travel to say goodbyes, etc. would amount to this much!)–but I know it’ll be worth it.

I’ve spent far too long getting my 2 bags packed at around 80lbs–crucial decisions had to be made on gear will need to last me 2+ years. If nothing else, the packing process has been good advance training in minimalism. Luxury items like my good sketchbooks and extra film and batteries have had to go, as have about half the clothes I originally intended to bring. Between my mosquito nets, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, boots and tevas, camera gear, solar AA battery charger, solar-powered short-wave radio, anti-insect clothing (am anti-deet on skin!), sunscreen, binoculars (for looking at lemurs!), family photos and a few essential books, my 80lb limit wasn’t far off. Bah–who needs clothes, anyway? Ok, so I’m exaggerating. No birthday suit displays, I promise.

Starting Feb 12th I’ll attend two days of “staging” in Philadelphia at the Sheraton Society Hill (my friend Jenny, who is currently a Peace Corps Volunteer in Cameroon, has written me letters about the incredible beds there–her group has apparently been dreaming about them ever since their arrival at post). Soon enough I, too, will learn to appreciate the little things.

On Feb 14th 2006 I fly from New York to Johannesburg (via Dakar), overnight in South Africa, and then fly Air Madagascar to Antananarivo, arriving in Madagascar on Feb 16th. After arriival, it’s ten weeks of intense training, site assignment, several months on my own as a “Peace Corps Trainee”, then finally swearing in–at which point I morph from a PCT to a PCV and become a full-fledged Volunteer…

Hooray!