Preparing for Departure

Hello Everyone,

Welcome to my blog that will chronicle my experiences during my service in the Peace Corps. I leave in two weeks from today for Benin Africa. I am a Small Enterprise Development (SED) Volunteer and my official title is Organizational Development Advisor! I am so excited to finally have an opportunity to see the world and find out who I am and what I want out of this life!

The first three months of training I will be stationed in Cotonou, Benin. It is their financial capital that is on the south coast of Benin. There are apparently 70 other volunteers in my group!! They will be doing different things like education, health, agriculture, and community development. I received a ton of information regarding our training and packing and basically anything you could think of! During training we will be learning language skills, cultural customs, technical skills to complete our project, and how to stay safe and healthy.

In case some of you are wondering exactly what responsibilities are covered under "Business Development" it is: providing training and management advisory services to individuals and groups, identifying new entrepreneurs, providing information to local populations on financial services such as savings and loan, developing training programs for target sectors and making frequent visits to entrepreneurs to work with them on improving their management skills. Most volunteers also take on second and even third projects so I can't imagine what all I am going to be doing.

Since I received my assignment back on June 10, 2010 I have been trying to figure out how you pack for two years....trust me its pretty stressful! One of the packing lists I have been referring to told me to pack underwear for two years....how many is that exactly??? I guess each person has their own interpretation!! Some things I'm packing include: frying pan, fan, water bottles, multi-tool, sleeping pad, mini radio, flashlights, duct tape, measuring cups, spices, can openers, and many other things like clothing!

I have also been trying to see as many friends and family members as I can. It hasn't really set in that I will be in a foreign environment for two years alone away from everyone I know and love....hopefully that doesn't hit me while I'm on the plane with 70 other volunteers....haha talk about embarrassing.

Well hopefully I can get myself packed and see as many people as possible before I leave! I will do my best to keep everyone updated and please feel free to email me or facebook me!

2 WEEKS....going to fly by better get back to packing!