Arrived in DC today for "Staging", and enjoyed one last hour of freedom/independence in my (very nice) hotel room before my roommate arrived and we had to head to our first meeting.
LOTS of really nice, really interesting (seemingly) people. Very diverse group of 58 trainees (new volunteers). Mostly in their 20s, but a good number of 60+ folks and a very few 40-ish folks. In fact, I think I'm the ONLY one in his/her 40s.
Today, it was just logistics -- mainly instructions for activating and using our government-issued check card (preloaded with cash to get us through Staging and travel to Georgia). Our country desk officer issued stern "business casual only" and "no visible tattoos" and "no piercings" instructions for Staging and Pre-Service Training. Whine.... Do I really have to remove my simple little, unobtrusive nose stud? Seems unreasonable. Oh well.
Saturday and all of Sunday morning were spent in various pre-departure orientation/training sessions. Lots to think about...and Lots of people to meet. (Those of you who know me well will know that these kind of situations drain my energy a bit -- I always need my "me" time to recharge.)
On Sunday afternoon, we all piled into big buses with VAST quantities of luggage and headed to Dulles for our flights to Tbilisi. Here are some pics from the travels:
Here are some of us killing time in a nice area of the Munich airport during our EIGHT-HOUR LAYOVER. (Who planned this itinerary? Was it designed to torture us?) In any case, I took the opportunity to have a facial at the airport, have a beer, and just lounge. At least one other volunteer had a massage, and a few were smart enough to figure out how to use the "relaxation spa" for swimming, hot tubs, and showers.
Sunset at the Munich airport.
This is what arrivals in Tbilisi looked like. After we went through immigration/passport control and got our luggage, we exited to a crowd of cheering Peace Corps Georgia staff members and current volunteers. Overwhelming and also awesome. A REAL welcome -- at 3:30 in the morning!!!!!
Next...it was onto buses and straight to the Bazaleti Training Center, just outside of Tbilisi, for the next four days.
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