Shipping out

Well guys, as most of you know I have been in Philadelphia since yesterday.  It has been fun being here, I got to see the sights, walked around and had good food.  During my layover in Charlotte I ran into two Ethiopian nationals who thanked me and shook my had for going to volunteer in their country.  Once in Philly I ran into some volunteers going to Tanzania, although we were not at the same hotel we talked on the shuttle ride over and it was great meeting them.  After they got off at their hotel the driver spoke up that he was from Sudan, especially since I am currently reading an incredible (very sad) book called What is the What, I was very excited to talk to him and get a more current and real life perspective from him.  Once I got to the hotel I met up with some volunteer going to Madagascar, we went and had dinner, I finally met some volunteers going to Ethiopia late last night and we stayed up past 2am talking and getting to know each other.  It was just an incredible experience getting to meet the people who are going through the exact same thing I am and worry and excited and all the other motions I am feeling right now.  So today we got up and did staging briefings for most of the afternoon, my group is actually larger than I thought with 64 volunteers.  It was a lot of review from information they had already provided us, but there was a very strong participation from the volunteers so we got to know each other, our backgrounds, and what we were all worried/excited about.  It was good to know that just about everyone had the same anxieties as I do.  So tonight the Ethiopia/Madagascar volunteers are going to dinner for one last time in the US.  Then tomorrow we ship off, after 21 hours of travel we will land in Ethiopia Wed. afternoon, then the real fun begins.
So for one last time I want to thank all of you for your thoughts and support.  I hope to be able to keep up with all of you on a regular basis, but please remember we will be going through 8 hour a day training sessions for the next 3 months.  All accounts say it is a tough, strict regiment, so the updates might be scattered.  Thank you for your patients with the response/update time.  Know I already miss all of you, and I can't wait till I get to see all of you again.

P.S. for those of you have asked.  Ship things to.
Eugene Foerster/PCT
U.S. Peace Corps/Ethiopia P.O. Box 7788
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia