Finally Leaving

After much preparation, waiting and planning, the time has finally come. I am currently in LA awaiting my 11PM departure to San Salvador (the capital city) I flew down here from Arcata yesterday morning with two suitcases just under the 80 pound weight limit combined and a large backpack. After a nice flight and night at the LAX Radisson courtesy of the Peace Corps, today was our staging event. About 30 volunteers are leaving with me, all in their twenties, with some assigned to environmental education like me and others is the youth development program. Today was filled with goofy ice-breaker and get-to-know-you activities. We also discussed challenges we will face down there as well as some of the reasons we joined the PC and what we hope to accomplish. The volunteers are from all parts of the country and most of them recently graduated college. Some are already fluent in Spanish and some are still beginners like me. Now we have a few hours to buy last minute things and make calls, post on blogs, ect. We arrive in El Salv at 5AM tomorrow. I was happy to find out that they use the same electrical plugs as us, and also use the US dollar, which will simplify things. Its been nice meeting everyone who is in the exact same situation as me, and we all can share our enthusiasm and anxiety. Overall, I am more excited than ever and can't wait to get there.
Much love to everyone.