I'm starting to get antsy...

Okay, so the title of this post is a lie. The truth is, I've BEEN antsy, pretty much since I found out that we were going to staging in Dallas. For some reason, that news made all of this seem a lot more real and pressing. Since graduation in May, Peace Corps has been a wonderful plan far off in the future -- until now. Now, it's starting to hit me that I'm soon leaving my whole life for over two years, and that is scary as hell. It's also exhilarating, exciting, and fantastic. I am so excited for this next step, and so grateful that God has given me this opportunity, but I am also terrified and really sad to leave so many wonderful people behind. 


In the time since I booked my flight, I've been e-mailing back and forth with my Peace Corps mentor, Julia. Every new trainee gets assigned to a more seasoned volunteer who serves as their mentor to help them through training. Julia is really nice, has answered a lot of my questions, and most importantly has let me know that it is apparently totally normal to be an emotional roller coaster right now. I've been enjoying talking with her and reading through her blog! :) 


Well, folks, the countdown continues: 21 days and I will be in Dallas, and then it's off to warm, sunny Costa Rica. Since it's coming up so fast, here's some information about how to write to me! :) 


 During training (the first 2.5 months), you can write me letters at this address:

Rachel Rutter, PCT

Cuerpo de Paz

Apartado Postal 1266-1000

San Jose, Costa Rica

If you want to send anything by courier, i.e., FedEx, UPS, etc., use this address during training and after:

Rachel Rutter, PCT

Boulevard Rohrmoser

300 m. Oeste de la Farmacia Fischel

El Triangula Costado Oeste del Parque La Loma

La Favorita, Pavas

San Jose, Costa Rica

If you send something by courier, they often ask for a phone number as well. The Peace Corps/Costa Rica office phone number is 011.506.2231.4122; the fax number is 011.506.2231.4122, Ext. 132.

After training, I can still get letters at the first address, but I will also have a different home address that will be more direct. I'll keep you posted as I know more!

--Rachel 

Crazy

Sometimes, the idea of joining the Peace Corps starts to sound a little crazy. At times like those, these pictures remind me of why I am doing this: 

Maybe I'll finally understand this whole "Texas pride" thing...

I (along with the rest of Tico 23--my group of fellow volunteers in Costa Rica) have finally received long-awaited information about staging! Staging is a two-day orientation in the US that prepares volunteers to go overseas to their host country. Our staging will be in Dallas, Texas, which came as a surprise, since we all for some reason thought we were going to DC! That's exciting news for me, though, since I've never been further west than Ohio. :)

My flight departs from Philadelphia at 8:15AM on Tuesday, February, 21, and I will arrive in Dallas at 11:20AM. I'm hoping to catch up with some Tico-23ers at the airport so we can all get lost together on the way to our hotel. ;)

In the meantime, I've been shopping and getting together everything I'll need to take to Costa Rica with me! My mom and I spent hours, yes hours, in Target today, looking for everything from a raincoat to some very unfashionable skirts (skirts must be at least knee-length, or so Peace Corps tells me!) to shampoo to bathing suits. It was a very fruitful trip, and I now have most of what I need!

For now, I'll leave you with this, yet another beautiful Peace Corps ad that is clearly aimed at the naive and overly-idealist, in other words, ME.

And the verdict is....

COSTA RICA!!!!!!

Since this post is coming SUPER late, I am not even going to attempt to catch up and write out everything exactly as it happened...I will, however, leave you with the fact that I will be spending 27 months in the beautiful Central American nation of Costa Rica :) I received my invitation to serve as a Peace Corps Volunteer on 9/24/11. A few days later, I got a HUGE packet in the mail, informing me that I would be serving in Costa Rica! Now, for the fun part....FOTOS!

This is my Peace Corps toolkit homepage before I knew what country I'd be in.

....and this is it now that I know where I'm going!

The cover of the welcome book that PC sent me!

Hasta pronto :)

Rachel