One week before departure

Fireworks Last Night In Denver! 

Next week this time I will be on the flight to DC for staging prior to my departure for Uganda. Thousands of thoughts in my mind and packing is the foremost. We had a big 4th of July celebration with all the family yesterday. So nice to have the kids and grandkids here, running about, all the BBQing and laughter, these are the things that I will miss. Back to the Apple store for the 2nd time this week to get additional cords and plug in's for the projector which I will need for my classes. I purchased the awesome little pico pro which is about the size of my Samsung phone. Only gitch has been getting anything to work with the Mac, it projects beautifully from the phone, just not the Mac.

Mac Now Supports Windows 

I continue to follow various groups on FB and learn so much for them, one that I enjoy is PC for 50 plus volunteer. Some of the posts really are funny, people actually think that 50 is old! The 50's feel like a distant yet beautiful memory for me at this point in my life. I would like to always live like the best decade of my life is yet to come. Most people imagine the typical Peace Corps volunteer as someone who recently graduated who is in their twenties and of course this is true of most volunteers however the Peace Corps has always been open to people of all ages and Lillian Carter, the mother of President Carter might be one of the most famous PC volunteers and she went to India as a nurse when she was 68. 

Received the schedule from the PC of where we are staying in DC and what our 10 days there will look like. I'm absolutely fine about everything except a little uneasy about having a room mate ..... I shared that concern with a few other volunteers who said that it was a big deal with them to but that it worked out fine. All the things that I could worry about seem to focus on the little things. I am to have a partner living and teaching at the University in Lira with me and although I have had long conversations and communications with the outgoing Seed group who are now back in the US the person that I will be spending the next year with has been very silent. In that she is probably the person I will be sharing a room and a house with for the next year I suppose we have plenty of time in the future to get to know each other.

Good old LEFTY 7  

Sold my car :(  Almost 60,000 miles of coast to coast fun and games!

Anyone can go to youtube and google Packing for the Peace Corps and see that I am not the only one wondering what to take, not to take, and with things scattered about. 35 years of living outside the US has given me a pretty good idea of what I want or need abroad, but in Lira, Uganda who knows. The former nurses who were there said that they did not have any power at all their first three weeks in Lira. No Power At All? That is too big of a problem to even start worrying about as no amount of battery packs would take care of that. 

It feels like I have been waiting for months to write the words, "next week" or "tomorrow" I will be departing...... and here we are. 

See LIRA up there? 

Next Stop Lira, Uganda

My Peace Corps Journey (so far).

I applied to the PC in April, 2013 and then more or less let my application languish while I went out and traveled the world. I updated some of it from Viet Nam, some from India and then started exploring a new partnership of the PC with Seed Global. The Seed Global program seemed so much more like what I was looking for. It has been my life long dream to join the PC. My mother and I watched JFK's speech 50 years ago and I told her that I would join, someday. Little did I know what route I would take to accomplish that via Viet Nam, India, Cambodia, and the Middle East. I have always dreamed, somewhere back in my mind that I would one day live in rural Africa. I knew it and in 12 more days I will depart for Lira, Uganda.

Visiting with Mary who just returned from Lira!

I am going with Global Health Servics's  which is partnered with Seed and the PC. I will teach nursing at the University in Lira and am so excited. I have seen so many pictures now of the students and those that I will interact with and am so excited about this opportunity to serve. If I am at all nervous it is about the small things.......internet connection (maybe not such a small thing). Family and I are getting together for the 4th of July, Nam is meeting me in DC to take me to the hotel and I am almost ready....if anyone is ever really truly ready for such a journey.

Things I still need to do: Pack, shop, sell my car, cancel my phone, the list is never ending.

2013 Update

Decided to go back to school and get my Master's in Nursing Education.  Thanks to Sue, Brian and Katria for coming to watch me walk.

Watched the Bronco's go to the Super Bowl, and lose, Badly. There is a chance I might get over it. Might. Katria and I BEFORE the game.

SUPER BOWL SUNDAY... before the game 

Got the Grand Kids together for a family picture. Here they all are! 

Submitted my application for the Peace Corps! Hope hope. Submitted the application on April 5th, 2013 for "anywhere" doing "anything."

A glimpse of some of the best part of India

Amber is not only one of our "babies" but a dear friend, here in  Mn. with Theresa 

There is a huge part of the 35 years of my life in Viet Nam and India missing here. I have removed most of the posts with the hope of updating them in the days to come and wanted to keep this blog primarily about my PC days going forward. My memories of Viet Nam, India, and all that we did with IMH are so dear to me and I will update much of it in the time to come. For now I have most things in "draft" ........





Some of my favorite memories of India are now reflected in the faces of our grown up kids!

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Hopeful: Cambodia

Flew over from Hanoi for a quick trip to Siem Reap to meet up with an old friend. This gave me some hope that if Cambodia could come this far since I worked here that there is hope for everywhere ravaged by war. I spent a great deal of time in Cambodia during the war and in 89 and 90 and I saw nothing to give me reason to believe that anything would ever change ... so those long rows of five star hotels, the smiling people, the resturants full of tourists was a surprise, and nice to see. I had forgotten just how often the people smile here and how welcome they make you feel.  It was a fast trip but I spent the entire time thinking perhaps someday the world will get better, more peaceful and I might be sitting in an internet cafe in Falluja someday enjoying the breeze and watching people walk by. Andrew and I once went by road from Phnom Penh to Battambang, no idea why except it was there and ran into a fight on the road which resulted in a few extra nights while the fighting went on. Now... these are tourist stops. There is hope!

Afghanistan

Poppy Fields as far as the eye can see

Her name was Sukrya, we helped her get to the hospital but I am sure she did not survive. 

My favorite picture that I took near Kabul

Now this is an Afghan Beauty! I took this picture and it is one of my all time favorite's

Sad News: Iraq

See the photo of me undercover with Iraqi friends. Standing next to me, on my right is my friend, Abdul Sattar, a kind gentle beloved man who was killed a few weeks back. He was taken from his home and killed, shot in the head while his children and pregnant wife looked on. Such a kind and generous man who worked so hard for many people will never be forgotten.

When Auf was in Jordan I pleaded with him not to return to Baghdad but of course he knows best. That is his home. 50 0r 60 dead Iraqi's hits so near to home when we know them.

And in other news: CNN says 29 Palestinian's were killed since Wednesday, it is Friday!

Auf's family is in Syria for safety, he is in Jordan and he will leave for Baghdad in a few days and I am in Hanoi, thinking of them.