Start

Philadelphia, PA. I arrived at the hotel around eleven am. Rooms weren't ready yet and I looked to my left to see a group of young people sitting around. They looked to be of the Peace Corps so I wandered on over to see what they were about. We got to talking and exchanging names before Mark asked if anyone wanted to go get something to eat.

A group of us took off toward Chinatown. Marc and myself were the only two from the Philly area so we lead the way and discussed where we grew up. After eating some five dollar Vietnamese sandwiches we headed back to the hotel for the start of orientation. The line to file our paperwork was pretty long and a few of us in the back of the line decided to play cards to pass the time.

After filing into the meeting room we all sat down for a fairly reassuring orientation. The facilitator was Jessica and she went over a lot of expectations and concerns we had. Nothing new or major, but warming nonetheless. Everyone seemed to be good, quality people. The next day began at 6am.

At 6am we shuffled over to a medical clinic where we all received yellow fever vaccinations. The nurses were professional yet fun and we finished up quickly. Then we loaded up the bus and headed off to New York City's JFK airport. Along the way we drove through my hometown to enter the turn pike giving me one last goodbye.

There was little traffic to be seen on the way to New York. No problems in the airport either until we arrived at our gate and the sky was raging with storms. Someone must have pissed Thor off because the rain was coming down nearly horizontally and lightning was lighting up the sky. We could not board and no planes were allowed to fly in this weather. However it was a temporarily flair of the wrath of gods as the storm subsided about an hour or two later. Everyone boarded the plane only to be met with another delay as only one runway was in use at the time. Our plane left after 9pm. The original plan was to leave at 6:30pm.

Excited?

My comrades in arms

We arrived in Brussels a little after 10am and the captain informed us that we missed out flight. Throughout all of the commotion, one particular volunteer stood above the rest to coordinate a new plan to travel to Cameroon. Cay. She was also the only one with an international cellphone. We ended up in a hotel near the airport for the night. We booked onto another flight, but this time to Douala which left the next day.