Sunday, February 10, 2008

Drum roll, please...

Here's the news we've all been waiting for.
As I was driving back to Dallas from my dentist appointment in Austin on Monday, I received a phone call from an unidentified number. Since I've been waiting for THE call to come, I answered politely, "Hannah Frank."
"Hi this is ---- from the Peace Corps Placement Office. How are you today?"
Mmmmmm, "Great" now that you've called.
After pulling over and having a thirty minute conversation with the nice lady from DC, I was informed that a letter of invitation was on its way to my door.
For some reason, they could not reveal the specific country to me over the phone, but I did learn my departure date and region - Africa, Sept. 20, 2008. That left me with 3-5 business days in which to pace back in forth in angst, wondering where I could be heading.
You can imagine my excitement when I went to take the trash out on Friday afternoon and saw the mail man at the mail station. Poor man - I probably scared him half to death.
"HEY! Did you bring me anything exciting today?! Possibly a large envelope from Washington?!"
Joy of joys, there it sat, at the bottom of his bin of mail. I could have hugged him, if he had looked more like the sort who would liked to be hugged by a stranger.
I couldn't wait until I got back to my apartment. Halfway between the mail box and my building I read the magical word - "GHANA."
That's right folks. I'm leaving on September 20th for the West Africa nation of Ghana. I haven't had a lot of time to research the country yet, as I had to leave for a retreat about 20 minutes after receiving the letter. I do know off the top of my head that it was the first country to which Peace Corps volunteers were assigned when the program began in 1961. Therefore, I feel like I'm joining quite a team.
I'll try and keep you posted as time toils on between now and then. If you're in the mood for a little reading on the Peace Corps in general between now and then, I've added a bunch of stuff to my website (http://web.mac.com/hannahefrank/iWeb/Site/Peace%20Corps.html).
Until later,
Hannah

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