Personal Goals for the Next 3 Years

1. Successfully complete Peace Corps. Duh!

2. Travel back to Nkubu, Kenya and visit the Huruma Center orphanage where I volunteered in 2007 and fell in love with Africa and the kids there

3. Travel to Victoria Falls on the border of Zimbabwe and Zambia and go bungee jumping there!4. Make a documentary about my experience in Tanzania

5. Travel on my way home to the US, either through Europe or Asia

6. Master Swahili

Random hodge-podge of ideas that were in my head...these are of course missing all the deeper, more meaningful goals of Peace Corps, such as having a positive influence on my village, making a difference, etc. Rest assured, those are definitely foremost in my mind, but thinking about all the awesome side things I'll hopefully be able to do also gets me really excited!

Tanzania It Is!

I just got my invitation in the mail! And it's for Tanzania!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'll have staging in the US on June 14-15, then I'll be serving in Tanzania as a Health Education Extension volunteer until August 18, 2011!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think I'm the first person to get invited to this program, because it wasn't on the timeline and I haven't heard of anyone else in it yet. That just makes it even more exciting! I'm so happy because had I known that Tanzania was an option for me, it definitely would have been 1st or 2nd on my list of places I wanted to go! Now I have to read all the Peace Corps handbooks and information they sent me and start filling out some more paperwork to get everything finalized. I'm so happy that I finally have closure on where I'm going!

Reasons Tanzania is Awesome:

1. Birthplace of the Swahili language! (I took 2 semesters, used it in Kenya, and now I can hopefully become fluent.)

2. Wildlife. Home of all the Big 5 safari animals, the famous wildebeest migration, and tons of amazing national parks.

3. Mt. Kilimanjaro. The tallest mountain in Africa. Doubt I'll have the guts or physique to climb it myself, but it's still pretty badass.

4. Swahili coast/Indian Ocean. I love the beach!

5. Zanzibar. Famous island archipelago off the coast with an awesome blend of Indian and African culture!

6. Directly south of Kenya! So hopefully on one of my vacations I can go back and visit Nkubu to see the kids at Huruma!

7. Many, many other reasons I will be learning more about as I start my pre-departure research!