Leaving on a Jet Plane

Okay folks, I'm getting close to board a plane and begin my 2893243 hour flight to Frankfurt and from there to Almaty, Kazakhstan. I've been briefed and rebriefed on safety and policy issues so that I don't die or get sent home once I've gotten there. I met about 73 other volunteers in DC, and I remember maybe half their names at this point. They all seem pretty cool, but I'm keeping an eye on them in case they slip.

Anyway, I won't be able to talk for about a week once I get to the Kaz, so don't expect anything exciting coming from me for a little while. Wednesday night/Thursday morning I will be moving into a hotel in the mountains above Almaty, then on Sunday after lunch I move in with my family. Language lessons will be in small groups of about five, and they will take up the majority of my six day a week classes. Other than that, it's hands on training in classrooms for a total of three months before they send me off to some small, lonely post in the middle of nowhere. Most likely I'll be far away from internet and will only have time to get online once a week at the most.

Anyway, I'll be missing you kids, not now, but in a while. Take care, keep me up to date with what's happening in the world, and if you want to send me a hand written letter, you can get my address from my parents or email me and I'll send it to you. That's it.

-Jeff

Stage Diving?

Okay, so I'm not diving or anything. I'm sitting in a hotel bar right now, where I had just spent the last four hours listening to safety information and other technical stuff. Before that I spent three hours mixing with other volunteers. I've met many people, most of them seem pretty cool. This isn't a long post because there isn't much to say. In a couple days I will be in Kazakhstan and that's when the really interesting stuff happens. For now, I listen to people talk, sometimes I get to do interactive stuff, and now I'm going out to dinner. Anyway, miss most of you (only the cool ones, you can debate who that is), and send me emails etc as time goes by so I know you haven't forgot about me.