I had a nice long weekend in Michigan that allowed me to take in some Americana that I will not have access to for the next two years and spend some time with my family.
My family has had season tickets to the Detroit Tigers for the last 10 years or so. I know that we had tickets to the almost historic 2004 season that ended up with a 53-119 record, and the 2006 season when the Tigers last went to the World Series. I was in New Zealand when that happened. Not this time. Even though I’m 2,500 miles away, I was able to make it to Game 3 and 4 of the World Series. Which the Detroit Tigers lost, after already losing two games to the San Francisco Giants. Oh well. I still got to go to the World Series.
Additionally I got to spend some time with my parents, my sister (who also traveled into town from Marquette, Mich. to go to the game) and my grandma (who went to Game 4 with me). I was able to answer a lot of their questions about my service and I gave them the Peace Corps booklet for families of Volunteers called “On the Homefront.” My mother was particularly amused by the introductory story of a volunteer being contacted by the country office only to be told to “Write your mother.”
Having gone to Hawaii for two weeks as a 6th grader, Europe for three weeks as an 8th and 10th grader, and spending a three months abroad in the South Pacific all on my own, my dad said that they have gotten all their worrying for me being overseas out of the way. Knowing that they have complete faith in me is very reassuring.
My grandma was delighted that I was assigned to Thailand. She was certain that I would be going to Mongolia where I would most likely have to make radical changes to my vegetarian diet. It’s my understanding that I will be able to remain vegetarian while in Thailand, but not a strict diet as most foods contain fish sauce. I’m at peace with this.
Meeting up with friends in Michigan who were also extremely supportive of me and this decision was also a wonderful experience. So many people have expressed desire to come and visit and I truly welcome them all to do so! Peace Corps rules say not for the first or last three months of service, though.
I also took my time in Michigan to get photos taken for the visa and passport applications and mailed those in. Today I finished my updated and newly formatted resume and aspiration statement and send those to the Country Director in Thailand. Those will help with my placement in country.
I’ve also been able to connect with others from Thai Group 125 as well as current volunteers in groups 123 and 124 through Facebook, which has been very exciting. Reading some of the posts, other Invitees’ blogs and the current Volunteers’ blogs have gotten me anxious about packing for this trip.
But first, I have to pack up my stuff here in Portland and drive it all back to Michigan. My plan is to gorge myself on Americana and spend a month driving back, taking the coastal highway down to about San Francisco, cutting over to Lake Tahoe, then cutting down to southern Utah to stop at Zion and Bryce National Parks and then make my way to Route 66 to head back east. Trying to find a way out to the East Coast to visit friends in Boston, Baltimore and Virginia as well. Stay tuned for that adventure!