The last few weeks have been a bit of a blur, but I thought it would be nice to put atleast one more "pre-departure" entry up on the blog. First of all, I'd just like to thank everyone for the all the encouragement (much needed!) and the many parting gifts that were beyond generous and will be a tremendous help.

Tomorrow morning I'll be flying to Philadelphia for the staging event and will remain there until this Friday. Arrival in Douala, Cameroon is scheduled for Saturday the 20th. After a night in a hotel and a 4 hour bus ride on the 21st I'll arrive in Yaounde, spending a few days receiving some general briefings on security and health in addition to the last remaining vaccinations. Our language proficiency test is also scheduled in Yaounde. Hard to tell how much studying french on my own has helped over the past few months. It may come as no surprise to some of you that studying isn't exactly my cup of tea. Sink or swim tactics seem to work much better.

From Yaounde I'll be hopping on a train to the fine town of Ngoundere and then get back on the road for the remaining leg of the trip to the northern city of Garoua. Perhaps I should have named this blog 'Planes, Trains and Bush Taxis.' My 'pre-service training' (PST) will be taking place in the nearby village of Nassarao. According to my Peace Corps update, Nassarao is "a beautiful Muslim village, 7 km from Garoua, off the main road to Maroua. It has a village market and a weekly cattle market that attracts alot of cow, goat and sheep buyers." Meghan, I hope you registered at the Nassarao market. Just let me know if you have a livestock preference. I just never know what to get!

I could ramble on for much longer, but I do have an early flight tomorrow. Thanks for reading, hope to update you again soon.