Mailing address

Completely forgot to post this in the last entry. While I created the blog to keep my family and friends back home updated about my life in Paraguay, I'm not entirely sure what my living situation will be or how often I will have internet access. As a result, the easiest and most efficient way to stay in contact will be good old fashioned snail mail! It might be good to number your letters to me, just so we can keep track of the letters in case one doesn't arrive (an estimated 80% of letters between the US and Paraguay arrive, which is very good for a developing country!) Also, airmail usually takes about 2-3 weeks, whereas surface mail can take months. My address during my first 3 months is:

Carden Ryder, PCT
Cuerpo de Paz
162 Chaco Boreal c/Mcal. López
Asunción 1580, Paraguay
South America

Just FYI - PCT stands for Peace Corps Trainee. This address is valid my
first 3 months (while I'm a trainee). Once I get my site, I will update the
address again. Once I'm sworn in as a volunteer, I become a PCV (Peace
Corps Volunteer).

For those of you who don't know much about Paraguay, I found a video on a
current PCV's blog. This shows a lot about the lifestyle in Paraguay.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZA78xUzwTA

Enjoy and please keep in touch!

I got my toes in the water, ass in the sand... well, almost.

So here I am, 5 nights away from leaving the northeast and have I started packing? 500 dollars if you get this answer right. If you said yes, you're wrong and don't get 500 dollars. If you said no, you're right. You also don't get 500 dollars. I lied.

It's not that I'm not ready to go. I'm DYING to get out of Newtown and have wanted this for so long. I guess it's more that I'm not even sure where to begin. It's hard to figure out what to bring for 27 months. Granted, I'm only allowed 2 checked bags with a maximum combined weight of 80 pounds, so already I'm somewhat limited. I've sort of already mentally decided some of the stuff I'm bringing, it's just a matter of actually getting it all together. To those of you that have been away from home for an extended period of time, and even those of you that haven't, can you think of anything you'd want to bring if you were in my shoes?

Anyways, the next few days will definitely be busy. I'm heading up to Boston tomorrow to see some friends before I go, back to CT on Tuesday to spend the day with my lovely Justyna and my niece Maddie, EHAC Wednesday, and then last minute scrambling things together on Thursday, then it's off to Florida early Friday morning! :0)

Okay, enough procrastinating. Time to start packing.

29 days and counting...

For those of you who don't know, I'm leaving for the Peace Corps in Paraguay on Feb. 9. I'll actually be heading down to Miami on the 5th to spend some time with my grandparents down there and then on the 8th I report for staging, which is my pre-departure orientation. Maybe I'll backtrack a bit more...

Summer after I graduated from High School I decided I wanted to join the Peace Corps. I went to BU, yet the entire time there, I was thinking about what my next move would be once I graduated and I always gravitated toward the idea of applying to join the Peace Corps. Finally during my junior year, I began the application process. I set it aside for some time and finally finished the application in Dec 2008. I interviewed on Feb. 13 and received my nomination that day. My original nomination was for North Africa/Middle East working as a health volunteer. On Dec. 16 I got my formal invitation to join. I'll be working as a health volunteer. I'm really excited about my project. I'll be educating the people in my village on dental health, nutrition, proper food handling and preparation, parasite prevention, reproductive health, STD's, STI's, HIV/AIDS, proper waste disposal methods, hygiene, and how to clean and protect water sources.

So until I leave, I'll be tying up loose ends, getting everything in order for my 27 months abroad, and saying goodbye to family and friends. I'm really looking forward to beginning this next step of my life. May the adventure begin!

Love,
Carden xoxo