Patience is a Virtue

So, to stay true to my peace corps experience thus far, i have encountered more delays. My passport situation is still up in the air, despite the flight to Benin by way of Paris departing in a mere 6 hours. This means, of course, that I am not going.

yet...

Apparently upon arriving and officially registering for the Peace Corps yesterday, about 10 or so people still did not have their passport/visa ready to go. Peace Corps staff worked hard to get all of the passports and visas ready by today, but unfortunately they could not get all of them done in time. me and three other fellow trainees were the unlucky. At this moment we are on a train to D.C. to be near the embassy and Peace Corps headquarters and the diplomatic passport office and all of that good stuff. We have each recieved a per diem through Tuesday totalling $160, plus free hotel accomodations in Georgetown. The Peace Corps staff who are heading back to D.C. on the same train as us has informed us its a pretty happenin' part of town. They're hoping to recieve news about our passports/visas by tomorrow, but realistially they're shooting for Monday (nothing happens over the weekend so we get to sight-see).

Meanwhile, the rest of my staging unit whom I met in Philadelphia are currently bussing to JRK, where they will fly to Paris and arrive in Cotonou, Benin by tomorrow. Their weekend will consist of a big welcome, introductions to the Peace Corps staff and volunteers already in Benin, and chilling out around town, presumably bonding and having fun without us. However, the three of us in D.C. will be savouring our last moments of luxury (pool, internet, beds, etc) and laughing all the way to the bank (literally, to pick up our $160 per diem). we should be in Benin by early next week in time for the skill/language evaluations.

I think in general, despite deep sympathy from the rest of our staging group, the three of us are pretty psyched to hang out around our nation's capital, and we realize that with an impending 27 month program in Africa ahead of us, a few days in a comped hotel room is definitely a glass half full.