Jaime left!!

Hi everyone! Jaime really got on the plane! Anna and I took her to the airport on June 17. She headed for Atlanta. Anna and I had a good cry, but we are so excited for her. She is absolutely sure of her decision, and she is so happy! She spent 2 very full days being prepped for her adventure. (Shots, malaria meds, psych tests, paper work...) On her way into the hotel, she met a group of young adults. They asked her, "Peace Corps?" She said yes. They said, "come on, we are going out to karaoke." She had a blast. They really bonded. She says she loves what she is doing. All the people are like her! They actually even exhausted her, that is a first. I talked to her this morning (it's her birthday) before the bus came to get them. (Her roommate woke her up this morning with a piece of cheesecake with a candle on it!) There is a group of 80 volunteers traveling to the staging area in Rosso, Mauritania. She will be living outside in a pup tent for the next 10 weeks. They will be trained and evaluated and then matched with a village. So beyond the next 10 weeks, we do not know where she will be. She thinks she will have Internet access while in Rosso, so blog and email her while we can! She will be using mostly her new blog. In case you do not have it, it is http://jaimepollard.blogspot.com. Pat, maybe you could put a link to her blog on this one? Also if you want to post on it and help make it cooler, let me know how to send you an invitation. Snail mail takes forever to Mauritania, according to the Peace Corps, but they say the volunteers love to get packages from home. I posted a bunch of info from them on how to send packages on Jaime's blog. I put it under comments because I was not able to post on her site yet at that time. Anyway, we can all enjoy this together with Jaime by staying in touch with her! What a cool opportunity for our other kids too. Jaime wants to set up pen pals with the kids, when she gets settled. The Peace Corps suggests getting teachers involved with classroom stuff too. Stay tuned!