Kate's Departure

This week Kate got her final paperwork from the Peace Corps. It was exciting and overwhelming at the same time! She will be leaving home on October 22nd, heading for Washington D.C. for two days, and then flying to The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan!

Once in Jordan she will be attending language classes for three months along with other new Peace Corps volunteers. She will live with a local family which will help her learn Arabic and acclimate to the culture. After she completes her training, she will be sent to a rural or semi-rural area to help teach at a day-care/school or residential setting for children with physical or developmental disabilities. She will remain in Jordan for a total of 27 months!

Kate will need a new wardrobe, since women in Jordan keep themselves covered with loose fitting clothes from their neck to wrists to ankles. Form fitting clothes are not acceptable there, and she will wear a head-covering (not a burkha, but a hijab or scarf). This will be an interesting transition for Kate I think, since she is somewhat into fashion.

We are proud of Kate, starting out in the world, working to make life better for children who need help! This is a HUGE adventure, with the real possibility of having limited communication (what young American adult can imagine not having internet or a cell phone???), and limited news from the rest of the world. We might even have to resort to old fashioned letter writing!

We'll (she'll) have a busy seven weeks to prepare and pack...she'll need winter clothes (yes, it gets cold there), a new laptop (power source? Unknown), and oh, I can't even think it through!