PST So far!

Well, after many hours of traveling we finally arrived in Namibia last satuday! We are currently staying in a town called Okandja. It is a small town just north of Windhoek. My first impressions of Namibia: it]s VERY HOT. And it's not even the heat of the summer! I believe I've sweat more in these five days than I ever have in my life.

The first few days we did not do much--mostly hang around, talk, have an occasional lecture and do interviews for medical and site placement. But starting today, we are in full swing training mode.

Our days start bright and early with breakfast at 630 and usually end around 430. The first days or so of training was mostly just going over rules, regulations, etc etc. But tuesday was when exciting things started to happen! We first got our language assignments that we will be learning through PST (preservice training). I got assigned Afrikaans! I am so excited because this was my language of choice! We started learning the language today and let"s just say 4-5 of language classes each day is EXHAUSTING. We've just been covering basic sounds and informal greetings so far, but it's fun.

On tuesday we also met our host family. I will be living with two sisters (?) who are teachers named Lorieto and Sophie.  They both seem very nice and were very excited to finally meet me! I'm not sure exactly how this is working or if they are even sisters. A lot of the times, people will say that "This is my brother or that is my sister" but in reality, tehy arent related at all. Anyways, I BELIEVE they live on a family compound and I will be staying at Lorieto's house. I'm excited for the most part, but I'm nervous about the food to be honest. But I know I will be fine and it will teach me to try new things.

Another thing I've noticed about Namibia is the the bugs are in steroids here. No really. They make any cockaroach I saw in South Africa look like a joke. So far we have seen what we have dubbed "bat moths" (aka moths the size of your hand), a centipede that was a good 6-8 inches long, and a giant grass hopper that was also about the size of my hand. We also saw a chameleon, which was pretty sweet!

So yes, that is my life so far! Friday I move in with my host family and we will go from there.

I miss you all very very much and I love you all!

"Cause I'm leaving on a jet plane..."

Tomorrow.

I leave tomorrow.

At 5:40pm I will be boarding on an airplane and won't be back probably until April 2012.

UMMMMMM! Crazy much!?

Right now I am feeling a LOT of emotions. Honestly mostly sadness. It feels very. very real now. I love Arizona so much. I love my friends and family there. They have all truly blessed me. I love starbucks. I love Esmerelda (my car) even though she drives me nuts. I miss my doggies.

But I'm excited. My teammates seems awesome so far! A few of us went out to dinner tonight and chatted about everything over some Indian food and I feel like we will all get a long quite well. There are 30 of us going and come from all over the U.S. All of us are health volunteers. Most of us have no health experience. This should be interesting! Thank goodness for training!

So yes. These past few weeks have been a whirl wind of mixed emotions and very, very little sleep. My schedule through sunday:

2/18:
8:30am check out of hotel
9am: shots! Ouch!
Airport
5:40pm: Fly to Jo-burg

2/19:
Get in to Joburg that night
Dinner
Bed

2/20:
9:40am: flight to NAMIBIA!
Drive to Andres Training Center (its about 45 minutse away)
Sleep? Hopefully??

2/21:
Hit the ground running with pretraining interviews.

2/22:
TRAINING BEGINS!

We'll be moving in with our host family sometime next week. But in the mean time we'll be at the Andres Training Center.

So yes! My life. Or start of it. Wow.

I'm moving to Africa. To Namibia. I've always imagined this. Didn't think it'd ever become a reality. God is good. He's got plans way bigger than mine.

Anyways. I love you all. I miss you. I hope you are making good choices

Until then

Lauren Z.

DC Bound!

It’s crazy to think that a few months ago, I was at Sky Harbor Airport, saying good bye to my family and friends heading to Turkmenistan.

Funny how things change so quickly
After getting dumped by a Turkmenistan (seriously T-stan—the T-18ers were made of win, you give us a chance), spending some time in Phoenix, working at the Gap and hanging out, I’m back in that place again. At Sky Harbor Airport, saying good bye to my friends and family, only this time I’m headed to Namibia.
It’s crazy to think how I almost left the Peace Corps to go to Africa. I don’t know how I was going to do it—but I really wanted to.

I’m glad I didn’t!
I’m many emotions right now that it’s hard to summarize. The short version: I’m THRILLED to go back to one of the places I love most in the world. My heart hurts for leaving behind my family and friends. I’m excited to meet the other Namibia 31 group. I’m nervous/kinda scared for a new job, training, every other detail. What if I don’t like it there? What if they don’t like me? What if I can’t live up to the expectations the Peace Corps have for me? So many details. So much to think about.
But I’ll take it as I come.
I’m excited for this new adventure—this new chapter.
My last stint in AZ was a strange one for me. It was very up and down and a lot more rocky than was expected. I learned a lot about God and myself. To name a few:
I learned that I am human. I have flaws. Lots of them. Well. I already knew this—but I tend to hide them from others and myself. I like to put on a “I’m a pulled together Christian” mask
I’m not
Not even close
That it’s okay to make mistakes. And God expects me to.
I have the greatest friends and family ever. Okay. I already knew this. But these past few months confirmed it.
I need to not be so hard on myself—not put so much weight on myself.
That everything does work out for the greater good—as cliché as that sounds.
I care way too much about what people think of me. Way to much.
That there is a time and a season for everything.
I tend to believe in God easier when things are good, but the moment things get tough, I doubt. A lot.

It’s okay to ask for help.

Never, ever, ever, ever give up.
So yes. That is the short summery. It was a rough couple months. But I grew a lot from it. Eager to learn more.
I’m excited to see how God follows through with the things He started in my heart while in AZ these past few months.
And I’m ready to go back to one of the places I love most in the world—Africa.
I’ll miss Arizona a lot. A lot. I’ll miss my family and friends a lot. A lot. I already miss them already actually.

But I’m excited to make new friends, meet new people, and experience new things.

So with that said—bring it on Namibia! I’m ready for you!
Hopefully this time I’ll leave the U.S.
Sorry this is a short blog. And kinda vague. I promise I’ll be more detailed in my future ones.