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.

A Brief Update

Well, the ex T-18ers have all made it home safe and sound. Now I am just hanging around, waiting for my next placement. I'm anxious because  I want to know where I'm going. I don't mind waiting until I leave, it's just the not knowing part that's driving me a little nuts!

I talked with the placement office on Thursday morning and they pretty much said that the majority of the health volunteers will not be able to be leaving until January or March due to the fact that there just is not a lot of health positions open at the moment.

That's okay.  I can wait. I just want to know what's going on.

But sometimes God calls us to be patient, quiet and trust. However--I am none of those things and have been staring at my phone and jumping everytime my phone rings, hoping it's the Peace Corps!

Do I have a specific place I want to go?

Yes, I'd love to go back to Africa.

Would I be upset if I didn't get to go to Africa?

I'd be a little sad, but I'm not banking on it. I just want to go somewhere. If I was okay with Turkmenistan (after much wrestling and arguing with God) I am pretty positive God can change my heart for this new country too!

But it makes me happy that a lot of my teammates have been placed! 99% of them are from the TEFL group because they had a lot of openings with that. The breakdown of placements (that I know of) are as follows:

Azerbaijan: 5 or 7

Ukraine: 5

Tonga: 2

Ethiopia: 2

Gambia: 1

Mozambique: 1

So the turn over for us getting invited has been good. The majority of the people who got invited so far are leaving as early as next week.

Keep the rest of us in your prayers as we wait to find out! Thanks!

Jeremiah 29:11

Today started off like a normal day for the T-18ers. We woke up. Ate. Ran around site seeing or getting errands done. Excited. Nervous. All sorts of emotions for our staging event.








We register.







We sit down, talk.







Delays.







Staging starts. We introduce ourselves, laugh at the fun facts we have learned about Turkmenistan. The director of the whole Central Asia from the Peace Corps came up and said he was here with some bad news.







He started reading a letter.







The summery of the letter: We are not going to Turkmenistan. For some reason, the Turkmen government did not want any volunteers and did not want any until September 2010.. They gave us our visas a week ago. Now they do not want us. This is a rare situation, so rare that they were unsure on what to do.
To make a long story short--our trip is cancelled. All of us are going home tomorrow. I will be back in Phoenix at 540--100 lbs of luggage and all.
I remember thinking he was joking. We all did. But he kept talking and no "Just kidding--welcome to the Peace Corps!" speech came.
Then it began to sank in. I was shocked. I had no idea what to do. I had been prepping since June 2008. I spent probably well over a 1000 dollars. I cried. A lot. And now--it's done. Gone
So many sold their house, many people sold their car. Gave up stable, great careers for this. Gone. Done.
But in the midst of all the the waves of emotion, God laid a verse on my heart: "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."--Jeremiah 29:11
The good news--we get first dibs on open spots. We do not have to go through the long application process again.I could leave as early as next week to go somewhere else. Likely? Probably not. I won't know more until I call Thursday
But God has a plan. He has a plan for me and the people who sacrificed all they had. So we are not going to Turkmenistan. It's okay. He has bigger plans in store. What they are? I don't know. All I know is I'm excited to make my phone call 5 am Thursday morning AZ time to say "Alright--where to next?"

So now I wait. And pray. And cling to that promise. That He has plans for me--plans to propser me--plans to give me hope and a future.

Travel Misadventures!

For those who have traveled with me, you know I tend to attract trouble whilst flying wherever I go. I'm like a travel/trouble magnet. For instence, let's recap some of my Africa travel misadventuers.

1. Lose my boarding pass before entering the plane in Jo-berg, got held back had to buy a new ticket'

2. Missed my plane back to Africa completely over Christmas break.

3. Severe 8-9 hour delays

4. Lost luggage

5. The list could go one.

Well, with Lauren like class, I had some minor travel difficulties today. These included:

1. equipment being broke on plane. Fixed it. started to go. stuck on runway. relized something else was broken and had to drive back to the gate to fix it.

2. After that was fix, went into the air but due to low cloud coverage in MN, they were only using one ramp at a time so we had to circle in the air.

3. Luckily, my plane was delayed so I barely made it ontime! However, once again, stuck on the runway.

4. Then had to circle above Philly airport.

5. Finally, after a long adventure, the gate that you exit from the airplane was broken. So they had to drive over stairs so we could leave.

6. I tried calling my friends cellphone but the pay phone kept eatting my money! I asked a guy if I had one he could borrow. He told me flat out no. I could see his cell phone sitting next to him in plain view.

7. Arrived at the hotel finally, only to think I got kicked out of the Peace Corps because I was not on the list to check in. After 15-20 minutes, they found out I was on the actually check in list tomorrow.

So yes! True Lo Lo Fashion! However, some of my teammates had to deal with completely cancelled flights, so I think I lucked out.

Anyways, Philly is good! Mexican food/drinks with teammates and got to visit my dear friend Cassie! Everyone seems cool, but it's very overwelming right now.

I miss Arizona a lot. But I'm excited. Tomorrow is staging!

Anyways, gotta jet.

Make good choices

-Lo Lo Zicklfritz.

Turkmenistan FAQ

Hey hey!

So here is my Turkmenistan blog! It shall be interesting and exciting, I promise. But right now I am tired and am leaving for the airport in 5 hours. So this might be the most boring post. I promise to update when I have internet!

Over past few months, I have been asked many questions in regards to what I will be doing these next few months. So, I decided to create a little FAQ to get all these questions answered! Here we go!:

Q: So where are you going?
A: Turkmenistan!

Q: Turk--Turkmenwha? Is that a country?
A: Yes, yes it is a country. Here is a picture of where it's located!

Q: So what will you be doing?

A: Not exactly sure....health stuff? But that could mean anything from teaching kids to wash their hands to training doctors to do preventative health care!

Q: Where will you be staying?

A: Currently outside of the capital for training with a host family. After that? Who knows? Could be in the capital or in a village with 5 people. But I do know I'll be with a host family!

Q: What's the food like?

A: All I heard is "you have to experience it to understand". That makes me nervous.

Q: How do you say where you are going again?

A: Turk-men-eh-stan

Q: What language do they speak?

A: Turkmen! And some Russian

Q: Turkmen? Is that real?

A: Yes--just like Turkmenistan is a real country, Turkmen is infact a real language!

Q: What if you meet the man of your dreams over there?

A: Umm....that would be okay with me! Doubtful, but hey! However, I do believe the men have to pay a dowry on brides over there. So my dad might be getting a shipment of cows. Who knows.

Q: How are you feeling?

A: A lot of things. Summary: excited/nervous/unsure/hopefuly/excited/sad/sad/excited/exhausted/exhausted/exhausted. It changes by the minute really.

So yes. those are the most common questions! For more information about Turkmenistan, please check out here: Lonely Planet: Turkmenistan

I am going to miss everyone very much! But I love you all! And I'll see you later :)

Peace, love and pomegranates

Lauren Z.