I Think I'm in Love (and other thoughts from PST Orientation)

I think I'm in love with Peace Corps Albania.  The more people I meet and the more I learn, the more sure I am that coming here was the right decision.  I know this is the "honeymoon phase," but even when that wears off, I feel certain that I'll be left with a deeper relationship with this fantastic, complex, welcoming country.

For the past 3 days, we have been in orientation for pre-service training (PST - get ready for a lot of acronyms).  Tomorrow, we will be placed in small villages with host families outside a mid-sized, centrally-located city.  For 10 weeks, we will intensively study the language as well as develop and hone skills relevant to our sector service.  (For me that is Community and Organizational Development Facilitation, or COD.)  After that, we will be placed in villages, towns, and cities all over the country to do what we do.  We will also have ample time to travel and apartment on our own.  Jackpot.

Below are some random notes and thoughts from PST orientation.

• Orientation has been a very emotional experience for me.  I have been giddy for days.   Never in my life have I felt like I might burst into tears multiple times a day.  Usually out of feelings of sheer joy and excitement, but also for unsettling feelings I don't quite understand and struggle to describe.  I have become that overly-positive smiley person I feared would be predominate in our group.  (Very un-Sara-like, huh?)  Combine that with jet lag, lots of new people, new foods and culture, intense briefings and language classes, and the knowledge that you have just entered a brand new world.  And left who and what you know and love far, far away.  Yikes.  But so far it is a wild, exciting ride.  This may just be the life for me.
• Peace Corps Albania staff is absolutely outstanding.  I am super impressed with (but not surprised by) their professionalism, dedication, competence, experience,  openness, etc, etc, etc. 
• European country assignments are often sarcastically referred to as "Posh Corps."  
• PCVs (Peace Corps volunteers) are overall practical, positive, honest, and welcoming.  They are also a pretty foul-mouthed group.  
• No one in the group has come to "save Albania."  People are very mature and have healthy attitudes about development and cultural engagement.  And they are fun, helpful, and interesting people.  I think this group holds some life-long friends.
• I am the only Sara out of 44 people!  But there are two Emilys, Michaels, Marias, and Allisons. 
• We had a Peace Corps groupie try to sneak into our group at the airport.  She got on our bus with her luggage, took one of the provided lunch bags, and made herself comfortable.  She had apparently traveled to Albania on her own and decided that she would also like to be a PCV.   From what we were told, this may be the first instance of a PC Poser.  Strange.
• People are way way too obsessed with the idea of using a "Turkish toilet." 
• The term "mad as a hatter" came from hat makers rubbing mercury into hats with their bare hands.  The mercury socked into their skin and turned many of them crazy.
• There is a drug that if taken within 72 hours of exposure will prevent contracting HIV.  
• "Ha, ha, ha" means "eat, eat, eat" in Albanian.