Staging for AzerbaiNigeria

Alrighty, almost time to go. I've finished my staging session met loads of cool people and sufficiently diminished my funds by about half in one fun last American night out. My room mate, Gretchen, is amazing and a saint for waking me up so I was not late to staging. Had great party time's with some cool people (have not jumped on a bed since I was 5), and all in all am having fun getting to know people. There is another staging group for Mozambique in the same hotel and while talking on the phone to Elaine I just said goodbye to a few of them, as they have to leave at a ridiculous hour to get there on time. Also, down the street are the Turkmenistan kids so it's a big ol' Peace Corps family Staging!

Thanks to Mr. Nich Prax I am now calling Azerbaijan anything but that. The formula goes thus: Azerbai(insert any country name). So AzerbaiSweden should be super fun times. Also Kit's lovely yet awkward Jellyfish handshake/hug combo has begun, so we shall see if this ostracizes me. It's 2:45a and I need to be downstairs in under 4 hours so in honor of the yet again most amazing person ever, Gretchen, I shall bid you all adeu. Love you all and after epic amounts of travel and shenanigans I shall update from Baku!

AzerbaiThailand here I come!

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New Address, Skirts, and DVD's

Just got this new address for my training. It's temporary because in December I will hopefully be moving to my new site. So here ya go!

PCT Lori Dunn
Peace Corps Azerbaijan
SUMGAYIT şǝhǝrı
Azerbaycan pr. 15
Mǝrkǝzı poçt
Azerbaijan

Definitely found some AZ appropriate skirts. Not my style but with the coat, thermals, and snow boots it's quite possibly one of the funnier things I've worn in 100 degree SoCal heat. My things are nearly packed and under my weight limits! The DVD's, ebooks, and music are currently copying to the external hard drive. All is magical.

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No more mail :(

...well for now. I just received an email from the Peace Corps stating that the address for snail mail that I previously posted no longer exists. For security reasons it is no longer open but they're trying to get some mail going for us those first 2 months of training. Be advised that when/if there is a new training address, only letters and tiny tiny padded envelopes are allowed to be sent. So during training so don't go crazy sending me crates (MOM).

Also how weird is this, 8 days left! Well, technically 7 days since I fly out so darn early next Monday. Grandma just yawned audibly through church, and I got her a taco. Needless to say, all is well in Riverside. I haven't quite realized that I'm leaving yet so maybe on the plane I'll figure it out. Packing - too much, as is buying all of the toiletries needed. My going away party was super fun and it was great to see lots of my friends and family. I will put up pictures on this thingy somehow. Thank you to all who came, it was a fun day! I have one piece of fatty Costco cake left and I will be savoring it with all my might.

That's all for now, I'm off to find more appropriate skirts. Bit of advice, Nordstrom's sales people are helpful to a point. When you say you need a skirt they get very energetic. However they choose to not hear when you repeatedly say they have to be past the knee and able to hand wash. I think I'll wear a sign next time.

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