Orientation

Whew, so now that you are super concerned about me and my mental health, this post is to reassure you that everything worked out. 

Well, sort of. I'll be honest, I did not actually fit all my stuff in the back of a car. Most of it, yes. But some of it might have had to go in another car and maybe even a house. And maybe several friends loaded all my bags of trash into their cars.  But other than that, suuuuuuper smooth.

Once I got to DC for orientation, I felt so relieved. I found my people. The passion and dedication of my fellow volunteers was palpable. Now that I actually made it, my stress level started to drop. I was still pretty mentally exhausted and didn't do a ton of socializing, trying to fit in as many last yoga classes as possible while my introverted self tried to recuperate and become a real person again (and submit a fellowship application, ugh). 

Orientation was a lot crammed into a short time. So many talks. Teaching strategies, coping mechanisms, tropical disease management, policies, and the list goes on.  The best were some of the small groups and interactive sessions where we learned a little about the others in our cohort and their amazing backgrounds. I am still in awe of all the things everyone has already done.  I was thrilled just to have finished residency, not even thinking about starting NGOs or writing books or teaching in far off lands. It is an honor to be included in this group! 

We had a special visit from Secretary Kerry a couple days in.


Although this was awesome and so encouraging, I was even more affected by the country representatives from Uganda and Malawi who came to our closing ceremony.  Hearing the amount of gratitude that leaders from these countries have for what we are doing brought tears to my eyes (I know, I know, maybe I need to re-title my blog to: "Crying for a Year" or "Taking a boat on the river of tears to Malawi").  It reaffirmed why I signed up to do this in the first place.  

I left orientation excited and ready to go to Malawi.  My hair was so happy to have had an introduction to heat and humidity, thanks DC. I am also anxious to hear about all the great work the rest of our badass crew is heading out to do in Tanzania, Uganda, Liberia, and Swaziland.


The Malawi crew 



Bye DC, your sauna-like weather was a great climate transition