Peace Corps Adventures in Vanuatu

Back home from Germany- I had such a great time! I will try my best to start writing in both languages (weiter unten lesen fuer deutsch).
Now it's down to the final week before I leave. Last minute bills, address changes, packing, etc.
We received an email from the Peace Corps about details regarding our travel and what to expect during our first two months in Vanuatu. "Arduous" was the word they used to describe our training. Right now I have the arduous task of packing no more than 100lbs... 32 of it is my scuba gear. Also, I won't have much access to the Internet during our training so you may not see much from me until late December.
Alright, time for a translation.
Habe meine Zeit in Deutschland sehr genossen und jetzt habe ich noch eine Woche hier. Die letzten Rechnungen zahlen, und nur 50 Kilo packen.
Ich weiss jetzt auch wie die ersten zwei Monate in Vanuatu werden, und es soll also nicht gerade einfach sein. Aber das wurde uns nun mal von Anfang an gesagt. Ich werde auch erstmal nicht viel Internetzugang haben; wohl erst wieder Ende Dezember.

Before I head out to the islands on October 4th, I am making a quick pit stop in Germany for two weeks starting tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing the family and some good friends!!
Today, I am not only packing for that trip, but also packing up some boxes for storage and a different suitcase for Vanuatu already. When I come back I only have about 8 days to get ready..
Yesterday I had a wonderful surprise party for my birthday and farewell! It was the coolest cake!! And that poster is about 5 feet long! :)

We finally received our staging information today- which means orientation and flight to our destination.
All 30 of us need to meet on October 4th by 6 pm in a hotel in Los Angeles. We have our meeting the next day, and then we head to the airport on the 5th in the evening and our flight to New Zealand leaves around 10:30 pm. A 13 hour flight, then wait, then a 3.5 hour flight to Port Vila. And some cool people will be there waiting for us!! :)

Ok so I am officially unemployed. Weird feeling but it had to happen to get ready for my new adventure. Many people are reading my blog, so I will try to keep it interesting.
Plans for next week: make banking and life insurance arrangements, pack for Germany, and get my Scuba gear assembled. After Germany I will move out of the apartment. Visiting friends and tossing and turning at night will be the plan for the last few days in El Paso. :)