A year-long application process, intense anticipation, and countless nights of racking my brain for the essential items to pack all added up to this day – the pre-staging event in Washington, D.C., my gateway to Mexico. For the duration of my car ride from NYC to D.C., I planned my entrance. Saunter in, check in to my hotel room, and start chatting away with other volunteers, the whole time remaining cool, calm, and collected. Of course, I knew this would be far from the reality, but I still held on to that hope. Before I knew it, the moment had arrived and we were pulling up in front of the hotel. It was actually happening.
With my person loaded to capacity with luggage, I shuffled into the lobby, pretending not to struggle from the weight of my pack, my duffel bag, and my backpack – all loaded to full capacity. As soon as I entered the lobby, my expression involuntarily turned to a deer in the headlights. I was immobile, while my brain slowly attempted to discern what to do next. Should I look for a PC check-in table? Do I register with the hotel? Do I say goodbye to my family now? My thoughts were spiraling out of control, and all the while, I just stood there.
My mother, sensing my unease, decided to take it upon herself to pick up my slack. Spotting two people sporting the Peace Corps logo, she casually walked over to them, and tapped the gentleman on the shoulder. Still unable to change my frozen expression, I looked on in disbelief as she explained, “this is my daughter, uh, she’s here for the Peace Corps.”
The cool and collected entrance I had hoped for disintegrated right in front of my eyes. Mortified, as soon as my mom was within earshot, she got an earful. It took me a minute to regroup, but I then set down my belongings, and checked into the hotel. I came to terms with my not-so-cool entrance, realizing that I will have many more faux pas moments in the coming months. In fact, they will probably be much, much worse, especially since I will only be expressing myself in my not-so perfect Spanish for the coming months. So Peace Corps lesson one was noted. Let go of any notion of being in complete control of the situation. Gosh, that’s going to be a hard one for an OCD gal like myself.
the twigster,
Josephine
PS: Everyone in my Peace Corps training group is super nice. They are from all over…North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, New Jersey, California, Alaska, Washington, Montana, Florida, Illinois, Oklahoma, Colorado, Michigan, Texas, Alaska, and even Puerto Rico.
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