It's Azerbaijan in September!

At last via classic US mail that long-awaited fat blue envelope arrived yesterday (June 12th) inviting me to Azerbaijan to teach English as a foreign language in secondary schools. Excited and a bit scared at the same time.
Story: Last week I sent a message via FB to a young woman named Gulustan who commented on a PC FB post praising PC volunteers who had come to her country and taught her English. I simply thanked her for the words of encouragement and she replied to me again praising the work of the Peace Corps. Yesterday - in one of those serendipity moments - I went back to see what country she was from and yes she is in Azerbaijan. I can hardly wait to email her again, but first wanted to post this and say to other applicants "hang in there." Patient endurance attains all things.

It's gonna happen! Retirement that is!

After I called the Retirement Service Center this morning, I realized I've been putting more energy into my Peace Corps dream and much less thought into the finality of retiring. Saying out loud my last day of work was like splashing cold water on my face.
I've been so intent on lining up my Peace Corps documents that I've almost ignored this other major change: my feelings around leaving friends, work et al. Now I'm hoping that the next couple months of work will give me time to process retirement as another life passage.
But secretly . . . I'm still waiting for that official PC invite in the mail!