Climb every mountain,
Search high and low,
Follow every highway,
Every path you know.

Climb every mountain,
Ford every stream,
Follow every rainbow,
‘Till you find your dream.

A dream that will need
All the love you can give,
Every day of your life
For as long as you live.

– Sound of Music

It’s too hard to believe.  Really.  After spending more than a year in climbing up and down on many mountains to finally be where I longed dreamed to be, the big journey is actually commencing tomorrow.  As I look back on my long application process for Peace Corps, I reminiscent the triumphs and frustrations.  Being medically cleared and receiving the invitation were the highest points of my application journey.  Having my first scheduled interviewed cancelled due to Boston being on lock down, hearing no news, and the government shutting down were the lowest points.  However, climbing up and down the mountains will still continue during my service and the climb will only get bigger and longer.  The application process taught me to be patient and continue to be persistent, traits that will be important for me to possess during my service.

The night after I first received my invitation last April while vacationing in Santorini, I dreamed that I was sleeping in middle of an African safari all alone and then I was suddenly feeling big shakes and thinking in my dream that animals were running and pounding hard.  It turned out that there was actually an earthquake in southern Greece.  I remember once I woke up from my dream and the earthquake, I asked myself, “Gosh!  My life will be like this in only a few months?  Am I ready?”  Surprisingly, I am no longer feeling quite nervous or stressed out about the new journey.  I’m feeling calm as my mind is fully sinking in that I’m really going on an adventure that I longed wished to be on.  However, I am sure that once the plane starts landing in Cameroon, and I see my new home from the air, I’ll be experiencing both high excitements and panic attacks.  It’ll be like having a rush of adrenaline.

I am certainly a bit sad to say goodbye to my family.  My dad has been giving me hugs every single day for the past two weeks and saying, “I need to hug you while I can because I won’t be able to do it for two years.”  My mom’s parents are in town from Florida, and I’ve been trying to spend every minute with them.  I saw my dad’s parents and their family a couple weeks ago when I made a quick weekend trip to Toronto.  I went to my sister’s college yesterday and said farewell to her.  I’ll be making the last rounds of goodbyes tomorrow when my mom and grandmother drop me off at the airport.  I’ll miss them dearly.  It will be hard not to see them for a long period of time.  But I need to allow myself to live to the fullest on day to day basis.  I want to live the life where I can feel that my job is a vacation.  My definition of vacation is doing an activity which I love doing.  What I love doing is living abroad, learning about different cultures, making a contribution to the world and facing challenges.  I need to be in a place where I’m feeling happy and thriving.

Rachel and Jessica say goodbye to each other.

Big family selfie – Me with my mom, brother and grandparents.

Me with my dad