{"id":127,"date":"2013-05-30T12:57:20","date_gmt":"2013-05-30T17:57:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.traviswohlrab.com\/?p=127"},"modified":"2023-05-02T22:54:46","modified_gmt":"2023-05-03T03:54:46","slug":"ii-the-final-countdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/traviswohlrab.com\/blog\/ii-the-final-countdown\/","title":{"rendered":"II. The Final Countdown"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"final_countdown\"<\/a>The final countdown has indeed commenced. It’s hard to believe that in one week I’ll be beginning a 27 month endeavor 8,500 miles away from the only home I’ve ever known. It feels like just yesterday when I was sitting in the Peace Corps’ office on Monroe St. in downtown Chicago, interviewing and beginning a 9 month process of background checks, medical tests, immunizations, and loads of research into a culture and geographic area I knew next to nothing about.<\/p>\n

The last month has been filled with joyous gatherings of family, friends, and colleagues. As we bid our farewells, I am overwhelmed with the amount of support and gratitude expressed by everyone. My mother and grandparents hosted a going-away party at the Vernon Hills Golf Course which was fantastic. Seeing folks from all walks of my life come together for a proper sendoff was great. Here<\/a> are the pictures. The St. Mary of Vernon Men’s Club<\/a> gave a very sincere toast at the annual Mickey Finn’s meeting. I also worked my final day at Maine West High School yesterday and while the exit was bittersweet, I appreciate all the words of encouragement from staff and faculty. It was a memorable 2 years of employment there and I most certainly gained valuable experience that I will be able to apply in future endeavors. I wish them all the best with the implementing the realization of the 21st century classroom.<\/p>\n

So what’s next?<\/strong><\/em>
\nThe unique anticipation for chartering into the deep unknown is a feeling of which I’ve never experienced. I’m looking forward to the challenges that lie ahead while having the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of such a proud culture. On Wednesday, June 5th, I’ll be taking a flight from O’Hare to Philadelphia for a quick orientation by Peace Corps. I’m looking forward to meeting my fellow volunteers, most of whom I’ve been in contact with on Facebook since March. At 2:30AM we’ll be taking\u00a0 a bus JFK airport in New York City where we will embark on a 15 hour flight to Johannesburg, South Africa. Finally from there we’ll be taking a pond jumper to the capital city Maseru, Lesotho and will begin the 2 month pre-service training (PST) program. The training encompasses language, cultural, and job specific skills. During this time I’ll be living with a host family to help assist with integrating into the culture.<\/p>\n

Stay tuned for updates from the beautiful Kingdom of Lesotho!<\/p>\n

\"P1000281(crop)\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The final countdown has indeed commenced. It’s hard to believe that in one week I’ll be beginning a 27 month endeavor 8,500 miles away from the only home I’ve ever known. It feels like just yesterday when I was sitting in the Peace Corps’ office on Monroe St. in downtown Chicago, interviewing and beginning a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":265,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[120,121],"class_list":["post-127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-peacecorps","tag-farewell-party","tag-preparation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/traviswohlrab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/traviswohlrab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/traviswohlrab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traviswohlrab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traviswohlrab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/traviswohlrab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1044,"href":"https:\/\/traviswohlrab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127\/revisions\/1044"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traviswohlrab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/traviswohlrab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traviswohlrab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traviswohlrab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}