Greetings from Philadelphia!!

Close-up of the pole (the next picture). Layers of rust and paint. It looked like it used to be a streetlight before electricity but who knows. Anything that close to Franklin's grave has to be important and historically significant, right? That's the problem when you're in a city older than your state, to many things to be fascinated by.

This pole didn't have a sign but I was in the historical district and it looked old so I thought I would give it some attention.

Philadelphia is so patriotic, they like to put cement blocks with amendments carved in them around the city.

Me with the Liberty Bell!

The Liberty bell with its old home in the background.

Its cracked....in case you didn't know.

Me and Susan B. Anthony, we go way back. Thanks Susan you know, for the right to vote and the whole suffrage movement thing.

China town (a few blocks away from the hotel).

Warning:This will be my last post from the United States and my last post for 8+ weeks. Try not to cry...

I arrived yesterday in the evening. I took a cab (my first cab ride) to the hotel. My cab driver was REALLY excited that I was paying cash and leaving the country: he asked me to marry him. That kind of made my day. I spent the night unpacking and repacking anxiously. This morning on the today show, they were in Vancouver B.C. showing video of Mt. Baker...there was a slight shock of how much I am going to miss the beautiful Pacific Northwest but not enough to keep my from going (sorry Grandma). I skyped my family a bit then headed out to see the liberty bell. No, I don't know what freedom taste like due to a lot of security but I did get to see it. Oh well. I snapped a few pictures, hit the gift shop for some postcards, then headed back to the hotel where I was meeting some folks from my group for lunch. I finally got my Philly Cheese steak. I think it would have been better if I appreciated steak...but I don't. Oh well, now I can say I've had one, right?

After lunch we had just enough time to come back, change, and meet for staging. 6-7 hours later, I'm an official Peace Corps Trainee (my identity for the next 8 weeks). Exciting!!!

After staging, a big group of us meet for dinner, I had sushi for the first time (I've seen the light) and then headed back here to finalize some packing decisions for the last time. I also found out that people not from Washington think people from Washington live off of sushi. Maybe some people do?

Anyway, there is a group of 21 of us (almost all here) and everyone seems pretty great. I'm excited!! I'm hearing that JFK is closed down so we'll see if we actually get to fly out tomorrow but I'm excited. Once we land in Lilongwe we'll be whisked off to training so we're all going to hit the ground running, despite the jet lag. Ready or not, here we come!!!

P.S. Note on the previous post: PLEASE if you send me something, send ukulele songs...your favorite or something I've heard. As much as I love Bob, there's only so much Dylan a girl can play on a four-stringed instrument before people want to throw rocks at her head. Thanks!