My address during training

Training will be from the first week of October through mid December. While I'm in training I'll be able to get mail but the address you'll send mail to might look a little funny:

Zach Wegner
Peace Corps Samoa
Private Bag
Apia, (Western/Independent) Samoa
South Pacific

Also, the Peace Corps informed me of the following:
"Please note that putting "Western" or the alternative "Independent" in parenthesis can be helpful in ensuring that mail is not sent to American Samoa or elsewhere in the world. If your friends and family find that they are being charged regular U.S. domestic postal rates, it means the postal clerks are thinking they are sending the material to American Samoa. Mail to (Independent) Samoa requires international postage rates."

Also, writing the following expressions on the package can help to make sure it comes through safe and sound:

E fa'amamuia e Atua api lea.
God bless this package.

OR

E matamata Atua i api lea.
God watches this package.

My address will likely be changing after training and I will update my address then.

17 more days!

Staging

As the other people in my group are also saying, this is getting really real! I got my staging materials yesterday! Within 30 minutes I had already booked my tickets to Los Angeles. I'm supposed to be in LA at the hotel by 6:00pm on October 4th. I reserved a ticket for September 30th so I would have time to run the Big Gay Race in Minneapolis on the 29th and then go to San Diego to see my brother and his wife and my nephew and niece (whom I've only met through Skype)

Peace Corps also has a program to keep volunteers in touch with teachers back home. I spent the morning today at my former high school talking to teachers about how we might be able to work together once I'm in Samoa. It sounds like I'll be able to work with a health teacher, social studies teacher, and an agricultural science teacher (thanks Lisa, Amy, and Chris!).

Now I'm just planning and organizing my last 24 days before I leave...