Day 5

By JohnPaul

Whelp… today was the last day of the first week… only five more to go, maybe. The catch phase here is “Well, it depends”. As you can imagine, the world being such a big place, although there is specific training… once you get to post things can be different. Ah, the adventure!

Our pack-out is Monday, which I can only imagine will be an adventure of its own. Being that the moves couldn’t schedule us until the 28th, I have completely lucked out of having to deal with those logistics. But, Serena on the other hand? Well, I can hear the anxiety in her voice. Imagine putting everything you own into piles: Unaccompanied Air Baggage (which will meet us in DC), Temporary Storage (which will join us at our first post), and Permanent Storage (with will join us when the adventure ends… however long that is). My hats off to Serena for taking care of that for us. I can’t even imagine.

Speaking of Monday, our bid list is due on Monday. Bids are the list of possible posts in order of preference. I went ahead and turned mine in today. I feel a whole lot better getting that out of the way so I can stop obsessing about it for the weekend. Belgrade is my number one… I have been telling the others in my group (all bidding on the same locations) that if they bid Belgrade as their number one I’m going to break their legs… but being a fairly nice guy, I’ll make sure I get them to the hospital. You know? You have to keep karma balanced.

Although, the others don’t seem to be as lucky when it comes to knowing what they want. I’m a pretty decisive guy though. Tonight a group of us are all getting together to watch videos about some of the posts on our bid list. About half of my orientation class are living in the same complex, and being that I have a one bedroom apartment (the rest have studios) I have been nominated to host our little party. This is perfectly fine with me… I can just stay in my room. Which is awesome, because I am so drained… and with the hectic schedule… stress of starting something new… the anxiety of not knowing what is still to come… and not having my family here to share in the adventure (yet)… as let me to start feeling a bit run down. Today was a half day though… and I have a weekend to chill. All of us here staying at the Oakwood complex seem to be feeling the same way and plan to stick close to home… no exploring DC.

I’m hoping after this first weekend I’ll feel up to venturing out. Both sides of my extended family live in the Baltimore area and I want to get out and visit. But this whole thing is still very new. There is a lot to process. I’m looking forward to rest. Doing laundry. Getting my footing in DC. Once the first full week is under my belt, I think I’ll be ready to take on the rest of the city.

Take care everyone!
-JP