54 days left

After a long application process, numerous blood tests, and a lot of waiting, I will be going to Madagascar on February 18th as a volunteer with the Peace Corps! Since receiving my invitation, I have been bombarded with information regarding many different aspects of my assignment. But even with the many books, pamphlets, and websites there are still many questions and uncertainties that will be cleared up later...hopefully! The Peace Corps offices have given me a pretty extensive list of suggested items to take with, but with the size and weight restrictions, I expect packing to be quite a daunting task.
While away, communication will be limited. According to the materials that I have read, phone calls to the U.S. can be quite expensive and service unreliable. Traditional U.S. calling cards do not work there, and even if you do get a line through, it often results in a dropped call. Internet access is also going to be hard to come by. With that, I will appreciate each letter/package greatly! The following will be my address for February 21st until April 25th.

Erin Cross, PCT Peace Corps
Corps de la Paix
B.P. 12091
Poste Zoom Ankorondrano
101 Antananarivo
Madagascar

My initial three months in Madagascar will be spent learning language, cross-cultural, and technical skills needed during my two years of service. At the end of training, I will need to pass certain tests and also complete an exit interview, all of which will determine my final placement and result in an address change at that time.