We're leaving on a jet plane!

It is almost 9p on July 15th and we are almost completely packed. We have had a great (but sad) time saying our "see you in two years." Our families and friends have been so supportive of our decision to join the Peace Corps and we really appreciate it.

We may not be able to update our blog for a while but please keep us in your thoughts.



Here is a picture of Ben and I enjoying a rootbeer float toast:

Update: audio podcast of pouring the root beer float with Jennie and her brother Matt singing in the background.

Cheers!

Love,
Jennie and Ben

Training Itinerary

We put together a map of our current training itinerary - as we're beginning to learn, however, any of this could be subject to change. We're definitely not picky when the government is sending us to Africa and footing the bill for us to live there for two years.

In less than 24 hours, we leave for Philadelphia. Probably one last post from both of us tonight, but if not, we'll try to send something from there.

New Address, more information on training

Hello everyone!

I know you were hoping that we would change the address that you could send letters to one more time so here you are:

Jennie and Ben Bleckley
Peace Corps
PO Box 9536
Pretoria 0001
South Africa

This address should be good until around September 20th and then we will send word with a new address.

I received an email today telling us more about training (July-September) so I thought I would share that with you.

A little bit of information about South Africa and the Peace Corps program there:

"South Africa is a country going through an enormous transition. It is a First World-Third World country. The government and private sector have created a robust, First World economy. However a large segment of the population still lives in a Third World economy. As a Peace Corps Volunteer, you will be addressing the needs of those still living in a Third World society, threatened by AIDS and enrolled in an educational system that still does not adequately meet the needs of learners.

This year Peace Corps will celebrate its 10th anniversary in the country. On the day of your swearing-in to become a Volunteer, 140 currently serving Volunteers and numerous dignitaries will be present to recognize a decade of Peace Corps Volunteer service in the country."

My dad said that when we received our new placement (we were not able to go to the first place we were nominated for due to restrictions after a rough medical clearance process) we would be blown away. He sure was right!

We will arrive in Johannesburg on Saturday July 21st in the morning. We will then be driven to Mankwe Education Center in Rustenburg. We will stay there for one week "being oriented to Peace Corps and South Africa." After that week we will move into the home of a South African family who will help us learn the ropes from July- September.

This family will live in the Zeerust area (approx. 120 kilometers from the Botswana border). They will be responsible for helping us with language, teaching us how to cook, wash clothes, etc. We will be eating all of our meals with our host family. The staple food is maize (corn meal), prepared as a thick porridge called "pap" and eaten with vegetables or a sauce.

During our training six languages will be taught: Sepedi, SeTswana, IsiZulu, IsiSwati, Xitsonga and Afrikaans. Every volunteer will take an oral language proficiency exam near the end of training.

Needless to say I am getting very excited and nervous! Any warm thoughts are appreciated.

Love,
Jennie

Two Weeks to Go

Last Saturday we recieved our staging packet which contains our flight information and staging assignment. At 10 am on July 16th we will leave Denver for Phillidelphia, PA. Staging will begin the following day at 1 pm, so we will have some time to spend exploring the city and visiting my Aunt Leslie who recently took a trip to South Africa. She's worked for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for a number of years, is an avid world traveler, and was a major influence in shaping my world view.

In the meantime I'm working at Peaceful Valley Scout Ranch for one final summer. I worked there from 1998 to 2003 and decided to go back for one final year. I'll leave there on July 12th. Jennie and I are both working on learning Setswana, a common language in northern South Africa, where a large part of our training will take place (or so we are told).

It still doesn't seem real to me that in two weeks I'm leaving to live in South Africa. Crazy.

Thanks for all your support!

Address change

Hello everyone!
I just wanted to let everyone know that our address during training has changed to :

Ben and Jennie Bleckley, PCT
Peace Corps
126 Verdoon Street
Sunnyside
Pretoria, South Africa

We recently received an email with language lessons that we need to work on, so we are in the beginning stages of learning Setswana (and by beginning, I really mean beginning!). We will have language lessons for several hours every day during training. We do not know for sure if we will be speaking Setswana during our service, but we will be place with a family who speakes Setswana during our training in July, August and September.
We are getting very excited for our upcoming adventure ( a little over three weeks left until we leave for staging).

Thank you everyone for your support!
Love,
Jennie

Uncle Rans and Aunt Pati's

Here is the next installment of the farewell tour edition!

We arrived at Rans and Pati's house around 3p on Friday May 25th. Pati was still at work so we went to surprise her and then we took a scenic ride back to their house.

We could not have planned the trip better if we had tried because we were able to spend the entire Memorial Day weekend with them. We went on some scenic walks/hikes around the island, played board games, went to point-no-point, the seashell museum, and relaxed on the deck. Here are some pictures from our adventures.

A deer that spent much time munching greens in their forest:

The light house at Point-no-Point

A fish in blue jeans who was kind enough to pose with Ben and I:

Starfish on the pier:

Uncle Rans, Aunt Pati, Me, Ben

After much discussion, we decided that it would be best to leave on the 5:20 ferry to Seattle to avoid commuter traffic. This ended up working really well as we were able to see the sunrise on the ferry.

We made it back into Denver on Wednesday May 30th after spending a night camping near the Great Salt Lake in Utah.

Up the Coast- California to Washington

We started on our journey up the western coast on Tuesday May 22nd. This was an amazing leg of the journey for both Ben and I. We started this portion of the trip from Moorpark, CA and headed up the coast on the famous Highway 1.

Some highlights from the first day of the journey were:

Morro Bay (where we ate a picnic lunch and found sand dollars),

San Simeon (beautiful water, beach and pier; as well as home to the Hurst Castle),

Elephant Seals,

Monterey Bay (where we spent the night at Sunset Beach State Park).

Day two found us starting in Monterey Bay. We went across the Golden Gate Bridge and enjoyed lunch at Point Reyes National Seashore. One highlight of this day was making it up to Redwood National Forest to camp.

Day three (Thursday May 24th) was spent driving from Redwood National Forest to Cape Lookout State Park in Oregon. This drive was absolutely beautiful with the forest on one side and spectacular ocean views on the other.

We woke up on Friday and headed out of our campsite to Fort Clatsop National Memorial. We then headed across the (terrifying!) Astoria bridge and headed toward my Aunt and Uncle's house in Bainbridge Island, WA.

This was a drive of a lifetime!

Fun on the road-California

I know many people have been holding their breath to hear about our adventures in California so here goes!

We arrived in Redondo Beach, CA on Friday May 18th after staying a night near Cedar Breaks, UT. For those who do not know, we went to Redondo Beach to spend time with my brother and sister-in-law (Robert and Kristen Olson).



First Ben and I walked down to the beach and enjoyed the palm trees.





After Robert got home we went to a restaurant overlooking the beach to eat dinner with Kristen. We then had a tour of the beach and watched the sun set.

On Saturday Robert drove Ben and I down to San Diego to spend time with Aunt Linda and Uncle Tony. They took us on a tour of the city and we ate lunch together.

On Sunday Robert gave me some boogie-boarding tips and I had a blast making a fool of myself! Here's a video Ben taped:



On Monday Ben and I drove to Simi Valley, CA to spend the day with my Grandmother. We went out to lunch, shopping and she showed us around her new place. We were able to sit and visit with her until dinner.





On Monday night we went out with my Aunt Gail and Uncle Bob and my cousins Alicia and Liz. We stayed Monday night at their house in Moorpark and then began our journey up the west coast.

Grand Junction

We are at a computer in Grand Junction's visitor center charging our batteries so I thought I would say "hey" from Grand Junction. We are very excited to continue our wonderful trip! Pictures will be here soon.
Love,
Jennie

Update: Pictures from the awesome visitor center

How to Get the Most Out of Your Fill-up

Wouldn't you like to know how we make our trip affordable with gas prices on the rise? This video offers an ancient family secret passed down from generation to generation on maximizing gas pumped.