Temporary Mailing Address

If you would like to send letters while I'm away, use the following address from June-August 2012. There will be further mailing instructions later on....in fact, some tips are already listed under my "Contact Me" section.

Please only send letters for now. Packages will be welcomed with big arms later on. (Basically, once I'm out of training I will be able to accept packages. I will be living with a host family in Morogoro for the first three months of my service. During this time I'll be going through my "Pre-Service Training". I will then move to a different village, destination unknown, and teach English in a secondary school. At that point I will be able to accept packages....and I will also be living on my own.)

Jade Bowden
US Peace Corps
P.O. Box 9123
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania


P.S. My Skype name is Ladyjadee18 
P.P.S. My e-mail address is jbowden18@gmail.com

6 Days Before Departure!

It's crazy to think that I have less than a week left! I've been feeling a lot of mixed emotions-- excitement, anxiety, fear, sadness, happiness, anticipation....

It's hard to know what things will be like. It's still a bit surreal for me to think about. Part of me wonders if I'm really capable of doing this. Another part wonders if I will be more homesick than I was in Italy. And I can't help but wonder about how I'll adjust to a world without so many modern conveniences around. I don't want to be overly internet dependent, but I want to keep in touch with everyone back home. I'm not sure how easy it will be to access Facebook and Skype, but I don't want to be too dependent on social media. What if it's too hard to post, though? Will my kindle/iphone serve me well in my quest for internet? Questions I don't really have answers to yet.

I'm hoping that I will be able to embrace culture differences rather than compare them, and that I will surmount the challenges that come my way rather then just tripping over all of them.

I am quite nervous about living with a host family. Living with a family that isn't yours as an adult is particularly challenging. But I'm hoping they will be nice and that I will naturally open up to them. For now, I remain nervous about the idea.

As for what I'm doing this week? I need to deal with all my lose ends. There aren't too many left...mostly appointments and packing. I'm not sure what is going to become of my insurance settlement. It might just be left suspended for 27 months at this point. I also hope to spend time with friends and family. And hopefully acquire some more music! I also hope to watch stupid amounts of TV. I'm not a very big TV person, but I figure I should enjoy my big screen while it lasts.

Packing Trial-Run

So, today I attempted to pack as much as possible into my back-packing pack. I crammed smaller things into items that were already taking up space (like inside the set of compact pots and pans I got). The backpack ended up weighing about 30 lbs. I'm very psyched! I now need to go out and buy a rolling duffel bag so I can pack everything else, but overall I'm feeling good about how much I'm taking. I'm not sure if I'm bringing everything I'll need, but hopefully that's the case! They let you have up to 100 lbs, but I think I'll end up having around 60 lbs in checked luggage at most.

I need to take a headshot of myself on a blue background tonight and send out the home-stay questionnaire they sent me. There are an amazing amount of steps involved in this process!

Tomorrow maybe I'll finish shopping. Or maybe that will be a weekend project...who knows.