I got my site announcement! Last Friday, all of the current Bots Peace Corps Trainees were informed, in an elaborate and, actually, kind of sweet ceremony, were informed of where we would each be living, individually, for the next two years. I was placed in MOCHUDI! Was it where I wanted to go?  No. Am [...]

I’M ALIIIIIIIIVE!!!! Hi everyone!  Sorry for the delay in posting.  I have finally been blessed with the gift of wireless Internet.  I really wanted to add pictures, but unfortunately my slow Internet connection would not allow it. Anyway, things in Botswana have been as intense as they’ve been extraordinary.  For the past five weeks, I [...]

You see that?!  Today I, Emily Reitenauer, became an official Peace Corps trainee!  WOOT!! This morning, my mom drove me to Philadelphia to attend staging with all 45 of the Peace Corps Bots 12 volunteers.  Saying “goodbye” to everyone was hard, but I’m SO glad to finally be here. We have a really great group [...]

Is this really happening?! In just a few short days I will be leaving on a jet plane, speeding off to Africa to spend 27 months with the Peace Corps.  Insane.  I’ve spent so long thinking about this – hoping and wishing and pleading for it – that I’m having a hard time processing that [...]

Last Thursday, the wonderful people in my office threw me a surprise going away party. While I knew that something was going down, I never expected to be on the receiving end of such generosity.  Succinctly stated, I was surprised about my surprise.  I was gifted Amazon gift cards, iTunes gift cards, and almost everything [...]

Here it is:  the inaugural post!  I’d like to kick-off this blog, which I’ll be using to chronicle my adventures, successes, failures, embarrassments, and joys in the U.S Peace Corps.  In October 2011, after a grueling application process, I was invited to serve in Botswana as an NGO Capacity Builder working on an HIV/AIDS Capacity [...]