My New Life Plan

Salem-ale-kum habibis,

I know you've all been waiting with breath bated for my new placement (and if I was even going to continue with the Peace Corps). I have been offered Albania or Kyrgyzstan this coming March, but for some reason, after sitting on it for a week or so, neither one of them really seemed to catch my fancy. It's about 4 1/2 months until the March departure date for either of those placements, and 4 1/2 months seems like too long to wait for a placement that I only have lukewarm feelings for (as all of you know, patience is a virtue which I lack).  After many, many phone calls with my placement officer in Washington, I have found pretty much the perfect placement. It leaves in July, which gives me the entire next semester to study Arabic in Egypt at a wonderful language school that I have found in a lovely area of Cairo. And, the best part: It will allow me to utilize my Arabic and French skills...and maybe learn Berber too! If you haven't guessed yet, I am set to leave in July of 2010 for...drum roll please...MOROCCO!!! Now I'm off to dig out those Arabic books, dust off my exorbitant collection of French grammar books (eek!), and take the GREs pre-departure.

Salam,
Hannah