Host Family, Travel Notification, and Vaccine Victory?

Oh my. So much has happened since I last posted. I decided I'd wait to post everything until I got my host family, but now I wish I had split it into more parts. We'll get to the host family in a moment!

First, I have my travel notification! That's right, I'll be leaving to New York City on August 20th (32 DAYS), saying goodbye to my family and friends, and spend the day at our gateway orientation. I believe we have our orientation with another country, which will be cool! After the gateway orientation, the next day our flight to TOKYO (yes, you read that correctly) will leave at 12:30 and we'll fly all the way across the U.S. and the Pacific to get there. Once there, we'll hop on a plane to Jakarta and arrive on August 22nd. How amazing?

I can barely contain my excitement. Everything has gotten much more real...but not yet tangible, so it still feels a bit surreal. Now onto the news you've been waiting for...HOST FAMILY.

I was feeling a bit down. I had to go get my vaccines early on the morning of July 17th, and found out I had missed my appointment due to a mix-up. I had already had a semi-upsetting week, waiting by my computer all day to see if I got a host family email, which didn't happen. It was really disappointing.

However, after getting home and attempting to nap (which I couldn't do, because of constantly getting emails from random places), I sat in bed as my nook went off. I expected another random email, but instead saw this: YES Program: Your Permanent Host Family Placement with AFS-Indonesia.

I will be living in East Jakarta! Yes, that Jakarta, with the tall buildings, and plenty of things to do? 

Here's a map of Indonesia, with Jakarta labeled.

Here's how Jakarta is split up!

I'm so excited to go there! It may have a lot of tourists, which will force me to work harder to learn more Indonesian, but it's a city that gives me access to so many things!

My host family seems awesome! I can't wait to meet them. I have a father, mother, grandmother, sister, and brother, an almost replica of my family back home (though I don't have a brother that lives with me)! They love doing weekend activities, and my sister likes choir, something I love! My mother also seems to like to do community work, which is also one of my favorite things. I can't wait to meet them, they seem like wonderful and fun people.

I've briefly emailed my host mother, and she wants me to call her Ibu! I'm so excited, I can't wait to meet them all. A month is so long to wait...but just enough time.

Back to the vaccines, I still got a victory! I found a place where I can get Japanese Encephalitis, which I couldn't find anywhere! I'll be getting my vaccines next week.

Lastly, I've began packing. It feels crazy to start now, but I feel it's absolutely necessary. I've bought all the shirts (amazing sale at JC Penney's!) for my trip, as well as a humongous suitcase--I'll upload a vlog on that later.

Speaking of vlogs, I hope to receive my new camera soon, so I can make really nice ones. Then I can document this process. Can't wait!

Sampai jumpa lagi!

-Baillie