And so it begins

  So, if you're reading this, I assume you know this, but just in case someone has stumbled upon this blog, my name is Jay Salus, and in March, I will be leaving for Namibia to participate in the Peace Corps Community Health and HIV/AIDS program (CHHAP).  I grew up in Washington, DC, before spending a year in Israel after high school, before spending the last four years in New Orleans as a student at Tulane University.  I don't know how much internet access I will have, but to the extent I have any, I will hope to update this to keep everyone interested in my experience updated.
  So, Namibia.  Because, you know, being fluent in Spanish, I was certainly expecting to go to Africa.  But, seriously, I will admit that prior to getting my Peace Corps invitation, I knew very little about Namibia, beyond having had to memorize where it was on the map for my Idev 101 class.  Since I'm guessing many of you know about as much as I did, let me show you where it is:

  While I'm sure I will have more posts in the future regarding Namibia, for now, I'll just give some basic info for my readers (my source for most of this being the info book the Peace Corps sent me).  A colony of Germany from the 1880s, Namibia gained independence from South Africa on Marc 21, 1990.  The current population is roughly 2,100,000.  The official language is English, though most people tend to speak Afrikaans, Germans, and various tribal languages.  Because I will be working in HIV/AIDS, the CIA factbook (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/wa.html) puts the HIV/AIDS rate at about 13%, so I've seen sources that list it as high as 15-20%.
  Many people, upon hearing my plans to do the Peace Corps, have the tendency to ask me "why" I want to do this, and I plan on getting more into all of that, as well as describing the process to getting to this point, but for now, I'll just leave it as this is simply what I've wanted to do for a while.  And while I am sad to be leaving behind so many friends and family, I am really excited for the opportunities and experiences I'm about to face.