Government Passport, check and check!

I started out the day going to Passport Immigration Photos on Broadway & Glisan, to get some passport photos. Whoa. Just a few days ago (Saturday night at midnight) two people got hit and killed by a bus right outside the place. There were balloons and pictures and candles. Sobering. The lady who took my picture was really nice-she's originally from Bulgaria and came to the US following her brother who was escaping from communism. She said Bulgaria's a nice place to visit (good food!), but not so good for the people who live there ($2-300 per month, which I guess is better than Cambodia...$20 per month income). What can we do? She liked that I was going into the Peace Corpse (how she pronounced it), and told me to come see her when I got back. Why not?

Then at around 6pm I was walking briskly to the UPS store to mail off my passport and Niger visa applications, when on the way in I bumped into the UPS guy, who took my envelope (Peace Corps paid the postage) and TOTALLY made my day. It was that easy: something going perfectly right. I've been all discombobulated since I got my invitation on Sunday. I can't focus on anything, I feel like I have a million things to do (almost true) before I go, and I feel like I'm trying to move through mud. Now I guess I've got to start learning Hausa and Zarma, some local languages in Niger for which the Peace Corps has so awesomely provided me online lessons. Rock rock on.