Stage One: Staging

Hi Everybody!

Today is the first official day of this whole Peace Corps thing. And as it is in everything government, sure to be filled with endless amounts of paperwork. I arrived in Philadelphia yesterday with no problems and arrived at the Cherry Hill Crowne Plaza safely.

Last night I went out with my friend Brendan from high school. He had joined the Coast Guard Academy but did not get a commission due to some eye problem. He now works for Pat Murphy the Congressman here in Philadelphia. According to his snazzy card, he is the Military and Veterans Affairs Director. According to his stories, he has to let the cleaning crew in on Thursdays.

So, we went out for the big Philadelphia 4th of July celebration. No better place to be on America's birthday than America's birthplace, right? Not just that, but Hall & Oates were performing. All of these factors go to show why we decided to walk through a torrential downpour to get to the park where the show was. After becoming completely soaked, we decided that Hall & Oates were never coming on and that we should just leave. As we started walking away, the rain suddenly slowed and all of a sudden I heard "Maneater." We were all taken by the moment. We were also taken by hunger and a fear of pneumonia, so we walked in the rain some more and ended up at a chic near-downtown restaurant named Continental. The idea behind the menu was that the food ordered was really designed to be shared by everybody at the table. Since Brendan's friend Emily was a vegan, the menu was a bit limited, but delicious nonetheless. I did manage to have Philly Cheese steak egg rolls. Excellent!

That's about it for now. I have about 4 hours until check-in with the Peace Corps. My roommate David has left to go see a friend, so I'm kinda stuck in my room for a few hours. Philadelphia is too far to away and the only stuff to do is a few car-less miles away. That's okay. The hotel is very nice. I will update soon. Only a couple days left in country! Uh-oh.