Where in the World...

is Katie? Portland, Oregon at the time being but only for another 48 hours. I've called Portland home for the last year (this is news to some, I'm sure--5 cities in 10 years makes me hard to keep track of) but I'm taking off soon for Macedonia. Why Macedonia and where is it? Well, I'm following a dream by joining the Peace Corps and Macedonia (north of Greece) is where they've seen fit to send me. My assignment is NGO development with an environmental focus, so I think this will mean working with an environmental nonprofit on things like workplans, fundraising, etc. You'll have to stay tuned to see if this is actually the case--I understand that there can be departures, so to say, from the expected in Peace Corps.

Being the great wanderer that I am, I've sent many dispatches from my travels over the years via email but in an effort to keep up with the young kids and not clog your inboxes, I'm giving blogging a go. I'll try not to disappoint in this new medium.

After I leave Portland, I'll be spending a week in Colorado with my family and hopefully seeing some friends (you know who you are). But you didn't really think I wouldn't leave the country with some extra time on my hands, did you? I'm closing out August with two weeks in Costa Rica, then I come back to Colorado and depart for Peace Corps orientation at a time yet to be confirmed by Peace Corps.

Portland and Oregon may not have pulled me in as a permanent Northwesterner, but I will miss the bike commuting, food carts, gorgeous scenery, diverse microbrews, and entertaining people. Cool and overcast as it is today, it seems like the perfect farewell to my PDX year.