Space and Time

This is the last weekday I will spend at home. WOW. The last one. I woke up early this morning thinking about that. After months and months of waiting for the day I will leave to start my Peace Corps service, it is finally almost here. Sunday I will fly to Philadelphia for staging and then Monday night we leave for the airport. South America here we come!

As a PC Trainee (and soon a Volunteer), I am expected to do certain things. There are 10 Core Expectations for Peace Corps Volunteers. The main one that I have been focusing on is this: Prepare your personal and professional life to make a commitment to serve abroad for a full term of 27 months. Before clicking the APPLY button, I made a commitment. I have been focusing on this goal since December 2009. After my interview, nomination, medical stuff, placement, and another interview I am ready to get to it. It feels like I have been preparing forever. Some people say that one can over prepare, but I do not subscribe to that thought; I think the opposite is true. Because I have been ‘packing’ since January, I know what exactly I want to take, what I can wait for and what I can live without. Before leaving Florida I reduced my belongings by a solid 50%. Then I went through my stuff again…bye bye 10%. Now when I look at the things I actually have, I am amazed by how much there still is. I am also surprised by how much ‘stuff’ I think I need to take with me to Guyana. I had an issue with clothes in the beginning, but then a mood hit me and I decided to eliminate non-essential items. (I put a few more things back in after confirming with PC that we can take up to 100 pounds.) Then yesterday I had a mini-meltdown. I unpacked and repacked my luggage, removing nonessential items (6 to be exact). OK, great I got everything back in, but now does each bag weigh less than 50 pounds? NOPE! GGGGRRRRRrrrr time to rearrange. Rearranging complete, weight again- NOPE! 6 pounds over in one bag, 13 pounds under on the other. I felt like the scale was laughing at me. I spent 3 hours total working on the puzzle that is packing my life away into two suitcases. What about my carry-on bag you say? HA! It can only be 45 linear inches total. My backpack can be filled to about 60 inches, so that is an entire other story.Yeah, 100 pounds. Can you imagine shoving your life into two suitcases and a backpack? Given that Guyana has everything I would need to survive, I feel a bit gluttonous bringing so much with me. Then I think again…the things that I surround myself with right now are important to me. In time those things may lose value, but at this time I have a desire for them. The other factor in packing besides weight is space. I was given certain dimensional parameters that I am required to adhere to. Whatever I can fit in that space is what I can take. I also shipped myself a ‘care package’. It is so strange to put this extra stuff in a box and pay to have it shipped to me in Guyana before I even get there. I had an issue with the customs form...I had to list everything that was in the box. Well, I forgot everything I put in there. I hope in 2- 4 weeks when I am reunited with said package I will still want the items it contains. I am also hoping that it contains all of the items I put in it!

As much as packing is difficult and frustrating, I’m sure it is NOTHING compared to what I will soon encounter. I can only deal with what is in front of me, so I have been focusing on wrapping up my life. I cannot wait to get rid of my car. Bye Bye crappy car! You have served me well for 8 years, now GEEEEeeeeeT OUT. (Oh yeah Alicia, it’s still funny!) Other than packing things away and completing all of the other tasks moving to another country requires, I have been doing the things I love. These past 6 weeks have been amazing… OK, the past 6 months actually. :) It feels like I have been counting down and getting in all the fun before this thing happens. Eating great food I enjoy, being around the people I love, doing the things I want to do, etc. Why didn’t I live like this before? (Maybe not having a job for the past few months is a major reason- I had the time.) But really, why is it that when I have a countdown to a time when I won’t be here anymore it seems more important to spend the time any differently?  Now that I know the feeling I will make an effort to live the same way in the future-to not put things off, do the things I love, spend time with people, and enjoy each day.