The Countdown

24 days until I leave for my Staging in Washington, D.C.

Holy crap. Not "holy crap" in the "I am so not ready for this" fashion, but more of a "It is almost here" kind.  Occasionally I find myself in a mild panic over being somewhere completely foreign to me and worried that I will not be able to pick up the language or integrate well into my community. Heck, what if the other PCVs I am clustered with hate my guts!? I'm awesome and everything, but hey, these things could happen. 

Then I worry about the stuff I still need to take care of before I leave: selling my car, getting the last of my debts paid off, taking care of bank and credit card stuff, getting my power of attorney in order, repacking my stuff for storage, scrounging up some inhalers to last a few months (2 should do, right?) and getting the last of what I need to buy out of the way.  Oi with poodles already.

Did I mention I have yet to really dig in to my Ukrainian Lessons? Slap on the wrist, right here.

I suppose the good news is that in spite of all of these worries, they don't occur often or for very long.  Plus I am continuously excited about getting this adventure started :)

Are you leaving for Ukraine in March?

Then I hope you are a part of our online groups!

Google Group
Facebook Page

/end plug for online groups.

PS:  Colds suck!  I have decided I will be adding a Neti pot to my packing list.

Why hello there Staging e-mail!

As I was driving to work this morning, my phone brought to my attention that I had an e-mail.  When I checked the information bar and saw that it was from "Staging" I got pretty excited, to say the least.  Since I have a 45 minute drive to work, I took advantage my quiet car time and called to schedule my flight :)  Here are the some of the details of my last two days in the US:

Monday March 21, 2011
-Meme will ensure that my ass is out of bed by 4AM
-Leave house 5-ish to make the 50 minute drive to Gainesville's airport!
-Plane leaves at 6:40AM for Charlotte, NC! Arrives 8:08AM
-Hang out at airport until 9:43 Flight to D.C.!  Arrives 11AM
-Rush to find baggage claims and get my millions hundred pounds of luggage and experience my first taxi ride!
-STAGING!

• Noon: Registration
• 2-4:25P: Who We Are, What is Expected of You
• 4:45-7P: What You Expect, What's Next, Closing

Tuesday March 22, 2011

-Wake up early and be a tourist with fellow UKR 41ers!

-Check out of hotel @ 1PM :)

-Bus to airport @ 1:30PM

-MORE PLANES!

• Flight to Frankfurt: Leaves @ 6:50PM, Arrives 7:40A (7 hr 50min flight)
• Flight to Kyiv Leaves @ 9:45A, Arrives 1:10P

I must say, I think my group lucked out in the travel arrangement department.  We don't have to leave in the wee hours of the morning to wait hours and hours for the plane; we get to do it in the afternoon!  Plus, there are no ridiculously long layovers between flights.

I feel like I have gotten a ton of e-mail of the PC persuasion lately.  I need to e-mail my peer support person back and go through the numerous attachments in my e-mails.  Good thing I have a ton of time now that I am no longer working!

Today was my last day.  Almost 7 years in the same company!  Talking about it with an old co-worker on my way home made me teary-eyed.  I learned a lot in my job it really helped me to grow and become more open, so saying goodbye to that chapter is a bit weird.  But alas, ON TO BETTER THINGS!

This post is all over the place, so let's send it one more place:  Snapshots of Service!
We only need 7 more countries to have a complete roster.

Oh yeah, and I didn't proofread this, so don't judge any potential mistakes.  If you do decide to judge, then do so lightly :)

Failure and Success!

Obviously my 365 thing has failed.  Life got in the way, well it is more like silly work hours got in the way.  Oh well!

Anywho, I got my Ink Armor cover up sleeve for my arm and it is quite freaking nifty and results in tattoo cover success!

Look, Ma! No tattoos!

Now that I know I got the size right, I need to order another one, maybe 2 just to be on the safe side..

Lesotho, Macedonia, Jamaica, Mexico, and Georgia Invitees!

Hi :)  Want to be a part of a traveling journal project involving 50 PCVs in 50 countries for the 50th anniversary of the Peace Corps?

For whatever reason, my Snapshots of Service blog hasn't been approved (yet, I need to get a nudge going on that) for PC Journals, so here I am on my personal blog putting the work out:  WE NEED 12 MORE PCVs!  The countries listed in the title are unrepresented and, according to PC Wiki, have invitees!  Other non-represented countries include: Mozambique, The Gambia, Cape Verde, Honduras, Ghana, Namibia, and Tanzania!  Check out: http://pcsnapshotsofservice.blogspot.com/ for more information on the project and how to get involved.

It would be awesome if others could help me get the word out as I would love to have everything compiled and ready to go by the end of the month! Thanks!

PS: I am slacking on photo posting.  Perhaps this weekend.
PSS: I have a massive annoyance with Blogger's insistence on making edits to pages with HTML code.  Jerks!

Student Loans

Thank goodness I never took out private loans.  All it is going to take is filling out 2 economic hardship deferments (one for Sallie Mae and one for Direct Loans) and sending my PC info from staging.  Another upside? Forbearance for both loans for the next two months, which is great since I will not be able to afford those payments.

Easy squeezy fo cheezy.

PS: Last day of work is February 19 and then I have a month until I leave for Ukraine!

3(three) :::: 3(eight)

(33) I will occasionally call my mom an ask if I can cook dinner for the family at her house.  She usually says yes and they wound up with some freaking delicious vegetarian chili and potatoes.

(34) Say hello to my collection of bags of stuff for Ukraine.  Here you can see my sheet set, smaller duffel bag, and bags of clothes (cardigans, trench coat, and dress shirts).  My sleeping bag is somewhere hiding behind the pile.

(35) Poor, lonely Cortez.  Spaghetti now has a new home (so sad) since I realized I need to work on weaning myself from my cats and finding them a good home.  I didn't realize Spaghetti would be gone so fast though (I found a home for her less than 12 hours after I started looking).  She is now living with a retired doctor and his wife who just had to put their kitty down.  Cortez is going stir-crazy and I can tell he misses her :(

(36) Since Cortez has been so lonely and meowy lately, I brought him over to my mom's this past weekend so he could get tons of attention.  He tried making friends with my mom's cats, but they weren't really having any of it, so they kept busy outside most of the time.  My family loves him (he is seriously the sweetest cat ever) which is why it bums me out that they will not take him in since he isn't an outdoor cat.

(37) My little brother puts up with my crap and I love it.  He found a little cow toy in my car (how it got there, I will never know), so I made him pose with it and let me take pictures.  Such a trooper!

(38) I currently call this forest home.  So strange to live in a forest after living in a desert for so long!

Thirty(1) & Thirty(2)

(31) Oh the blow out and underdeveloped nature! I like it though :)

(32) Cortez loves shoe boxes apparently.  I have been keeping my PC stuff in a shoe box and pulled out my welcome packet to look through things.  Cortez jumped at the chance to relax in a box.

Need warm socks for service?

Smartwool socks for cheap! http://www.sierratradingpost.com/search/SearchResults.aspx?allwords=smartwool&searchdescriptions=True

Sweet deal :)
Now I shall have warm feeties in Ukraine.  Thank goodness.