Parties and Tchaus

Today is my last full day in the US of A until December of 2015... It seems o so far away, but I know it will fly by. Yesterday my families had a going away party for me. It was so much fun to see all of my family and friends in the Chicago area. I can't believe how much support I have. My cousins and I stayed up entirely too late watching youtube videos and drinking beer while enjoying the great life in our country together. Then we woke up nice and early to grab a hugeeeee breakfast with a bunch of my family. I devoured a spinach, feta, and mushroom omelette. After I went to my cousin Jamie's engagement party. It was great to see her and my family over there as well. Tomorrow, however, I depart Chicago at 9:55 am. I will be headed for Philly. I should arrive a little after noon, and be there the following day as well. We will have a conference in the afternoon and then take a bus at 2am on the 25h up to New York. That same day we will fly out of JFK to Africa... That is a scary thought... 50 or so emotional and excited Peace Corps Volunteers on an airbus for 16 hours to South Africa where we will catch a connecting flight to Maputo, Mozambique. I am so excited, just typing this blog post is making my heart race. I hope to have some great stories and tell about some amazing people that I will meet over the next few days! I will leave you with one of the youtube videos that my cousins and I discovered last night... (Jon shared this one with us)

Weird, but oddly hilarious

2/3 of Packing Doneski

First let me explain our packing situation. We are allowed 1 carry-on, and 2 checked bags. The checked bags must not exceed 50lbs per bag. One bag we will have access to during our 10 week training period and the other bag we will not receive until we move to our job site in December. This makes packing that much more difficult. So far I have figured out my carry-on and my bag that I will have during training. I can tell you this... I am exhausted. I will tell you what is in my 1st bag, and update later.

Bag for training (38lbs) will contain

1 khaki pants

2 button downs

1 pair jeans

3 t-shirts

1 tank top

1 long sleeve shirt

1 hoodie

1 blue cargo shorts

1 khaki cargo shorts

2 athletic shorts

running shoes

sambas

toms

8 pair underwear

4 pair black ankle socks

3 pair white ankle socks

3 pair crew socks

along with the stuff in this picture... 

Underwear and Socks

So i have been struggling on what to pack for the next 27 months in Mozambique. The other soon to be volunteers and I have been questioning what is important. I have the solution. I have the answer to the infamous question, how do you pack for that long? The answer is simple. It is fundamental, and it goes back to every child's Christmas present nightmare... Underwear and Socks. That's all I'm going to bring. Well not all I am going to bring, but it sure would make this packing easier. As I sit here listening to Sail by AWOLNATION, I am going to continue to ponder my thoughts on object importance. I will report all my findings back as soon as I can comprehend my packing situation.

7 days

On The Home Stretch... or something like that

Time is ticking away. I will be on an Airbus for Africa in exactly 2 weeks 2 hours and 32 minutes. That time will go by very quickly, and to make the time seem like it is further away I have been counting down in minutes. That means I am 20,280 minutes from departing to Mozambique. When I put it that way, it seems a lot more manageable to get everything done before i leave.

The past few weeks have been great. I flew back to Tuscaloosa and spent time with family and friends. My mother had a going away party for me here in town, and it was amazing to see so many people come say farewell and good luck. I felt so much support, and it was very encouraging.

Yesterday my dad and I crushed a few buckets at the driving range, and today my mom and I are flying back to Chicago for a couple of weeks before I depart. The next 20,276 (it has been 4 minutes since I last typed the countdown) minutes of life should be amazing! I am really looking forward to some final preparations.

For everyone interested, The Auburn Plainsman will have an article about me in their weekly paper tomorrow!! Check it out! I am hoping to share some stories with the Auburn Community while I am gone. My goal is to share a little about the Mozambican life with my friends and family back here in the States.

My next couple of blog posts should begin to get more interesting. I will be sharing info on what I will be packing for the next 27 months! Honestly... who the hell knows how to pack for 2 years?!?! Well I think I should go grab some food. I will begin to update more often now that life is starting to become real.