Waiting and wanting... (7 days!)

At the moment there are seven days until I leave Seattle on a plane bound for staging in Philadelphia. While I am in Philadelphia for just over 24 hours I as well as all the other volunteers in my training group will sign contracts, waivers, and release forms. During this overwhelming time we will be trying to get to know each other and get a better grasp on what is actually happening.
 What is actually happening?
It's that same answer that I have been using for the last 2 months... I don't know! I often get a funny look from people when I say this, you know the look that says "Are you crazy? You are leaving for over 2 years and you dont know what your doing?!?"  All I can say is "yep, thats kinda how the peace corps rolls". I have gotten used to it, Im actually totally ok with not knowing, Im just not ok with explaining why Im ok about not knowing.  When I decided to become a Peace Corps Volunteer I knew it was going to be a long process and something that would challenge me from beginning to end.  I didn't know how it was going to effect me before I even leave for Ghana but all I can say is that I'm ready already!  Come on lets go! It was really nice to have a few weeks after my summer job at Camp Kirby to see everybody that I love and do all sorts of fun stuff but now without school or a job I find myself with not much to do.  Sure I could be preparing but its not the night before just yet!  So with all that said I am slowing making a pile of things in my room. I don't actually need many more things, so the waiting game continues.

Heres a run down of my pile or at least the charismatic mega-fauna of the pile.

• Shoes that don't have holes in them. I will miss my holy shoes very much but all good thing must come to an end. So instead I am a chaco wearing, merrell sporting, toms loving PCV.
• Journals and books.  I have made two journals. One has turned into "My Life Story" mostly notes, lists, and things I should not forget, the other is turning into more of a photo journal. My pile is on top of my boxes of books from Bellingham so I have yet to pick out a few for my travels.
• Clothing. I dont like clothing very much, especially because I dont know what I'm supposed to wear in Ghana. Skirts and couple pairs of pants and some t-shirts are in the pile currently.
• Hammock!  I hope to be using this for most of my time in Ghana if, of course, I have a place to hang it.  It has a mosquito net and little bag to put things in and easy in and out opening. 
• Misc. items. New water bottle, camp towels, binoculars, multi tool, frying pan and knifes, duct tape, head lamp, and french press. Yep I dont think I'll be able to make it through 2 years with out some good coffee and I dont really want to risk it. 

 I have talked to a lot of people who have been in the Peace Corps, wanted to join the Peace Corps, or couldn't imagine joining the Peace Corps the major theme of all conversations boil down to two points. The first is the "wow thats so exciting" statement and the second is the "please be safe" statement. The second one is harder for people to understand, being safe in a foreign country is about adapting to their culture, respecting how they live and quite frankly being good at bullshiting confidence that you belong there. I have always been fairly good at fitting in with a very wide range of people from Oly GRUB workers at the farmers market to the science world of Western to the suit world of my mothers colleagues and all that is in-between. Im pretty sure I can pull this off!

On a different note just because I love seasons so much. Today was the most beautiful fall day. Everything about a fall storm is amazing, sitting at my desk with rain pounding against the glass and watching the trees get blown around by gusts that would snatch the umbrella out of your hand, that is if people in Washington ever used umbrellas. I drank some wonderful local coffee and got wet walking around downtown looking for nothing in particular. Another day of "not doing anything" went without a hitch. Im going to miss fall and winter but Im looking forward to soaking up as much vitamin D as possible while I can!

Until next time
Live in love