Jumping off the cliff

Well it's finally actually happening.  As much as my brain tries to deny it, I will be leaving for the Peace Corps for two years of service in Senegal in exactly one week.  This begs the question, how did I get here?  Well that deceptively simple question is one that I have been trying to wrap my head around lately.  Somewhere between annoying my friends and family with activist clubs, volunteering for various things, and oh yeah going to school 12 hours a day as a theatre major, I decided it might be fun to go into the Peace Corps after college, to take some time and do something meaningful and good for the world... so I applied... and low and behold they took me.  One might think that the logical progression from application to acceptance would thus culminate in departure oversees... yes one might think that, but my brain is exceedingly stubborn and will certainly not believe any of this is actually happening until I land in Dakar, Senegal on August 11th.

Denial or no denial, there is packing to be done!  It amazes me actually how fully I have engaged with American consumerism before supposedly living a simpler life in Africa.  I have been shopping non stop, and frankly will be perfectly happy if I never enter another Wall-Mart again in my life.  Thanks to my dad and his connections in the outdoor industry I have gotten some pretty spectacular gear.  I feel a bit like MacGyver with all of my gadgets: a solar panel, a storage battery, rechargeable AA's and AAA's, adapters, cables for everything, medical supplies, a 4 band world phone, a dry bag for my laptop, 2 UV water purifiers, 2 ceramic water filters capable of filtering enough water for 40 people per day, and a digital camera waterproof down to 33ft deep.  That's just the tip of the iceberg.  Here are the most recent pictures of my piles of stuff.

And my solar panel and battery.  I'm pretty sure this will come in handy :-)

Without a doubt this transition is going to be hard.  I will miss friends and family and most of all Hannah, but hopefully she will wait for me.  It's only two years honey ;-).  Sorry to get corny, I won't do it too often, I promise.  Hopefully this blog will help everyone to feel connected to me and me to them during this time.  I promise to be as interesting and funny as possible, and if all goes well I may get a few poignant or profound moments... we'll see :-).  Thanks for reading and I hope to see you back here soon!

Au Revoir!