Staging in Philly

This is going to be a short post.  I just wanted to announce to the world that I went to staging in Philadelphia today and I have never, NEVER felt so comfortable in a group of total strangers.  Everyone has such interesting stories.  And everyone is so friendly!  It sort of feels like freshman orientation all over again, except less awkward because we're older and awesomer and we can go out to bars together.

Rwanda tomorrow.  Aaaah!

A (Brief) Story of Stuff

Well, I forgot to bring postage stamps.  I'm not sure I'd be able to use U.S. stamps in Rwanda anyway.

I'm currently in Boston visiting my brother, Silas, at Olin College.  I've gone from Seattle to my parents' house in California to here and I've been packing and repacking and shedding stuff along the way.  Initially I was excited to pack for Rwanda - it was the first thing I'd done that made my commitment seem real - but I've since become completely disillusioned with the whole process of gathering STUFF.  People have so much stuff.  I had no idea how much stuff I had until I had until I had to part with most of it.  I'm down to about 70 lbs. of stuff that will come with me to Africa, and while I only packed things I thought I'd need or sorely miss, it still feels like way too much and I'm tempted to abandon all of it at Jefferson Airport.

For anyone interested, here's a rough list of what I'm bringing:

- Some dress shirts, skirts and slacks for working in
- Long-sleeve and short-sleeve cotton tee shirts
- A couple pairs of cut-offs for biking in
- Two pairs of jeans
- Sports bras, cotton bras, cotton socks and about a dozen pairs of cotton underwear
- My Chacos
- Two pairs of comfortable dress shoes and one pair of hiking shoes
- Fleece and a waterproof jacket
- Some cotton scarves and bandanas
- A handful of office supplies
- A water filter bottle (gift from Dad)
- A small transistor radio (also a gift from Dad)
- Some cookware for camping, because it's compact/nonstick
- A compact sleeping bag
- Sheets and a towel
- My Swiss army knife and Leatherman multitool
- Deodorant and conditioner, since those are apparently hard to find in Rwanda
- Solar-powered flashlight (yet another gift from Dad - thanks Dad)
- This netbook
- My camera
- A money belt and my wallet
- Photos of people I left in Seattle
- My iPod (I figured it will at least be useful on the plane ride over)
- Earplugs and a sleep mask
- A small backup med kit I put together myself, containing things like Benadryl, ibuprofen, Neosporin, cold meds, bandages and lip balm
- Several half-pound bags of my favorite cooking spices
- A Kinyarwanda translation book, a French-English dictionary, a book on English grammar, and a few novels I've been intending to read for years but haven't yet

I hope someone finds this list and uses it for something, whether it's what to bring or what not to bring.  I'm sure I'll end up reporting on which of these things I actually end up using.

Oh, and for the record, I'm also taking a pair of flannel pajama pants I stole from my roommate and I'm already glad I have them.  Thanks, Tyler!

Getting Down to the Wire

I will be leaving Seattle in exactly two weeks.  There's not much left to do but pack, which has been an interesting process thus far.  I feel a little bit like a small child venturing into the woods with a Nerf gun and a flashlight - that is, I keep packing things that will make me "feel prepared" since I have no idea what will actually prepare me.

Well, not NO idea. The Peace Corps does provide prospective volunteers with country-specific packing lists. They also provide links to relevant travel websites and books that might have suggestions.  (I recommend So You Want to Join the Peace Corps: What to Know Before You Go by Dillion Banerjee, although it was published in 1994 and consequently has nothing useful to say about internet or telecommunications.)  I'm glad to have these resources - otherwise I probably would have packed for a camping trip and neglected such items as formal clothes, pictures of family and postage stamps - but I still feel more or less in the dark.

It's interesting how little available information there is about contemporary Rwanda.  I've found out that Rwanda's climate is only somewhat warmer than Seattle's, that Rwanda is one of the few places in the world where mountain gorillas can still be seen in their natural habitat, and that tourists should probably steer clear of the Rwanda-DRC border. That's about it.  Even pictures are difficult to find - at one point I ran a search and came up with pictures of Uganda and Benin.  It's difficult to find books on Rwanda's most ubiquitous language, Kinyarwanda.  In fact, most books about Rwanda focus on the 1994 genocide.  When I tell people I'm going to Rwanda I can tell that their first thoughts are of the genocide.  This is both depressing and exciting. I wish I knew more about the country that is soon to be home, but I'm also looking forward to facilitating what seems to be a sorely-needed exchange of information.

Wish me luck.

32 Days and Counting...

Muraho, blogosphere! I've never blogged before, so bear with me. These first couple of posts are going to be a little awkward.

Well, alright. As of September 10th, I am a Peace Corps Invitee and a prospective Peace Corps Volunteer, scheduled to depart for my orientation on October 19th. I'm excited and a little freaked out. In theory I've been mentally preparing myself for Peace Corps service since this time last year when I first filled out my application. I interviewed with Melissa Lawent (RPCV Romania) in October, spent a few months accruing additional hours of volunteer experience, became a nominee sometime in March (I think) and spent most of the late spring and early summer filling out medical forms. I considered the Peace Corps a serious - but eventual - goal. And then suddenly I had an invitation. It felt a little bit like being thrown in head-first, not least because I was given only five weeks' notice of my departure date, which I understand is a rushed timeline. I thought, what should I do now that this serious-but-eventual goal is an immediate reality?

Start a blog, I guess.

I'm not sure exactly what to do with this blog. A more authentic do-gooder would probably use it to educate others about the Peace Corps, ask for donations for side projects, things like that. It might become exactly that eventually, but right now it feels like a more legitimate version of LiveJournal, i.e. a way to share my thoughts and feelings about Peace Corps service with lots of people at once. Like I said, I've never blogged before, so bear with me.

PS. According to someone else's blog I read, "Mwaramutse" and "Muraho" are greetings in Kinyarwanda, the maternal language of Rwanda.