Wednesday, June 4, 2008

.test post/packing list

Hello! My name is Laura, and I'm about to embark on 27 months of what will likely amount to pure insanity. I'm a Peace Corps volunteer, reacting to the echo of Kennedy's call and barreling headfirst into adventure. Plus, I don't have to pay my student loans from my very expensive liberal arts college! And I get full health insurance! Send me wherever you want!

Just kidding, I'm really very excited to go have an adventure for adventure's sake. Anybody who's talked to me about this knows I've been chomping at the bit ever since I got the acceptance package. (...and the second acceptance package when Mongolia didn't work out because I couldn't get my wisdom teeth removed in time...) I'd do it without the health insurance. But that doesn't mean it's not a nice perk, and doesn't make my mother feel better about the whole thing. I'm heading out in July to teach English in Kyrgyzstan. If all goes well, I'll be there until September of 2010, and I'll come back with a new language and probably a lot of good stories.

Since I figure this isn't going to be of much interest to anybody but me (or, I suppose, eventually others that decide to make the Kierkegaardian leap to spend two years in a country they probably haven't heard of) I figure I might as well start off the blog with my tentative packing list.

Clothing:

10 pair underwear
3 pair wool socks
5 pair cotton socks
1 pair jeans
2 pair black slacks
1 black skirt
1 blazer
2 dress t-shirts
2 dress long shirts
2 tank tops
4 regular t-shirts
1 set long underwear (merino wool - shockingly expensive, yet rumored to be wonderful.)
1 pair yoga pants
2 regular bras
1 sport bra
1 pair Tevas
1 pair winter boots
1 pair black dress flats
1 pair cross-trainers
1 pair athletic shorts
1 winter jacket
1 winter vest
1 sweatshirt

Electronics:

1 laptop (+ charger)
1 laptop lock
1 pair speakers (assuming I can find some that work with my Mac…)
1 set headphones
1 iPod (+ charger)
1 DS (+ charger/games)
1 external hard drive (+ charger)
1 set rechargeable batteries (+ charger)
1 camera (+ charger)
1 surge protector
1-2 converters

Toiletries:

3 toothbrushes
2 boxes floss
1 toothpaste
1 box baking soda
1 DivaCup
1 bottle Dr. Bronner’s
1 prescription Bruxism guard
1 bottle hair gel
1 small makeup kit (powder, mascara, eyeliner, eyeshadow, foundation)
1 bottle face wash

Misc:

Books
Terrycloth towel (gank from hotel?)
Ziploc bags
Duct tape
Sharpies
Journal
Hot sauce
french press
coffee

Obviously, as the list gets longer, it also gets less and less essential. Basically, it's a lotta black. I figured it would be my best friend, as it wouldn't need to be washed as often, since it could hide dirt better. White was formally banished: even my socks are black.

I'm also only allowing myself to take one article of clothing that says "Smith Rugby" on it. It seems as though half of my friggin wardrobe is emblazoned with the various logo incarnations from my old team; while this was okay in college, I think it's a little creepy when matriculated individuals wear nothing but college duds. Separation issues. (It's particularly upsetting when people do it with high school stuff in any place other than a gym...) Granted, the Smith Rugby item I'm taking is my sweatshirt, but it's my favorite, and I figure I'm entitled to at least one instance of alumna sentimentality. Plus, I actually never purchased a piece of "Smith College" clothing. All of my rather impressive collection of Smith College-related paraphernalia is rugby-spawned.

Funny, how Smith Rugby pretty much pwnd all my bases.

Anyway, a year in Japan also taught me what life was like when I didn't dress adequately for cold indoors. Japan was far more industrialized than Kyrgyzstan, but it also boasted pretty poor indoor heating, at least by American standards. I'm well accustomed to cold weather, being a child of the frozen north; however, "cold" meant outside, with a usually over-heated inside to completely overcompensate for it. I spent a considerable amount of time being cold in my house in Japan, as a result. This time, I've added a lot more layering. Though, I also suspect it might be easier to get away with wearing coats indoors in Kyrgyzstan, if we're all freezing.

I also have extremely tentative plans to take the long way home from Kyrgyzstan when I reach the end of it (or come what may); I'm hoping I can pack mostly using my internal frame backpack, and have my second bag be some flimsy nylon number that I can just chuck when I'm getting ready to leave. It's likely that I'll ditch a lot of the stuff I'm bringing over when I'm gearing to go, like the french press, pretty much all the stationary/English teaching supplies, or even some of the shoes and clothes. Assuming that they make it that long... and even if they do, I probably won't want to look at them ever again.

But, I'm just starting to feel my way around. Packing has been going pretty good so far. And, no, I don't know where I'll be placed yet, or who exactly I'll be teaching English to. It's made packing a little more of a hassle, because I'd be able to prepare a bit better if I knew I'd be in a warm northern valley or up in a snowed-in mountain holler. Plus, it would help to know if I was getting a group of children who've never spoken a word of English in their lives, or college kids who would only really be interested in improving fluency. I've picked up a couple of extra books about English grammar, and a small dictionary of American slang, for general reference. Everybody loves learning slang, no matter what age. At least, it was always one of my favorites when I was learning Japanese...

But, hey, the uncertainty is part of the adventure. And: health insurance! Woo!