Adjusting to Botswana

I am still struggling with the day-to-day of being away from home and those I love. Every time I think I’m starting to settle in, waves of homesickness come over me and I feel like giving up and going home. I am still asking myself, “What the hell am I doing here?” and “Why did I decide to do this?”. I didn’t think it would be this hard to be away from Colin and from everyone I care about.  Everything is very magnified here- from the rain, to the sky, to the loneliness.  I feel a lot of guilt and anxiety being away from home. It’s hard making the choice to stay here every day because I know I could end these feelings by getting on a plane to come home. It’s a choice I make every day to stay here. I will say that one of my fellow trainees had to go home to deal with a medical crisis in his family. At that moment, I was (shamefully) both jealous that he was going home and no one would fault him for it, and glad that I didn’t have to make that choice. Easton, if you’re out there, we’re all rooting for you and your mom and we hope you are able to come back to us quickly! It’s hard thinking about all of the things that could happen at home over which I have no control. 

Things you should know about Botswana and Batswana (people of Botswana):

-       Batswana are not immune to auto-tuning. There are lots of Setswana songs that are auto-tuned, and they sound just as stupid as American ones.

-       My host family is now focused on clearing the rocks from the yard. I have helped in this, despite the fact that the yard and the “soil” is entirely made up of rocks. I don’t know why we are doing this or whether or not there will be a time when they’re like, “Ok! Re Feditse! (we’re finished!”).

-       Mail is taking a long time to get here. I received a card from Mr. and Mrs. Ross (thanks, guys! My first and only piece of mail so far!!)- an Easter card, on Thursday last week, very timely. But they sent it on April 1^st, so, yeah.

-       The food here is gross. I am not one of those people who was evolutionarily designed to survive. I would starve before eating something I think is nasty.

-       The Batswana do not believe in hand-washing the way that we do. My host mom prepared chicken last night, and those of you who know me can probably imagine how I was freaking the eff out. I mean, her hands went directly from inside the raw chicken (which was being prepared in the basin where we wash dishes), to the light switch, to the door knobs, to clean dishes, to clean cutlery, to the fridge, to the baby. I tried to disinfect as best I could (everything but the baby) with hand sanitizer and hot water. I am hoping that the broad-spectrum tetracycline antibiotics I am on for malaria prophylaxis (doxycycline) will also prevent me from getting salmonella and other food borne bacteria illnesses. Fingers crossed!

-       I have not seen a car here with an entirely intact windshield. There are lots of accidents involving cows/goats/donkeys/dogs/chickens/people. I buckle my seat belt whenever I have one and then hope for the best.

-       Batswana tell me to put a jacket on or shoes on all the time. This drives me crazy because I am used to deciding myself when I am cold. They also worry about walking in the rain- that it will make us sick. Unfortunately, I don’t have much choice about that because I can’t afford to take a taxi every day to and from training and still be able to afford wine and chocolate. Walking in the rain works for me.

Things you should know about me:

-       I am exhausted. From the walking back and forth to training every day (~18000 total steps according to my pedometer) to the constantly being “on-call” as a PC trainee (having to be nice and friendly and culturally appropriate always), to not sleeping very well has made me go to bed by 8 or 9:00 almost every night.

-       Mailing shit to me is extremely expensive. I don’t need anything, so please don’t feel that you need to send me stuff. Obviously, it is much appreciated, but I know it’s really a pain in the ass and not financially feasible. I can live without (or at least that’s what I’m trying to prove to myself right now)! People here live with what they have and that’s part of my job, too. If there’s anything I need that I can’t get here, I don’t really need it.

-       All of the trainees here are becoming like family. Yes, we spend entirely too much time together, and sometimes we drive each other crazy (they have seen me be a total bitch), but we are all in this together and I wouldn’t be here without their support.

-       I still don’t know whether I am going to be able to stick this out. I have a lot of moments of self-doubt. I miss home immensely. I am trying to take things a day at a time, but sometimes it’s really hard.

-       From Wednesday to Sunday this week, I am traveling to Maun to shadow other Peace Corps Volunteers (you should be able to find their blog- Ross and Heidi). I am really excited about this trip. Maun is in the Okavango River Delta and is a very long bus ride away, but I’m happy to get out of Kanye and spend some time seeing what volunteers actually do.

-       I found out that the NGO I will most likely be working with is the Botswana National Youth Council. I think this is good, but who knows at this point.

-       My host family likes me most when I am dancing, or doing impressions of myself running into cows at night or doing impressions of my parents snoring (sorry mom and dad). I am much like a clown here and they are constantly chanting, “Lorato, bina (dance)!”, “Lorato, mogaro (snore)!”, or “Lorato le kgomo (Lorato & cow)!” and then laughing when I appease them. My dancing is terrible, so they ask me to dance often. Actually, they don’t ever ask me to do anything, and I can’t tell if it’s a cultural difference or a language limitation that I am constantly being ordered around.

-       The trainees have claimed a bar called Motse Lodge. We usually go there Saturdays after training ends around noon. It’s expensive, but worth it for the wine, food, and lack of people other than us trainees and the bar tenders. I look forward to these afternoons.

-       Tomorrow (Monday, the 25^th) is my first LPI (Language Proficiency Interview). It’s an oral test of my Setswana skills (or rather, my lack thereof). I am trying not to get to stressed about it as it’s sort of just practice, but it’s hard for me because I am not used to being crappy at academic things. Setswana is a very hard language to learn. I am not good at it. Ask my host family, they’ll tell you, “Lorato sesu! (Lorato is a fool)”. I am trying to get used to not being top of the class.

-       I would love to upload pictures, but the Internet here is slow and my time is extremely limited. Maybe while I’m in Maun, I’ll be able to give it a try, but no guarantees. I’m also having issues with my camera in uploading pics onto my computer- don’t know what the deal is there. Meh.

-       Molly (one of our cats at home in Brockport) is sick again. At first they were thinking leukemia (watch my heart breaking), but that is looking much less likely (so thankful for that!). This is part of the reason that I’m so anxious to be home. Colin is taking care of things with the awesome help of our parents who have been shuttling Molly back and forth to specialists and watching him when Colin’s not home. Thanks to Gary & Karen & mom & dad. You guys are life savers! Still don’t know exactly what’s wrong with him, but hoping for the best.

-       My sister Kate and her husband Brent are on a fabulous vacation. They are stationed in Korea, so they decided to travel to Cambodia and Thailand. I’m super jealous. Sounds amazing.

-       Colin and parents and Caitlin (and Mike, too, I think?) went down to see Grandma in Binghamton this weekend for Easter. Jealous of them, too.

That’s about it! Love to all. Miss you! Your emails and texts and calls and mail is so much appreciated. Peace!

Homestay beginning

I feel like it’s been weeks since I have arrived in Africa, but I’ve only been here for 9 days. After over 30 hours of traveling, we arrived in Gaborone, Botswana at the Big Five Lodge which was to be our home from Sunday to Thursday. The hotel was very nice, especially by Botswana standards. I hope to be able to post pictures soon. We started training almost immediately, to include Setswana language classes, culture lessons, training and volunteer expectations, Peace Corps rules and policies, and information about our jobs and duties as Peace Corps volunteers.  For now we are considered Peace Corps Trainees (PCTs). We become Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) when we swear in June 7^th.  We find out our specific jobs and where we will be posted on May 14^th. 

Anyway, Thursday, I met my host family. It was a very crazy day. We left Gabs and headed to Kanye, a village about an hour (?) away, where we spend the duration of our training. We had a long ceremony with the host families and then finally they announced who belonged to whom. My host mom did a lot of yelling and jumping up and down with excitement. She held my hand for about 2 hours. She speaks about zero English. We took a kombi ride home and I felt so scared and lonely when it dropped me off with this stranger in a strange place that was to be my home. I walked into the house and met my new nephew, Buhle, who is 4 months old and his mom (my sister), Amogelang, who is 21 (her birthday is today!). My brother, Obekeng, is 16 (turning 17 on Sunday). I have another brother, Bakang AKA Andrew, who is 26 (ish?).  My new Setswana name is Lorato, which means love. My surname is Obusitswe. There are two tenants who live in my family’s compound, Kago (23) and Thabano (26). I think I have a dad (?) who works in South Africa but will be coming home for Easter.

Thursday was extremely overwhelming. With the anxiety of meeting my family aside, I was also dealing with jet lag, anti-malarial medications, and new vaccinations (typhoid, yellow fever, rabies, meningitis, and flu so far). My host family wasn’t speaking much English and I was exhausted. It was (and still is) so awkward for me to sit in a room with strangers who I am supposed to treat (and who are supposed to treat me) as family. Communication is a huge barrier.

My homestay situation seems to be one of the most basic/limited in terms of amenities in our trainee group. Our compound has 2 buildings and a pit latrine. The one building, where Kago and Thabano live, has the kitchen with a small fridge, a gas stove, and an electric kettle that we use to heat water for bathing, laundry, and washing dishes.  There is no running water, but we have a tap out at the end of the yard and I’m constantly carrying water up to the house in buckets. In the other building, we have a sitting room with a tv (that is on always, at full blast, and is tuned in to ridiculous old American tv shows, Setswana soap operas, WWE, and other such awfulness), 3 bedrooms, and a bathroom. The bathroom is where we bathe only, but we carry in all the water from outside for bucket baths. I have figured out how to wash my hair, my body, and the bathtub (before and after my bath) with only my 3 gallon bucket full of water. I have yet to figure out how to do this without getting water all over the floor.  The house is made of cement- walls and floor, with a corrugated metal roof that also serves as a ceiling and a roosting area for chickens and roosters. BTW, whoever said that roosters crow at dawn was leaving a lot out. They crow all the damn time. My bedroom has a twin bed, two nighstands where I keep my clothes, and a small table and nightstand where I store my toiletries. There is also a chair where I dry clothes/towels and my luggage, which also holds stuff.  I have a door that locks with a key and a window (no screen). I think I have managed to rid myself of the spiders with whom I was sharing the room with a terrifying and wonderful product called DOOM. I have a light in my room (a lightbulb that dangles out of the wall), but electricity is either all on or all off here- there are no switches to this lightbulb, so it’s on when the power for Kanye is on, and off when the power for Kanye is off. Thankfully, I have a headlamp and a couple of flashlights, and I have an eye mask because the light is on all night long.

At my house, we have a lot of visitors.They come and hang out all day and there are always kids around. I’m not really sure who is related and who isn’t, but I know that some are cousins, some are friends, and some are neighbors. They are trying to teach me different games but I am terrible at all of them. I taught them how to limbo, which they seem to like. I wish I knew more kids games that are easy to explain without much talking and without any equipment. I’ve figured out that nail polish is universal and that it will make me friends with little girls quickly.

It is pretty hot here right now. It gets “cool” at night, but I keep hearing that it will eventually get cold. It’s pretty dry, though I did experience my first thunderstorm when we were staying at the Lodge in Gabs and it was pretty awesome. I can tell that it’s pretty dry now, as I’m drinking lots of water but not using the bathroom very much at all (whether this is related to dehydration or my fear of the pit latrine, I’m not sure). The landscape is very hilly and surprisingly green, though there is that classic red-brown African dirt everywhere that there isn’t trees or scrub brush. There are chickens, donkeys, and cows (wearing bells) everywhere. We have vervet monkeys that hang out at the training center, too. They seem pretty shy. My house has a dog named Bobi. I have become friends with him. I haven’t seen anyone beat him yet, but I heard it happen the other night. I’m trying to stay disconnected from that as much as possible, but I still try to feed and water him whenever I can and I talk to him and give him some attention.

I have a cell phone. It works sort of. Getting in touch with me can be difficult, especially if you’re using a phone card. Skype calls work pretty well, but I get disconnected a lot. I can receive calls and texts at no cost to me. I can’t text back to Skype or to phones without international texting turned on (mom and dad, yours isn’t on, call Verizon!). My cell phone number is (011 or +1) 267 (country code) 76569775 (yes, 8 digits). I’m 6 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time and I go to bed early, so no calls after 10 p.m. my time. If you’re texting me, please include a signature with your name or something so I know who you are since I don’t have most numbers programmed in to my phone.

I spent Friday in training. We processed our first night of homestay and I was the crier. It really had nothing to do with my family or house, but everything to do with being homesick. I was ready to go home to New York and back to Colin and comfort. I’m definitely still having moments like that, but I’m trying to focus on my goals and why I’m here and what I’m hoping to accomplish while I’m here. I wanted this so badly and I don’t want to give up just because I’m lonely. But having the choice and the ability to go home at any moment definitely makes it harder to decide to stay!

Saturday I went to the shops with my sister and met my other brother who lives in Gaborone but visits on weekends. I spent the rest of the day playing with my sister and her friends and their children. They love to watch me dance and struggle with speaking Setswana. Every time I talk (or dance), most people start laughing. This is hard for me to get used to. Being stared at all the time is difficult, too. I’m hoping that when I start getting a grasp on Setswana, this will feel less awkward and unusual.

Sunday I went to a church with Thabano. My family doesn’t go to church, but I asked to go for the experience. It was pretty interesting. It was extremely loud because the sound system was jacked up and not very good. The service was done in Setswana and English and Shelley, the other volunteer who was there with me, and I were asked to introduce ourselves to the congregation. I was somehow able to avoid committing to a second visit. Two and a half hours of a Sunday morning will be much better spent sleeping in, but I’m glad I went to see what it was like. I met a bunch of friends and walked downtown with them for most of the rest of the day. We found the Internet café and ended up sunburned and parched from being out in the sun for so long.

Monday we had training bright and early at 8:00. My host family doesn’t let me walk anywhere alone, which is annoying, but probably good since I can’t seem to figure out where I live or where anyone else lives. My sense of direction is bad enough when there are street signs and maps, but there is no map for me here and no street signs, and my family takes me “short cuts” to everything, so we go a different way every damn time and I can’t figure out where shit is. It’s frustrating.

We have training every day from 8 until 4:30. Next week, we have to start walking to training ourselves- they’ve been picking us up at our kgotlas (village meeting center) since we got here, but the star treatment ends at the end of the week. This means about an hour (?) long walk each way, so I’ll be getting up with the sun.

I’m tired of the food already. Paleche, morogo (like spinach but much more bitter), porridge (fermented sorghum meal), bread, rice, pasta (plain), and dumplings (bread) are the basic staples (SO MUCH STARCH!!!), along with cabbage, beans, maize (like corn, but very tough and chewy), and pumpkin. We eat beef and chicken sometimes but I try to avoid the meat because it’s not my favorite thing. Care packages welcome! Easy Mac, regular Mac & cheese, cheese that doesn’t require refrigeration, crackers (Better Cheddars would be amazing or Cheese Ritz Bits), granola, dry fruit, granola or fruit bars, beef jerky, and all forms of spices (chili powder, garlic powder, red pepper, black pepper, onion powder) would be amazing, as would pictures and letters. I think I’m not supposed to get boxes yet (padded envelopes only), and it’s very expensive to mail stuff, but I think Colin has the best system figured out, so just ask him. When filling out the customs form, just put “Educational Materials”. 

Anyway, Internet is spotty- we have it at the training site, but only about an hour of the day available to use it, so I haven't been able to read much news or FB too much. I hope it will be different once I get to my site, but we'll see... 

That's all for now!

Wow, I'm in Africa!

Dumelang boma le boro! I made it to Gaborone! It was a very long trip and Philadelphia and Rochester seem like so long ago. So far everything is good. I'm feeling healthy but tired and totally overwhelmed. I had been waiting for this experience to feel real, and yesterday while having tea at our hotel right after we arrived, it finally is: I'm in AFRICA!!! Internet is expensive and slow, but we get our phones tomorrow and then Colin will have my contact info. Thursday we leave to go to our training site and start our stay with our host families. Scary!  xoxo

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Tomorrow is the day! I depart for staging around 11 a.m. and arrive in Philly around 1:00. These last few days have felt really bizarre. Honestly, I've tried hard not to think about the magnitude of what I'm about to do. Sometimes I look at my packed bags or my comfortable bed or my loving partner or my adorable cats and think, "Am I really doing this? What was I thinking?" But, I have managed to limit my thoughts to just that. Any further and I might just stay in bed all day tomorrow and be content to keep my life comfortable and familiar.

Colin and I have been talking about the differences between being the Leaver and being the One Left Behind. Now that we're experiencing the opposite of our normal, it's so much easier to relate. I think I know what he's going through because I have watched him leave so many times. I think he knows what I'm going through because he has done this before. We both agree that it's probably easiest for the Leaver in a lot of ways. Everything will be new and exciting and overwhelming for me. Though I will have to strike some balance between sadness over leaving him and excitement about this adventure, he is stuck in our home with everything to remind him that I'm gone.

Right now is a good time for me to reflect on why I'm joining the Peace Corps and moving around the world for over 2 years, thousands of miles from the people I love. Since we moved back to Rochester almost 2 years ago after Colin finished his active duty Army status, I have felt unsatisfied with my circumstances. The job hunt lasted over a year and yielded no results. I felt stuck and like I was waiting for my life to start again. I'd been thinking about the Peace Corps and thinking that it would be an awesome adventure to take with Colin, but due to his job, he could not qualify for Peace Corps service. I finally decided that this is something I have to do, even if on my own. I don't want to feel like I'm not contributing to making the world better. As cheesy as it is, I want to do something, ANYTHING, good for humanity. These next two years will define the rest of my life.

I am a little bit older than a bunch of the volunteers in our Bots 10 group, and a little bit younger. Many in our group have just graduated from college, and then at the other end of the spectrum are people who have retired or are around my parents' age. I'm hoping that this will allow me to relate to everyone more easily. I'm excited to meet this group! We've been talking on Facebook and the blogs for months and tomorrow I'll finally be able to see their faces in person. I'm a little shy when it comes to meeting new people, but I'm hoping all of the awkwardness will be softened by the nervousness and slight intimacy we've achieved with our angsty/confused/panicky posts on Facebook. I think sharing our vulnerability in this way warms us up for the face-to-face "getting to know you" aspect of Staging and orientation. 

I feel like I'm as ready as I'll ever be for Peace Corps. Colin and I went to the movies last night and saw The Last Lions. It was set in Botswana, so you know we had to do it. It was a nature documentary about lions (obv.) and it made me more excited and anxious (if that's even possible). My bags are packed and I'm almost 2 lbs overweight. I haven't decided whether I'm going to bother weeding through my luggage again or whether I quit and just keep my fingers crossed that no one cares about an extra two pounds. At some point, I need to post my final packing list- you'd be amazed what we've managed to fit into my bags. I say "we" as if I actually did anything- Colin is a professional packing genius and I tasked him with making it fit.

These last couple of weeks are sort of a fog already, and I know that a week from now, this day will feel like it happened years ago. I have said so many goodbyes. I really hate saying goodbye. I know it's sort of stupid to say that, because who likes it? I just don't think I'm very good at it. Typically, I don't cry and I think that can be disappointing to the other person if they are crying. When Colin deployed, I always waited until the last second to show any emotion and would usually wait until he was out of sight before tearing up. I'm wondering what will happen tonight. We're having my parents and Colin's parents over, along with our close friends, Marie, Lauren, Craig, and L&C's daughter, Evelyn. It will be the last time I see them before leaving tomorrow. Colin will take me to the airport, and that's probably when I'll be visibly upset. Something to look forward to!

I'm also looking forward to dinner in Philadelphia tomorrow night. Since I'm the only one (that I know of) in our group who has lived in Philly, I put myself in charge of making dinner reservations for all of us. None of the restaurants we chose would give us reservations for more than 10 or 11 without arranging it with the special events coordinator, so I just made reservations at 3 different restaurants. This way we will be more manageable and everyone has some level of choice in where they eat. I still haven't decided where I want to eat. I'm torn between Pod and El Vez, two of my favorite Philly spots.

This post has rambled on long enough! It may be my last one until June. Still haven't decided if I'm going to keep my computer with me during homestay. I may post in Philly or once I arrive in Gaborone, but this may be it for me. So, until June?! xoxo

Party time, Goodbyes, and an awesome surprise

Craziness. This week has been craziness. We managed to finish all of the home projects and get cleaned up and make a ton of food by Saturday. My party was a huge success. My coffee table survived some intense dancing by about half a dozen people. We had over 50 people crammed in our little house and 15 people camping out overnight in various rooms and on the floor. I got to see a lot of people that I haven't seen in a long time, and say a lot of goodbyes. Luckily, the drinks were flowing and I was happy instead of weepy. My aunt and uncle flew in from Florida for the party and Colin's aunt and uncle and cousin/fiance came from Syracuse, along with his grandma from Binghamton. Caitlin and Mike came in from NY, and so did Jason. All of my college girlfriends made it, too, the first time we have all been together since Kelly's wedding in 2008. It was awesome. Lauren and Craig brought an amazing breakfast spread the next day, including my favorite, Wegman's breakfast pizza, and they also picked up my mother-in-law's famous cinnamon twists. Can you tell that this party was mostly about food? There was an unbelievable amount left over. I'm still eating carrot cake for breakfast.  

 Me with cheese balls.  Because I love cheese balls. 

 Some of my family-of-choice.  Neighbors and friends for 20+ years!

 Most delicious carrot cake on earth, Cheesy Eddies.  It reads, "I will miss you all, but only slightly more than this carrot cake!"  True statement.

 Me and my girlfriends from high school, April, Lauren, Sally, and Marie

Colin and I

 Sally, Craig, Lauren, Jason, and Marie

 Lil and Jessica, friends from college who drove 10 hours or something to get here

 Me and my BFF for the night, champagne

 My mom and me

 My lovely loves from college, Lil, Annette, Jessica, Kris, Sarah, Yel, and Kelly

 Lauren and I Rock Banding together

 Kristin and Kelly impersonating pirates (or at least that's what they tell me now)

 Kristin and I getting down with our bad selves

 Dancing on the coffee table

 BREAKFAST! The next day

 Everyone looks so chipper

 Caitlin, the best sister-in-law in the world, with Ev, my favorite 3 year old.

 Colin and my dad

 Tom and Michelle

 My aunt and uncle and I

Col and I doing a self-pic

So lately, Colin has been asking me to wake him up (what am I, his mother?) early so that he can get to work early and come home early to hang out with me. This works out about .001% of the time. Typically, I'll set my alarm for some ungodly hour, I'll wake him up, and then he asks me to hit snooze about a dozen times before I give up and let him sleep until late. This results in him coming home from work late. He asked me to do it again this morning, and shockingly, the man got himself out of bed like a grown up, so I got up with him and made coffee like a good wife. My sister, in Korea, is usually terrified of calling me in the morning (her night time), but sometimes braves Angry Sleep Tracy in order to talk to me before she goes to bed. This morning was one of those times, but I happened to be awake.  She Skyped my phone and then we got disconnected so I Skyped her by computer. She sounded weird and like she was outside because it was windy, but when I asked her what she was doing, she said, "I just got up." And I was like, "?",  and she said, "I mean I'm getting ready for bed."  I'm stupid in the morning so I just thought she had a long day or something and when she was little she used to mix up salt and sugar and yesterday and tomorrow so I assumed all was normal. Then, there was a knock on the door and I told Colin to get it for me because I wasn't dressed. I kept talking to Kate on Skype and then I heard an echo- my voice from the front door. Kate had flown in from Korea to surprise me and everyone had managed to keep it a secret! I was shocked. I absolutely had NO idea.  So cool. She has a TDY assignment in Dayton, OH for the next two weeks but convinced them to give her leave early so that she could see me this weekend and then drive to Dayton on Sunday. Miraculously, it worked out. I tend to think that this is because she is in the Air Force and they are slightly better organized than the Army. Anyway, she's giving a brief to her old AF ROTC detachment at RIT right now and I'm just waiting for her to be done so that we can have more fun. 

This week has been a series of goodbyes. It's really strange and I just haven't allowed myself to think about it too much because I know that if I do, I'll have a really difficult time walking myself onto that plane on Thursday. I'm mostly packed and hoping that I'm not forgetting anything super important like underpants (btw, is anyone else partial to the word underpants vs. underwear? Underpants just makes me laugh). 

There's been a lot of activity on the Bots 10 FB page. I think most of us are feeling a little antsy/anxious/excited/nervous/etc. It's nice to know that I'm not alone, but sometimes it stresses me out to think about other people being nervous, too, especially when they ask packing questions that I haven't even considered and then I think I'm screwing things up majorly. Sometimes I feel very prepared and sometimes I feel totally unprepared. 

That's all for now! I'm off to say another goodbye. 

Angsty Party Prep

I am the worst, I know.  I haven't blogged in a long time, but really, what was I going to say?  It would probably go something like this: "Ah! I don't know how to pack.  Ah! I'm angsty and anxious.  Ah! We've been tearing our house apart for weeks painting, re-wiring, tiling, drywalling, plumbing, etc. trying to get our house ready for a raucous party.  Ah! I hate painting.  Ah!"  Didn't want to bore you all (you know, the hoards that are reading this).

Anyway, the house work is done (FINALLY) and just in time for me to enjoy it for less than 2 weeks before I peace out of here.  My going away party is tomorrow, and I'm super psyched.  I have people coming from far away to send me off and it's very exciting.  Lots of friends and family! I am lucky to have these people in my life.  I am planning to take lots of pictures and post the appropriate ones here and on Facebook. 

Other than that, I've whittled my stuff down to a manageable amount (I think) that fits (mostly) into my luggage.  My ticket to Philly is purchased and I fly in on Thursday, March 31st for staging, departing for Johannesburg (after a bus trip to JFK at 2 a.m.) on Saturday morning (a 15 hour flight), followed by a quick flight to Gaborone.  Woot!

That's it! Back to cleaning, cooking, and generally preparing for the debauchery tomorrow night.  Yee-haw!

Packing Pile

I wanted to post some pictures of the mess I have created of packing.  Having too much time to prepare for Peace Corps is not good for me because it allows me more time to think of crap that I "need".  Thus, I have way too much stuff and it's never going to fit into my bags, let alone fit the 80 lb. weight limit.  I'm definitely going to have to get rid of a bunch of this or have it mailed once I am at my site.  I'm still waiting on the arrival of my duffle bag and my ExOfficio underwear. There are still a few things I have yet to buy, but most are small and won't take up much room.  I think.  I feel like my grandmother who packs 6 months early for a week long trip.  But I'm packing 2 months early for a 2 year trip.  It's just getting ridiculous at this point, but I just have to feel like I'm doing SOMETHING to prepare. 

From top left: my pack & the detachable day pack, sleeping bag, journal, water bottle, condom/contraception demo kit, black laptop case, orange bag for jewelry, green veggie bags, ziploc bag with flashlights and leftover glow sticks from Colin's paratrooper days, bag with knives in it, ziploc with markers, pens, pencils, etc.

 

 From top left, clockwise: Yellow clutch, re-usable shopping bags & drawstring backpack, flip flops, Merrells, bagged clothes, bag with extra glasses, etc.

 Shoes, bras, clothes, bag with extra glasses, radio, speaker, watch, external hard drive

 Another angle

 Bin that is holding stuff that I definitely want during training: toilettries, green fleece sleeping bag liner, blue quick drying towel, washcloths

 Bin holding stuff that I definitely want at staging: Make-up & toilettries, sneakers that I plan to wear on the plane, purple fleece and pink rain jacket to wear for travel into Philly

 Stuff that I will keep in storage while I'm in training, or things that will have to be mailed to me because they won't fit under the limit.  From top left: non-stick pan, extra bras & clothes, Camelbak, good kitchen knife, veggie peeler, can opener, extra toilettries, waterproof camera cage

 Another view of the same stuff

 Bag with my glasses, radio, watch, speaker, & external hard drive

 Another view of the same bag- tape measure is for keeping track of my body measurements since I won't be bringing a scale and my clothes will get all stretched out from hand washing/drip drying and I want to be able to monitor my weight so that I can maintain a healthy weight while I'm gone.  I didn't lose 38 pounds just to gain it back in Africa. 

 My luggage tags, yellow ones stolen from Colin from his deployment, my various pouches for money & passport, luggage locks

Another view of veggie bags, orange jewelry bag, black laptop case, yellow clutch, bag of glow sticks & flashlighs, bag with knives and bag of markers, pens & pencils

Peace Corps Playlist

I have a playlist for everything.  Every road trip I've been on has included a playlist.  There is a playlist specifically for Bachelorette parties (I've planned a few back in my days as a professional bridesmaid).  I have a playlist for painting my house, tiling my kitchen countertops, holidays from Thanksgiving to Christmas to New Year's Eve to Easter to various birthdays.  There's one titled "Awesome", that I'm kind of scared to look at for fear that it's not actually awesome, and moreso, that it's probably really embarassing.  One was made with a drag show in mind, aptly titled "good things to listen to" (??) which I think was used when we ordered a male stripper (named TRACY!) for a bachelorette party which almost got us forcibly removed from a very nice hotel in Manhattan (sorry, Parker Meridian).  There are some for various weddings, people in my life for whom I've made cds, and various cities in which I've lived or visited that are associated with certain songs.  I have a playlist for deployment that thankfully hasn't gotten any use in recent years (and will hopefully never get use again).   So obviously, I would have a Peace Corps playlist.  It's cheesily entitled "Inspire" and was made with the idea that I'm going to need pick-me-ups in the form of music during my service.  It's also made with the idea that I love depressing music.  A little bit of juxtaposition for ya.  Anyway, I thought I would share some of it, mostly because it makes me laugh when I think of what a huge dork I am, and thought you might like to laugh at me yourself.  Feel free to share your own Peace Corps inspired music selections- I'd love to add to my collection, and maybe laugh at you, too.

Inspire Playlist
ABBA: I Have a Dream (needs no explanation)
Alanis Morissette: You Learn (because I am a product of 90s angry lady rock)
All-American Rejects: Move Along
Beatles: Carry that Weight, Blackbird, Let it Be, Getting Better, With a Little Help from my Friends (gotta have some Beatles)
Black Eyed Peas: Where is the Love (come on, this is cheesy)
Bon Jovi: It's My Life, Living on a Prayer, Who Says You Can't Go Home (because what's more inspiring than Bon Jovi?)
Britney Spears: Stronger (Britney's always good for a dance party)
Bruce Hornsby: The Way it Is (Please tell me you remember this song written by a rich American white dude about tough lives, like he really knows much about "the way it is")
Songs from the Lion King, because I'm going to be in Africa, duh.
Cat Stevens: Wild World, Peace Train
Cher: Believe (one of the top gay anthems of all time, and thus will inspire me to be awesome and timeless like Cher)
Dixie Chicks: Ready to Run, Heartbreak Town, Landslide, More Love, Top of the World, Long Way Around, Wide Open Spaces (because you may learn that I have a semi-secret past as a country music fan, also the Dixie Chicks are amazing)
A Fine Frenzy: Come On, Come Out, The Minnow & the Trout
Fiona Apple: The Child is Gone
Fleetwood Mac: Go Your Own Way
Garth Brooks: Standing Outside the Fire (yes, embarassing)
Glee Cast: Don't Stop Believin' (one of my all time favorites), 4 minutes (because sometimes you only have 4 minutes to save the world), Somebody to Love, Keep Holding on, Defying Gravity, Over the Rainbow, Taking Chances, Dream On, I Dreamed a Dream (GLEE IS AWESOME, don't hate.)
Guster: Manifest Destiny, The Captain, Amsterdam, Homecoming King, Keep It Together, Rise & Shine, I'm Through, G Major
Imogen Heap: Wait it Out
Ingrid Michaelson: Keep Breathing
Irene Cara: Flashdance... What a Feeling (sometimes I'm a steel town girl on a Saturday night)
Jewel: Till We Run Out of Road
Jo Dee Messina: Bring on the Rain (there's that country past creepin')
Joan Baez: Blowin' in the Wind
Kate Nash: Mouthwash
Katy Perry: Firework
Kelly Clarkson: Breakaway
The Killers: Smile Like You Mean It
Lee Ann Womack: Something Worth Leaving Behind, I Hope You Dance
Little Shop of Horrors Cast: Downtown (I always wanted to play Crystal, Chiffon, or Ronnette).

Lynyrd Skynryd: Free Bird (no playlist is complete without it)
Owl City: Hello Seattle
Sara Bareilles: City, Uncharted, King of Anything
Sara Evans: Born to Fly
Sarah McLachlan: Fallen, World On Fire, Do What You Have To Do
Shania Twain: Up!, She's Just a Pretty Face, C'est La Vie
SHeDAISY: Out of My Mind (seriously obsessed with this song when I was deciding to apply for Peace Corps 3 years ago), Whatever It Takes
Sheryl Crow: Sweet Child O' Mine, Light in Your Eyes, If it Makes You Happy, Good Is Good, Wildflower, Lifetimes, Where Has All the Love Gone
Sia: Little Black Sandals, Clap Your Hands, Bring Night, Cloud
Simon & Garfunkel: Sound of Silence
Stevie Wonder: Superstition
Sugarland: Something More, Settlin'
Taylor Swift: Long Live
TI: Live Your Life
Tom Petty: American Girl, Runnin' Down a Dream, Learning to Fly, Into the Great Wide Open, Walls
Vanessa Carlton: Ordinary Day, A Thousand Miles

 This one is a particular gem.  Thanks, Genesis!

New PC friendly Wedding Rings

Our new wedding rings came yesterday! I ordered these rings for my partner and myself on Etsy and chose MnMWoodworks because I liked the shine of the finish on the rings and because I wanted more durable rings made from the bent wood method.  I wanted to have a ring made of 2 N. American woods for myself and 2 African wood for my Colin with the idea that we'd have a piece of the other's continent, but Matt, the craftsman behind MnMWoodworks had the wonderful idea of doing the two rings out of one N. American wood and one African wood, but so that my ring would be American in the center and African on the edges, Colin's would be the inverse- African in the center and American on the edges. We loved this idea. I requested that Matt make the rings with recycled wood and he gave me a bunch of different options. We chose Cherry and African Blackwood for the high contrast. I'd been dying for them to arrive, and they finally came last night. They are BEAUTIFUL! They're exactly what we were hoping they would be. We went to a party last night and everyone raved. I'm so excited about them! I hope that we are able to wear them for a long time and that they stand up to 2 years in the African heat and my sweat! What do you think?

RAS>RIS

Congratulations to Tija, Stephanie and Jessica who all received invitations very recently! Woo-hoo for y'all! Tija will be coming to Botswana as well, so that's especially exciting.  Sherlie, Natalie, Lew, Kelly, and the rest of you RASers, I know your invitations have to be just around the corner! I'm thinking about you and keeping my fingers crossed that the agony of Waiting ends soon. 

In other news, Kim has started a very cool project, Snapshots of Service.  I am excited to become a part of it!

Not much else is happening here.  Feeling the crush of Restless Invitee Syndrome.  Thankfully, it's nowhere near as oppressive as RAS.  My sleeping bag, my rain jacket, my fleece and my Merrells have all arrived and seem to be everything I was hoping they would be and fit well.  Waiting on our new wedding rings and that's about it right now.  Still looking for the perfect duffle bag...

73 days to go!

The last couple of weeks have involved a lot of frenzied preparation on my part. Frenzied? I know, it seems like everything I do is rather frenzied. There are a few reasons for this. 1. I take after my mom's mom in that we are impatient and a little bit attention deficient. When I decide I want something, I can't wait a few hours in order to go get it- it has to be immediate. If I decide to do something, it usually has to be right now or not at all. This will almost certainly pose problems for me as a Peace Corps volunteer, but I hope that it's something I am able to overcome. I will be a better person for it. 2. I am a procrastinator (also problematic for PC service). I do my best work under the extreme pressure of an impending deadline. Most of the time, I am frenzied out of sheer necessity. Now I am frenzied out of lack of any other focus. Everything comes back to, "When I go to Botswana..." or "Peace Corps...". I am sure it's really annoying to friends and family. And I apologize in advance for when I get home and all stories begin with, "In Africa...", "When I was in Botswana..." or "As a Peace Corps volunteer...". Just one of the costs of being my friend. I'll try to bring home souvenirs to make up for it.

Anyway, in my preparation, I have been buying a bunch of stuff that I hope will be useful to me during my time in Botswana. I have not done any meaningful preparation, to include looking at any more Setswana lessons. I was so overwhelmed in going over the first alphabet lesson that I panicked and pushed it to the back burner where it is less intimidating. I promise I'll get to it soon and report back. Back to what I have purchased recently:
1.  New prescription sunglasses from the best online retailer of cheap prescription glasses
2.  A sleeping bag that hasn't arrived yet
3.  Wooden wedding rings for Colin and me. I am greatly looking forward to these. I ordered them from this dude on Etsy. They will be made of recycled cherry and recycled African blackwood. I thought it would be cool for us to have rings made of wood from both North America and Africa. Plus, I didn't want to bring my original wedding or engagement rings because they're too flashy and I don't want to make myself more of a target for theft. The new ones should arrive in a week or so.
4.  A rain jacket and fleece
5.  Shoes from Merrell
6.  Linen pants, a couple of below-knee-length dresses, cotton button-up shirts that will be dressy enough for work yet hopefully wash/dry well and not be too hot
7.  Cotton bras and some underwear
8.  Green vegetable bags, as recommended by other PCVs, to make my produce last longer without refrigeration. They are re-usable, too!
9.  An external hard drive for backing up my laptop and sharing movies & music
10. A teeny speaker for my iPod so that I can host some bitchin' dance parties

I have piled all of my Peace Corps stuff that I want to bring on the twin bed in our office upstairs, but I'm thinking it may have to move to the queen bed in the guest room soon. I still have to find a duffel bag that fits all of my requirements (light weight, wheels, small enough to be within the linear inches requirement, but spacious enough to fit massive amounts of stuff, inexpensive, durable). Unfortunately, I don't think there is a bag that meets these requirements. As I've measured my pack and only have 51 linear inches left for my duffel, I'm thinking that maybe I don't even need a wheeled duffel and can make do with one that I can just carry with a shoulder strap... It will be much easier to find a lightweight bag that doesn't have wheels. 

I'm pretty much set on clothes and shoes (assuming that the shoes I ordered fit me). I do need to get some basics like underwear and socks, but other than that, I think I'm good. 

I am getting excited about the prospect of visitors from home while I'm in Botswana (I know, too soon, I haven't even left yet)!  Normally, thinking about people coming to visit would make me anxious with thoughts about what we would do, where they would sleep, how to arrange transportation, etc. But right now, I'm just wondering how many visitors I will actually get. I know that Colin will visit. He's obligated as part of being married to me, so the only question is when and for how long and whether he'll be able to visit more than once. My mom plans to come. I'm waiting for her to visit my sister and brother-in-law in Korea before I start assuming that she owes me a visit to Botswana, though. My dad will probably not visit because he is not big on traveling, but mom can be a rep. for both of them. My sister-in-law really wants to visit, which would be awesome, even though we didn't make it to Thailand when she was living there 2 years ago. My sister may come if she is able- I know she wants to, but we'll see where the Air Force leads her. Colin's parents probably won't come to Botswana because of an unfounded, yet pervasive fear of bugs and snakes. I have a few travel-savvy friends who I'm pretty sure will get to Botswana at some point when I'm there. Kristin, one of my bffs from college, lived in France for awhile, climbed to Mt. Everest base camp, spent the summer of 2010 in Uganda and is currently in Haiti is the best bet for a visitor. Hopefully, she'll be able to convince the rest of my college girls to make the trip in order to celebrate our 30th birthdays. God, that makes me feel old! I'll be leaving the U.S. in my 20s, and coming back in my 30s! Yikes! It's almost like time travel!

I'm two weeks away from becoming a lifetime member of Weight Watchers. This means that I have made my goal weight and will have maintained it for 6 weeks. I'm getting used to being this healthy size and weight again, but I'm really worried about gaining it back during Peace Corps. I know that while I'm in training and staying with a host family that I will have very little control over what I eat and even how much as a matter of cultural sensitivity and decorum. I am also learning more about food in Botswana, and it seems to be pretty starch-heavy. There's not much use in worrying about it now, I know, but I've worked really hard to get back to a healthy weight and I'd prefer to stay this way forever this time rather than yo-yoing. 

I wondered if anyone else came across this article- it's over a year old, but I haven't heard anything else or been able to find anything else about Peace Corps policy regarding volunteers who become HIV positive while serving. I found this older article as well, and this one. Does anyone know more about this?

Shoes and Books

Last week, I finally completed my updated resume and Aspiration Statement.  Both seemed far too long, but whatevs.  I feel like I can't possibly convey my goals when I don't really know what will be asked of me.  Basically, I'm going to try really hard not to suck.  I hope that what I wrote doesn't sound like B.S., because it was written from the heart, but I can't imagine that I've said anything that hasn't been said by almost every other Peace Corps nominee.  "I want to change the world", "I want to be a better person", "I want to make a difference," blah, blah, blah.  Trite, but that's the gyst and I can't help if it's true.

I also started shopping for stuff I might need.  For those of you who know me, you might understand that I have a slight shoe addiction.  When Colin was deployed to Iraq the second time, I bought almost 30 pairs of shoes while he was gone.  I really love impractical shoes.  The strappier/higher/stilleto-eyer/ridiculously-colored, the better.  Shopping for Peace Corps shoes is difficult for several reasons:
1.  I am easily distracted by non-Peace Corps shoes.
2.  I am trying to avoid Safari shoes or Tourist shoes
3.  I am supposed to dress professionally (which to me would normally mean something like this)
4. ... but I also need to be able to walk for A LONG TIME in hot weather, which sometimes makes me look like this: 

5.  Practical shoes, while comfortable, are not my favorite in terms of appearance, most of the time.
6.  In an ideal packing world, I would bring 1 pair of each of the following: boots, sneakers, sandals, casual flats, dress flats, heels, flip flops.  I have 80 lbs.  This is not happening.  I am impractically trying to find one pair of shoes that fits all of these categories.

I ended up buying two pairs (one pictured below) that I may or may not keep.

One of these things is not like the other!

I've also been looking for a sleeping bag, a new jacket for rain that I can also add another layer underneath when it's cold, a big rolling duffel bag that doesn't weigh 10 lbs. or more (wtf???) and doesn't cost a million dollars, along with countless other things (very few of which are included here).

I'm also looking for new reading.  I have read a few Peace Corps books:
1.  Nine Hills to Nambonkaha: Two Years in the Heart of an African Village, by Sarah Erdman:  Awesome
2.  Monique and the Mango Rains: Two Years with a Midwife in Malawi by Kris Holloway: Awesome
3.  Mango Elephants in the Sun by Susana Herrera
4. Living Poor: A Peace Corps Chronicle by Moritz Thomsen
5. Dear Exile: The True Story of Two Friends Separated (for a year) by an Ocean by Hilary Liftin and Kate Montgomery: Hilarious
6.  From the Center of the Earth: Stories out of the Peace Corps by Geraldine Kennedy
7.  The Insider's Guide to the Peace Corps: What to Know before you Go by Dillon Banerjee: Very helpful!
8.  First comes Love, then comes Malaria: How a Peace Corps Poster Boy Won my Heart and a Third World Adventure Changed my Life by Eve Brown-Waite
9.  All You Need is Love: The Peace Corps and the Spirit of the 1960s by Elizabeth Cobbs Hoffman
10. A Life Inspired: Tales of Peace Corps Service by Various Peace Corps Volunteers
11. The Ponds of Kalambayi by Mike Tidwell

Books that aren't about Peace Corps but are awesome and relevant anyway:
1. Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder
2. 28: Stories of AIDS in Africa by Stephanie Nolen

Books I want to read:
1.  The Village of Waiting by George Packer
2.  Cry of the Kalahari by Mark James Owens and Cordelia Dykes Owens
3. The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith
4. The Lonely Planet Botswana and Namibia by Matthew D. Firestone and Adam Karlin

What I am reading right now (Peace Corps-wise):
 HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa: Understanding the Implications of Culture and Context by the United Nations

Those are all that I can think of right now.  I'll add more if I come up with any.  If you have any recommendations or thoughts, please send them my way!

Anyway, that's all for now! I'm going to go back to online shopping, blog stalking, and applying for Peace Corps discounts from various retailers. Oh- and- we started a Facebook group for this April 1st Botswana departure group.  If you're out there, find us!

"Whatever will your husband do while you are gone?"

My invite came on Monday the 20th.  It was all very exciting.  I had been expecting a knock on the door at any time because I thought I would have to sign for the invite.  By 6:00, I was giving up and thinking that it would have to wait until the next day.  Colin got home from work around 6:30 and we decided to run out to the video store after we ate dinner.  When he opened the door, there the package was, sitting on the stoop!  Colin asked if I wanted him to open it and read it to me, but by the time he had finished asking the question, I was tearing the box out of his hand and trying to get it open with my teeth/claws/car keys.  I read the first line and got to the word "Botswana" and screamed.  I was so excited.  Colin even jumped up and down with me to humor me.  He feigns excitement so well.  Then we ran to the video store and I called a bunch of people to tell them the good news.  It was received well by most, but my mother and mother-in-law struggled to be excited.  Lots of "I'm happy that you got what you wanted" and "I'm happy for you, sad for me" type stuff.  My program is HIV/AIDS Community Capacity Building and my job title is Community Capacity Builder.  Staging dates: April 1st to 3rd (in Philadelphia, to my knowledge).  Pre-service training in Botswana: April 1st through June 6th, 2011.  Dates of Service: June 6th, 2011 through June 6th, 2013. 

I read through all of the materials sent and absorbed just about none of it.  I sent my official acceptance email on Wednesday and then started filling out the passport forms, etc.  I also downloaded the Setswana lessons and started freaking out because the language involves clicks and a sound that is described as "the sound that you make when you hawk a lougie".  I almost peed when I saw that, because a. I've never seen the phrase written before and b. It actually is that sound.  At least now I know how to spell "lougie." 

I also read the "A Few Minor Adjustments" booklet that came in the invitation package.  It is a little bit scary.  To summarize, "You'll probably hate your life but just be patient and flexible and you'll probably survive."  It's a well-known fact that I'm really great at patience and flexibility.  And sarcasm.

The last week has been pretty crazy.  One of our other cats, Molly, was in the hospital Monday through Thursday.  He's home now, but we had to do the whole ultrasound thing again and we have some lovely vet bills to pay.  It's Christmas, so we were also running around like crazy trying to finish shopping/wrapping and we have had visitors, too.  I still have not mailed our Christmas, I mean New Year's cards.  Needless to say, I haven't started re-working my resume to PC standards or writing my aspiration statement thinger.

I have started making lists.  Actually, I've been making Peace Corps lists for 2 years now, but these are getting more serious.  I have lists of lists.  My packing list is about a million items long.  I have a list of items in our house that Colin will probably not be able to locate without a map.  I have started a calendar for him of things he needs to do while I'm gone, such as replace furnace filters, renew our cars' registrations, and pay the water bill.  I'm planning to make a sort of Instruction Manual for living without me.  This may sound like I don't think very highly of Colin's level of independence, but really it's just that I like to think that he needs me more than he actually does.  One thing that has bothered me about this process is that whenever I tell people that I am joining the Peace Corps and then they ask about whether or not my husband is coming with me, I always get this sort of shaming look and the question, "What's he going to do without you?" as if he isn't capable of feeding himself or something.  They always manage to convey some feelings of doubt about our relationship, our fidelity, or our commitment to our marriage.  I guess it's (sort of) understandable that people would be concerned and a little judgey, but when Colin was deploying both times, no one ever asked, "What's your wife going to do while you're gone?".  It was always assumed that it was sort of my duty to sit back and wait for him and that maybe I would have trouble using power tools by myself or opening jars, but that I'd probably be ok.  Apparently for a wife to leave her husband on purpose, there must be something wrong with me or with us.  Then there's the whole "He didn't choose to deploy" argument that sometimes gets brought up, but it's not as if anyone forced him to join the Army and forced us to get married despite the fact that he might get deployed.  We both went into those decisions knowing the possibilities.  The same goes for this Peace Corps thing.  It wasn't entered into lightly, and though we have no fantasies about it being easy or fun to be apart for so long, it's something we're accustomed to, and it's something that he understands I need to do.  *Removes self from soap-box*

This blog needs some work.  I need to Botswana-ize it and stuff.  I'm also looking for other invitees to Botswana.  If you're out there, let me know!

Merry belated Christmas, PC blog world! This is the best Christmas I've ever had.  I got everything I wanted: three healthy/recovering kitties, a Peace Corps invitation, a dance party on Christmas morning, a Christmas afternoon nap, and a day full of people I love.  All of the gifts were extra bonuses.

I am invited to...

BOTSWANA!!!!!!!!!! I'm so excited I can't stand it.  I leave on April 1st for staging, and that is almost all I know right now.  I have to read through the gigantic packet of information that came and then formally accept.  That's all for now! Bigger update in a day or two.

Toolkit updated... Invited!

My toolkit was updated on Thursday morning (the morning after Placement called me) to say:

Congratulations! You have been invited to become a Peace Corps Volunteer.

Very exciting!  So Kristin must have found a slot right after our phone conversation.  I'm just waiting on UPS to find out where I might be headed.  Let the stalking commence!

In other news, May, our sick kitty, came home from the vet on Saturday.  The ultrasound shows that he has cholangitis (pancreatitis) and hepatic lipidosis (fatty liver disease).  The treatment involves fluids and getting him to keep eating.  He's been doing well so far.  Unfortunately, his littermate, Molly, is now very sick.  I got them new food on Friday (Molly was fine then, just skinny).  I didn't mix it with the old stuff because I just wanted him to eat and the vet suggested that maybe May got sick because he didn't like the old food.  Usually when you give new food to cats, you're supposed to mix it with the old stuff so that it doesn't upset their system.  I didn't do this, so Molly spent all day yesterday throwing up and being generally sick.  He is refusing food now and we're having a hard time getting him to drink.  I have a feeling we'll be calling the emergency vet today for him.  Ugh.  

Good news: I made my official Weight Watchers goal weight on Thursday.  I aimed to do this before I departed for Peace Corps and it's done; I'm 37.8 lbs lighter than I was in June!   I am now at a healthy weight for my height.  I would like to lose a little bit more (maybe 10 lbs?), but I'm very happy that I was able to accomplish this goal.  Now, to maintain the loss over the remainder of the holidays...

For all of you who are waiting for invites/medical clearance/etc., I hope that you hear something soon! Reading the blogs of other applicants has been helpful and maddening.  It's nice to know that others are feeling anxious and restless, and I hope it ends for all of us soon.  Good luck!