This won´t be a long post, as I apparently need to clear this journal with the head honcho before posting too much more, but I wanted to write and say that I am in Ecuador safe and sound, everyone in my Omnibus is fantastic so far, and I´ve just been having a great time.
I´ll post more when I´m sure that I´m not breaking a rule by doing so.
Love to my stinkbutt sister and mom and dad. When I get my cell phone, you´ll be able to call me from skype on it. It´ll be free for me (not like American cell phone plans), and only 2 cents a minute for you. All right!
Dinner is soon, and mom isn´t answering her skype, so there´s not much need to be on the internet. Talk to you soon!
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Monday, February 23, 2009
I'm in Baltimore now, sitting on my sister's bed while her two great dobermans roam around me, and I thought I would finally post my initial address for those of you who have been bugging me for it.
Until I have a permanent site, my address is the Peace Corps Ecuador's post office box at:
My name, PCT
Cuerpo de Paz
Casilla 17-08-8624
Quito, Ecuador
South America
No packages! Nothing over 4 pounds! Letters I will always welcome.
See you on the equator!
Until I have a permanent site, my address is the Peace Corps Ecuador's post office box at:
My name, PCT
Cuerpo de Paz
Casilla 17-08-8624
Quito, Ecuador
South America
No packages! Nothing over 4 pounds! Letters I will always welcome.
See you on the equator!
Sunday, February 22, 2009
You can't go home again
Tonight is my last night at home. We spent the day packing, cramming my mountains of stuff into two bags, then taking it all out in a fruitless search for a bikini top, and cramming it all in again. Somehow, despite the fact that I've pared down my items as much as I possibly can, it's still barely fitting. Oh, it'll fit, but it's fighting for freedom every moment in the bag.
I am under the weight limit, though, and most of weight/extra crap is...books. Too many books, but I refuse to leave any of them at home. I even went out and bought two more (an autobiography of a US spy in the middle east, and a Doctor Who novelization because I am a nerd) to add to my Catcher in the Rye, Geography of Bliss, Short History of Nearly Everything (best book in the universe), Cosmos, I Know How the Caged Bird Sings, All Things Bright and Beautiful, two handmade (not by me) journals, a knitting manual, a book on how to play the guitar, and one or two others I can't remember. Then there's also all of the notes and notebooks full of information on my book, and my Mr. Winkle calender.
Right now I'm sitting at the table in the kitchen, with my mom pulling the juice from the big fat juicy amazing turkey that the centerpiece of my final meal. We're having mashed potatoes and gravy, butternut squash, rutabaga, fresh green beans, oh dear I'm so hungry now. A tivoed Sunday morning is playing on the television, my dog is lying curled up on the floor, the fire is going and the cold February wind is blowing outside. The sky is muted shades of blue, purple, and orange, and clumps of today's show shower cling to the ground.
My mom just came up and gave me a kiss with a tear in her eye. We've all been fighting tears(not all of us successfully) for days now. Especially today. I've been pretty good so far, but I nearly lost it when my brother called to say I love you, and I stood with my parents thinking how lucky and blessed I am to have such an amazing, wonderful, unsurpassable family.
And that is what I will miss. Not the things, the showers, the tv shows, the luxuries, though I will have many moments where I'll wish I had those. It's snuggling with my mom on the couch; fighting with my sister for who gets to nap on the dog bed in front of the fire; sitting outside in the summertime with the flowers blooming and watching the three dogs tussling in the grass, my mom sipping her wine cooler demurely; going for long, slow drives with my dad; dancing crazy with my mom in the kitchen; making up dog songs; playing cards; warm hugs; the overflowing rush I love I get when I set foot in this house. We are not a perfect family, but damn do we love, and I wouldn't have us any other way. I will miss miss MISS this place.
Even so, I'm so excited about leaving for Baltimore tomorrow, and then to DC, and then to Quito, and Cayambe. I'm been stagnant for too long, my head to too buzzy with unrealized ambitions, and I need to move on, travel and learn and have adventures and put myself out there. I can't wait to get going, to start doing something meaningful with my time, to really live again. I want my life to be enough so that, when I lay dying old in my bed, I can close my eyes and think, yeah, I lived. Not just existed, but really lived. I had a purpose.
That is what the Peace Corps is for me, right now: A meaning to be. A step to the future. A time in my life when I can someday think, those are the years that started it all.
My next post will be from Ecuador! I love you all.
I am under the weight limit, though, and most of weight/extra crap is...books. Too many books, but I refuse to leave any of them at home. I even went out and bought two more (an autobiography of a US spy in the middle east, and a Doctor Who novelization because I am a nerd) to add to my Catcher in the Rye, Geography of Bliss, Short History of Nearly Everything (best book in the universe), Cosmos, I Know How the Caged Bird Sings, All Things Bright and Beautiful, two handmade (not by me) journals, a knitting manual, a book on how to play the guitar, and one or two others I can't remember. Then there's also all of the notes and notebooks full of information on my book, and my Mr. Winkle calender.
Right now I'm sitting at the table in the kitchen, with my mom pulling the juice from the big fat juicy amazing turkey that the centerpiece of my final meal. We're having mashed potatoes and gravy, butternut squash, rutabaga, fresh green beans, oh dear I'm so hungry now. A tivoed Sunday morning is playing on the television, my dog is lying curled up on the floor, the fire is going and the cold February wind is blowing outside. The sky is muted shades of blue, purple, and orange, and clumps of today's show shower cling to the ground.
My mom just came up and gave me a kiss with a tear in her eye. We've all been fighting tears(not all of us successfully) for days now. Especially today. I've been pretty good so far, but I nearly lost it when my brother called to say I love you, and I stood with my parents thinking how lucky and blessed I am to have such an amazing, wonderful, unsurpassable family.
And that is what I will miss. Not the things, the showers, the tv shows, the luxuries, though I will have many moments where I'll wish I had those. It's snuggling with my mom on the couch; fighting with my sister for who gets to nap on the dog bed in front of the fire; sitting outside in the summertime with the flowers blooming and watching the three dogs tussling in the grass, my mom sipping her wine cooler demurely; going for long, slow drives with my dad; dancing crazy with my mom in the kitchen; making up dog songs; playing cards; warm hugs; the overflowing rush I love I get when I set foot in this house. We are not a perfect family, but damn do we love, and I wouldn't have us any other way. I will miss miss MISS this place.
Even so, I'm so excited about leaving for Baltimore tomorrow, and then to DC, and then to Quito, and Cayambe. I'm been stagnant for too long, my head to too buzzy with unrealized ambitions, and I need to move on, travel and learn and have adventures and put myself out there. I can't wait to get going, to start doing something meaningful with my time, to really live again. I want my life to be enough so that, when I lay dying old in my bed, I can close my eyes and think, yeah, I lived. Not just existed, but really lived. I had a purpose.
That is what the Peace Corps is for me, right now: A meaning to be. A step to the future. A time in my life when I can someday think, those are the years that started it all.
My next post will be from Ecuador! I love you all.
Monday, February 16, 2009
I want a skinny brit with a blue box to materialize outside my front door.
My automatic way of dealing with stress is to fixate on one topic/story and play around with it in my head. Right now, it's Doctor Who and David Tennant. Damnit, I want a TARDIS. And a Tennant.
I am stressed. Not about leaving, but about getting ready to leave. Packing is a nightmare; I sit in the guest room surrounded by mountains of stuff and just don't even know where to start. I'm starting to feel a little out-of-body and dwelling more and more in my head than with my family. I think that I am unconsciously stressed about leaving and am just burying it under mountains of denial.
I was in Pittsburgh a few days ago, an impromptu trip. I had the last-minute opportunity to get a free IUD at the Magee outpatient clinic, and I jumped at the chance (without insurance, and I have no insurance, it would have been over $500!) Of course, it wasn't until after I drove for five hours and had the extremely painful procedure that I looked into it and realized that not all countries in the PC support it. After mountains (mountains!) of stress and a sleepless night, I found out that Ecuador does indeed support it, and I am A-Ok. I feel like I just dodged a bullet.
Moral of the story is, don't do ANYTHING, major or minor, without checking with the PC. You never know what could happen.
Pittsburgh was amazing, though. It felt so strange to drive into that city that I lived in for four years. I loved seeing everyone again, and I am so thankful to have such friends. Thanks, guys! I also saw my sister for my mom's birthday (we cooked such amazing food!), and my bro for Valentines day. On my mom's birthday we sat around, drank wine and laughed and talked while the dogs tussled together on the floor, and I thought, this is love.
The house is quiet now. I leave in one week for Baltimore, and then on to DC. I have so much left to do that I haven't done, but instead I'm wasting time on this and fanfiction and impossible stories in my head. Writing has always been my escape, but sometimes it's like rushing water in my head, and I just can't see past it.
I am stressed. Not about leaving, but about getting ready to leave. Packing is a nightmare; I sit in the guest room surrounded by mountains of stuff and just don't even know where to start. I'm starting to feel a little out-of-body and dwelling more and more in my head than with my family. I think that I am unconsciously stressed about leaving and am just burying it under mountains of denial.
I was in Pittsburgh a few days ago, an impromptu trip. I had the last-minute opportunity to get a free IUD at the Magee outpatient clinic, and I jumped at the chance (without insurance, and I have no insurance, it would have been over $500!) Of course, it wasn't until after I drove for five hours and had the extremely painful procedure that I looked into it and realized that not all countries in the PC support it. After mountains (mountains!) of stress and a sleepless night, I found out that Ecuador does indeed support it, and I am A-Ok. I feel like I just dodged a bullet.
Moral of the story is, don't do ANYTHING, major or minor, without checking with the PC. You never know what could happen.
Pittsburgh was amazing, though. It felt so strange to drive into that city that I lived in for four years. I loved seeing everyone again, and I am so thankful to have such friends. Thanks, guys! I also saw my sister for my mom's birthday (we cooked such amazing food!), and my bro for Valentines day. On my mom's birthday we sat around, drank wine and laughed and talked while the dogs tussled together on the floor, and I thought, this is love.
The house is quiet now. I leave in one week for Baltimore, and then on to DC. I have so much left to do that I haven't done, but instead I'm wasting time on this and fanfiction and impossible stories in my head. Writing has always been my escape, but sometimes it's like rushing water in my head, and I just can't see past it.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Hello strangers
My blog is on peacecorpsjournals! I feel famous and a wee bit like I'm enabling voyeurism. But mostly just famous.
Three weeks until I leave PA for DC! I'm going to miss my mom's big fat turkeys and mashed potatoes, and my dog crawling into my lap even though she's way too big, and long hot baths, and Lost. My mind is humming with possibilities. I feel breathless.
Three weeks until I leave PA for DC! I'm going to miss my mom's big fat turkeys and mashed potatoes, and my dog crawling into my lap even though she's way too big, and long hot baths, and Lost. My mind is humming with possibilities. I feel breathless.
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