All That You Can't Leave Behind

As my departure date gets closer (just one week left now), my preparations have turned from practical to panicked. I am constantly debating which luxury items I cannot live without for 27 months. One "must-have" is music, as my ultimate tool for relaxation and coping. Luckily, with the invention of the iPod, pretty much any music I can get my hands on can be packed weight-free. So, I have decided that in order to be completely prepared, I need to download every record and CD in my house to my iPod.

The journey of unpacking my parents' old albums (LPs), and my brother's and my inaugural CD collection has been quite entertaining. And as much as I believe that my preparation for Africa is officially complete with the addition of Coolio's sophomore album to my iPod, I must soon turn procrastination into productive packing.

My most-recent CD import is the U2 album appropriately titled, "All That You Can't Leave Behind." Pondering this title has since inspired not only this post, but my packing. The hard part is fitting those things that I can't leave behind in my 80-lb allotment. Frustration sets in as I realize that simply rearranging items in my over-weight bag is not working, I must choose a few more items to unpack.

I have a feeling that I will be repacking until the morning of December 2, when I will be forced to make those final decisions.

Training Update

This week I found out a little bit more about my assignment and training. I will be leaving DC on December 3rd for Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia with my trainee group. There we will spend 3 nights in a hotel continuing with pre-training activities. Then we all travel to Ambo where we will each move in with a host family and begin our 10 weeks of intensive training.

I am very excited for this long-awaited adventure to start!