Time to go

Well I leave tomorrow morning (later this morning really) at around noon out of Providence. These last couple days have been really surreal and have gone by in a flash. Went to the beach at Watch Hill, ate clam fritters, had hotdogs and Mike's, played Pictionary, and got together the stuff I had been putting off getting. And It's as if I'm going through all the right motions and actions of someone leaving for Africa for two years but at the same time I feel a real emotional disconnect from the whole concept. I know what I needed to do, I've done most of it, and now I'm leaving - but it doesn't register yet. It was like when we visited Kenya, it took me a few days to really look around and believe I was in Africa - zebra and giraffee everywhere and everything. I've been packing up and leaving for a while since I was 15 for boarding school, and though this will be longer, much farther from home, and well THE PEACE CORPS - I feel like my brain's still regarding it as another year of school or something.

My bags are packed and they are heavy. I know practically nothing about backpacking - but I know that my backpack is amazing. I have 4 bags, really: a really big backpack, a normal backpack, and a messenger bag and a tiny messenger bag as carry on. Total checked baggage weight is probably between 70-80 lbs which my brother says is nothing considering the circumstances (he does know about backpacking)- but it still seems like a lot. The big bag is the most comfortable, despite its 48 lbs. We'll see how it goes.

So I'm up late taking care of lose ends I shoud have taken care of by now such as insurance, paperwork, finding my immunization records, loan deferrment stuff, and this blog entry.

FYI, my cell phone will be no longer working as of about 3 tomorrow. Sprint agreed to put me on a military suspention thingy which is pretty neat: you pay nothing for the time you're gone and then when you get back, when you're ready, you can pick up your number again, and have a cell phone again.

Katherine's still here which has been great, and Tiana came down from Boston this evening, after moving herself, and we all hung out with my parents. Now it seems like everyone, including the cat, is asleep and snoring, so after I print a couple papers, I'll do the same.

I get really nervous about leaving for a long time. Not that I've really ever had that much practice with it, but I start thinking about all the worst things - such as the fact that my parents and all my pets are rather senior. But really there's nothing to do and it's not something to put your life on hold about so you just gotta get goin.

I'll be in the States until the morning of the 5th, and then we'll fly to Paris, and then down to Burkina. If the hotel we're in isn't a shack on the side of the road, I'll have wireless at the hotel we'll be at, so I'll post more once I've actually ventured out of Connecticut.

Peace.