make it happen

Peace Corps Packing List

The house is scheduled to close on Feb 28. Still haven't heard back from the inspection which was on Wednesday but the couple has asked to move the closing up to earlier in the day and they've been asking about phone numbers for local elementary schools. I have flight information. I leave for Boston for 3 days of staging on Thursday, March 2 from the Indianapolis airport at 7am and I'll be flying to Uganda to begin training on Sunday March 5!! It's all happening so fast. I feel like i'm in a plane ready to parachute out and as the time approaches I keep saying, "wait a minute. am i really sure that this is what I want to do? give me a few more months to get ready and then I'll go. " And it's not that I'm not ready or psyched or totally into going, but there are still some intense feelings about leaving my friends and family behind for 2 years and venturing into the totally unknown and being totally alone in a foreign country... Oh yeah... Sold the truck on thursday. it was like saying goodbye to a good friend (except for the part where I profitted from the ordeal) A guy from Gas City saw the ad in the Star, called me that morning and that evening paid cash for the truck. So here's the list of stuff I'm taking for 2 years. It's still subject to minor changes: Clothing Dark Cargo Pants GorTex Rain Gear Underwear Sox 3 T Shirts 2 pr Jeans white oxford shirt blue oxford shirt short sleeve button up poly/cotton shirt hat ‘hoodie’ sweatshirt fleece zip up windbreaker 1 pr nice pants Electronics HeadLamp Flashlight Laptop Flash Drive IPod Nice Headphones Digital Camera Extra camer battery Extra memory card Garmin GPS Vista Battery Charger 12 AA Batteries 8 AAA Batteries Brunton Solar Battery Charger Shortwave Radio Small Speakers External CD-RW Drive (because mine is broken on my laptop) Timex Watch Power Converter/Transformer Batery Powered Beard/Mustache Clippers Tools/Utincils/Camping Leatherman Pocket Knife Non Stick Frying Pan Kitchen Pearing Knife Sleeping Bag Sleeping pad Can Opener Large Hiking Backpack Backpack Large Duffle Bag Shoes 1 pr running shoes 1 pr everyday shoes (old running) 1 pr hiking/work Wolverine boots 1 pr Chacos sandals Hygiene, etc: 2 pr glasses 9 mos contacts (daily) Vitamins Toothbrush/case/paste Nail clippers Deodorant Floss Disposable razor blades Razor Colts beech towel sunglasses Misc Harmonica Deck of Cards Cheese Packets Spices Flash Cards Ultimate Frisbee 2 Soccer Balls Books DVDs Gifts Pictures family/home/life Post cards of Indiana Stationary Stamps Money belt Games Cash Visa Card 2 rolls duct tape Dial Combination Lock Bungee Cords Revised 8/27/2006 Items I Didn't Need: Stamps (I mail things from here so US stamps have proven worthless. My idea was to send some letters with PCVs returning home, but with the internet and email, letter writing is something I don't use much of) Pocket Knife (never used one back home, don't know why I thought I would here) Windbreaker (if it rains I use my rain coat and if it's cold the fleece) Shortwave Radio (paid $100 bucks for the thing and all I use it for is listening to BBC on FM which a regular $5 radio could have done!) Power converter/transformer (most of my electronics work with the 220 voltage here including my laptop and iPod and they sell 'converters' which just change the plugin to fit their outlets) I WISH I would have brought: 1 pr nice/casual shoes (a pair of nice/casual comfortable shoes that could be worn for 'work' or 'casual') Suit (Jacob has worn his suit a couple of occasions and is glad he brought it) Food items: Hot Sauce (jacob's idea, not mine), cheese packets, individual packets of mustard and ketchup because they don't spoil, spices) Solar Shower What has proven INVALUABLE: Laptop (i use it daily! Music, DVDs, work, Outlook, updating my blog, a place to put my digital pictures, etc. It has a dozen uses a day! Other volunteers are bringing theirs home when they return for visits) GPS (i love my gps and have used it on several occasions) iPod (even though it broke during traning, it was a God-send when it worked) Digital Camera (for all of those kodak moments) Chacos (never owned a pair but it prevents me from having to do sock laundry!) Jeans (not super common and are considered 'casual wear' here, but I LOVE the fit and feel of durable jeans) Headlamp Flash Drive (256 MB) (SEVERAL uses for it)

posted by Brian R Dunn @ 6:38 PM