My 3 week temporary vacation began with a five hour drive to Maine
listening to burned CD mixes I made in high school (Vitamin C anyone??). Per
usual I stopped at Subway and got my usual turkey and veggie foot-long which
was devoured in about 20 minutes...the idea was to keep half for later – does this
ever actually happen?!?! I finally get to Bill’s – well, the inn at which he
bartends when he is not guiding – and find myself a nice spot at the bar, where I became a permanent fixture for about 10 days. His
father is sitting there with a lovely drink and offers to buy me a beer. Turns
out his parent were up enjoying a weekend outdoors! As beers kept coming I
decided to have a large order of chilli nachos….and so begins a 3 week binge of
beer, food and everything unhealthy!!! For
the following 9 days, I enjoyed everything that pub grub and draft beer had to
offer. My intention was to come back and home, start prepping and detox with fruits
and veggies especially my tuna and feta salad that I love so much! Well, that didn’t
happen. I continued with nachos, burgers, sushi, Chipotle, Argentinian steak,
BBQ galore and food from every other favorite restaurant and eatery around! It was,
and still kind of is, incredible!! (yes it’s still going)
On to more important things (kind of, food is usually my priority
but I guess ya’ll are reading this to learn and share in my experience of Peace
Corps…)
This last week has been exciting and nerve-racking to say
the least! I had some family up here from Maryland and New Jersey for a few
days to spend time with while I did some prep stuff. I had a send-off party on
Saturday which was a total blast! Thank you to everyone for coming! I am so
lucky to have such amazing people in my life and I am seriously feeling the
love all around! A special thank you to my parents who made it happen :)
I Will never forget
what it is like to have everyone you love in one place supporting what you are
doing and acknowledging that this is where I am supposed to be in my life! A lot
of the anxieties and nervousness I have been feeling have subsided since Saturday
–i soaked up the positivity that everyone gave me - it really helped to boost my confidence and
excitement to take this adventure on with full force!! and then of course...we partied in true Castello fashion well into the night!!!
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| love you all |
As the party ended and the week ramped up with lunch and
dinner dates (yes even MORE food) I have been slowly experiencing what it would
be like if life moved in fast forward. In the months leading up to my departure
I was feeling one thing (excitement, fear, joy, nervousness) for long periods of time. Then it would change to
having them all at the same time for a while. NOW I am experiencing a lot of
intense stuff really fast but never the same emotion and never overlapping…confusing I know so let me
give you an idea:
- - Let’s say that for your ____ birthday you want
to skydive. You sign up for it 3 months ahead of time, giving you plenty of
time to prep for it mentally…ok, are you with me yet?
- - It is jumping day and you are signing your
waivers and what-not. You are fully aware that you can opt-out at any time,
even on the plane (you can usually stay on it and land if you really don’t
think you can do it) yet you still get on and move forward with everything you
have to do if your jumping. On the plane ride up – maybe 14,000 feet – you are
scared, nervous maybe even anxious – in there lies some excitement still, it
may just be blurred with fear. You have no idea what it will feel like or what
to expect when that airplane door opens. Your instructor is tying you up to his
parachute and is giving you instructions at the 12,000 foot mark. You have no
idea what he is saying and are feeling like the time is flying by and you can’t
soak in the moment.
- - You are on the edge of the plane and can see the
curvature of the earth right in front of you. It is breath taking, it is
liberating and it is just what you wanted to do and, for some, even need. You
couldn’t be more excited in the span of those two seconds.
- - You jump and experience complete freedom,
happiness and liberation all at once!
Hopefully this gives you a visual...
FYI to future invitee’s
– if this sounds like you.. I hope you on the right track…I am assuming, given
that anticipation is the hardest part of acting, and that this is normal. Good luck
to you while you’re on the edge (for me it is with 5 days to go until staging!)
I have been slowly getting things together and definitely procrastinating
on a lot with more eating, lounging and watching some serious tv.Excuse me…some
serious TRASH tv. Has anyone seen Honey Boo Boo? O my.
Things I am final getting around to:
-
Filling out staging paperwork (registration to
become a trainee, beneficiary forms, next of kin forms, insurance, etc.)
-
Decking out my kindle with all sorts of fun
stuff – even DR travel books! I have also found a way to get all the
attachments and documents that Peace Corps has sent me over the last few months
onto my kindle!! How convenient!
-
Answering more questions than I ever have about
virtually everything I will be doing. I feel like I keep repeating myself to
the same people but that’s not the case – I just direct you all HERE! – thanks for
stopping by to find out info on this blog J
-
Eliminating things I will not need in the first
few months – including host family gifts for my final site placement host
family
-
Fitting in some exercise!!! – went for a run for
the first time in a few weeks (that is rare) – just what I needed after weeks
of pigging out, trying to finish off a keg to be returned and feeling lethargic
(but it was all so good!)
-
Spending serious QT with the family
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Spending serious QT with boyfriend :)
I had a minor setback on the contact lens front. I spent
weeks trying to figure out if it would be a good idea to take contacts. At
first I thought dailies! Great solution. It turned out it would be too
expensive. I went to the eye doctor to ask about glasses and insurance and we
got to talking about bi-monthly contacts. In my neurotic need to get things
done, I thought it would be a good idea and ordered them on the spot. Well, on
my loaded trip to CVS, I picked up entirely too much solution to pack. As I sat
in front of my pack trying to figure out “how” I decided dailies would be the
way to go. I ordered more and will be leaving my bi-monthly contacts and
solution here to then be brought by Bill or family when they come to visit!!! Sometimes
practicality overrides financial struggle.
Speaking of my loaded trip to CVS:
I finally got toiletries – I wasn’t sure what the situation
would be in terms of access to personal hygiene stuff in the DR so I tried my
best to guess-timate!
o
3 3oz bottles of shampoo (yes that is travel size)
o
1 Venus razor with 4 heads
o
An absurd amount of FHP’s
o
Soap + soap box (which by the way, soap boxes are
almost impossible to find around here – thank you REI!!)
o
Sunblock!!!!
o
Hair elastics and head bands
This is what it looked like – yes I spent way too much time
in the FHP aisle weighing the pros and cons of, again, practicality. C’mon,
there are some luxuries from home that sometimes we may not want to give up –
Bill was great and stood with me :) THANK YOU!
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| shopping |
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| thank god for care packages! |
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| doing my math |
I am feeling great about getting on the plane. I anticipated
feelings of sadness and fear around this time. It is just the opposite and I
couldn’t be happier :)
I will be posting info about what the next few weeks will
look like very soon – before Tuesday. I may not have access or time to share
with you all what pre-service training it full like but I am hoping that by
posting some information on it, you will be able to understand what I am
talking about when I do get around to writing what the experience is actually
like!
For now, I must sleep as I had too many tacos and a waffle
cone full of Ben and Jerry’s Phish Food Ice Cream!
Happy Reading!
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