Chug chug chugging along

It hasn't actually been that long since I got my invitation, but it feels like forever. I think about my upcoming departure all the time. I've been shopping a lot, preparing things, thinking about what to take, what not to take, studying up on my Portuguese...

I'm slowly wading through all the paperwork. I think I have the passport and visa issues sorted out. I don't have work on Monday, so I am going to call my bank/insurance carrier and schedule my car to go into storage mode, let them know I'm going to be in Africa, etc. I am also setting up things like a power of attorney, trying to figure out absentee ballot information, and generally preparing to be gone for two years. It's a complicated process. I'm just glad I don't have any debt to worry about.

One thing that I'm excited about is learning the local dialect, whatever that may be. From what I learned from my research, most Mozambicans speak some form of a Bantu language -- which is great, because I did some research on a related language of Kenya, Kimeru, during Linguistic Field Methods senior year and from what I could gleam from the vocab lists of some of Moz's langauges, there are a lot of cognates. I hope I can a) learn the local dialect where I am and b) do some linguistic research on it. I am not taking a lot of books with me, but I am taking my fieldwork guide as well as my syntax and phonetics books. And of course, a Portuguese-English dictionary and my pocket grammar reference for Portuguese.

I've found the MOZ19 group on Facebook, so I've been talking quite a bit with people who I will be serving with as well as people already over there, and I can tell I am going to like these people. I also happened upon a few of them on Reddit, so... that's cool too. I have found my brethren.

My biggest project right now: Downloading lots of TV shows and movies to my computer so I can take them with me. I hear there's a thirst for new media, so I am doing my best with my not-so-large hard drive to take as much as possible. I am sure that when I've been there for a while, I will be begging the new volunteers to bring my my favorites (Season 2 of Legend of Korra, for example..)

Well, that's it for now. As soon as Monday rolls around I will continue my onslaught of preparations -- including begging my dentist to do my pre-service dental exam pro-bono, since I don't really have a great deal of moolah at the moment. We'll see. If he does, I will give him a shout-out in my blog.

IT'S OFFICIAL! MOZAMBIQUE!

I got my invitation package in the mail today -- so exciting, and yet so overwhelming!

BUT FIRST. Let's take a moment to say THANK GOODNESS I GOT MOZAMBIQUE. I can't properly express how happy I am about that. With all the challenges that PCVs face that I get to look forward to, at least the language barrier won't be as big a problem for me because I already speak Portuguese! I knew one of my languages would come in handy! This way, I have a way to communicate from the get-go and I can focus my attentions on getting BETTER at Portuguese and picking up whatever tribal language is spoken in my villlage. I am just so ecstatic. I had actually started learning French on Duolingo because I was so worried I'd be put in a French-speaking country. (Side note: Duolingo is great. Try it.) On that note: Thanks to all my great Portuguese teachers in the past, especially Suzana! Obrigada, vôce vai ser maravilhado com meu Português quando eu volto em 2014!

But as exciting as all this is, it's a lot to take in. Now I have so much to do. Get supplies. Get a new passport. Get a Mozambican visa. Property insurance. Figure out what to do with my car. (Sell it? Leave it at my parents place?) Call my bank. Find a home for my beautiful, well-mannered, lovely pet rats (any takers?). Cancel the health insurance I JUST signed up for. Figure out how to take as much as I'll need, but not too much, and fit it all into 2 bags whose combined L+W+H are no more than 107 inches.

My to do list has just gotten exponentially longer.

BUT I AM SO EXCITED ABOUT IT!

Hurry up and wait

Signs of progress - more paperwork!

 Things are moving along now. Less than a week after I got my medical clearance, I got an email from the Placement office asking for an updated resume. Only a few days after I submitted that, I got another email from another person in the Placement Office with a questionnaire to fill out -- things like what have I been doing to prepare myself, what challenges do I expect to encounter, etc. Honestly, for the challenges question, I'm largely guessing. Yes, I follow the blogs of my friends who are over there right now, and I've read articles and the Peace Corps wiki about what to expect, but how do I know what the biggest challenges will be until I get there? Everyone makes a big deal out of the weather and the lack of electricity, but those are things you get used to after a while.

I have a sneaking suspicion that the biggest problem for me will be being forceful and direct when I encounter problems. Let's face it, I'm an introvert that avoids conflict. It's the biggest thing holding me back in my career already. Let's hope that thrown in a situation where it's absolutely necessary to stick to your guns to get things done, maybe I'll grow a spine.

In any case, I am hoping to hear back soon about where I will be sent. I am SO curious, and everyone keeps asking me. It's a bit frustrating that people who started the process much later than me are already gone, just because of the miscommunication during my medical review.

Meanwhile...

 It's not too bad, though, because the good news is I found something to do with my time during the summer! I'm hopefully going to be doing backstage work at a small theater in New Braunfels.I'm going up on Wednesday to check it out and meet the people there. I'm really excited to be able to work in a field that I'm interested in -- I haven't completely ruled out theater as a possible career. I hope I can continue to improve my lighting skills and refresh all that set construction stuff I learned oh-so-long ago.  And then once the Peace Corps calls, I will be ready!