Preparations

I’ve been getting a lot of things together these past few days because I think July 17^th is going to sneak up on me really fast. Also, I got my “staging kit” (I’ll be in Philly for 3 days before heading off to Benin) and that was just reminder that this whole thing is actually real and not just some figment of my slightly crazy imagination. I have a feeling that I’m going to over pack, as I always do, but I’m going to try reeeeally hard not to. Really.

The staging packet included some fun things like sheet with bike measurement information. I’m pretty stoked about getting a bike…mainly because I want to get a bike horn, basket, colorful handlebar tassels, and those beads that go on the bike wheels and make noise. Remember those? I won’t actually get any of that stuff. Well, except for the tassels. I’ll pack them right along side my head lamp, shortwave radio, swiss army knife, and all the other necessities. They also asked us about our mountain biking abilities (I’m a novice) and our bike maintenance abilities (novice, again). So apparently, besides job and language training, I’ll also be getting schooled in the ways of bike repair.

Another funny thing included in my packet was an itinerary for the staging in Philly. The thing I’m most looking forward to is the 1:30pm “Depart for clinic” section. I like to think of it as some sort of odd field trip, but instead of going to a museum, we are going to a hospital. And instead of learning about things, we’ll be getting a billion shots. Thankfully, I’m not afraid of needles =)

Interestingly, we have 2 more vaccination field trips once we get to Benin. Hmm.

Benin in T-minus 1 month

I never really saw myself as much of a blogger mainly because I never felt that I had anything so important to say that it should demand the attention of the entire world wide web. I mean, come on, I’m no Perez Hilton.

Then I thought about the Facebook news feed which basically documents your every mouse click. I guess I’m saying that if you care enough to look at my profile to see that I added “baking” to my list of interests, then maybe you will care to learn about the inner-workings of my brain via blog.

Anyway, who knows if I’ll actually keep up with the thing. I’m not sure what my internet situation will be like in Benin. Also, I tend to abandon new hobbies like people abandon beer cans and coolers at the end of the Indy 500. Exhibit A: the violin in 5^th grade (I’m definitely not musically inclined). Exhibit B: the fencing class at Coles (it wasn’t quite the Kill Bill-style sword fighting I was looking for).

Some warnings about my blog: I will probably jump around a lot as my fingers are not able to type fast enough to keep up with the words and ideas that come spewing from my brain. Also, I am not a beautifully poetic writer (see previous sentence). Don’t expect anything at the level of Shakespeare, although I will probably use words like thou, whom, henceforth, and shall mainly because I think they sound funny, and I often wonder how certain words just seem to disappear from colloquial English. Also, check out my disclaimer at the bottom of the page.

Anyhoo, in exactly one month I will leave for staging in either DC or Philly. I’m really anxious about all the things I need to get done before I leave (I won’t bore you with the whole list), but some things include packing a new life for myself for 2 years (at a weight of under 80 lbs), learning to say things like “Can you point me to my mud hut?” in French and Fon/Yoruba/or one of the other many local languages, and deciding which movies I want to put on my new ipod whose name is Todd “The Big Kahuna” Pod. He replaces the original Todd the Pod who decided to crap out on me a few months ago with the “sad ipod face.” May he RIP.

Now for a little info on the title of my blog. Some of you may know about my obsession with my “word of the day” emails…for those of you who didn’t know that, I’m obsessed with my “word of the day” emails mainly because they have exposed me to words like tarantism, gourmand, and hobbledehoy. Basically, I love silly words.

So, not only would I like to thank the Germans (Danke Mutter!) for bringing to this world Oktoberfest, bratwurst, Oktoberfest chicken (it’s the best chicken in the universe, and that’s not an overstatement), the Neuschwanstein Castle, and German Shepherds (RIP Gus and Dabu), but I would also like thank them for some words that have been brought over to the English language: kitsch, gesundheit, schadenfreude, and wanderlust.

I, my friends, have discovered that I have a severe, incurable case of wanderlust. Since it can be described as an “innate desire to travel,” I am henceforth to believe that I cannot be blamed for this since it’s something that’s been with me since birth. There is very little that excites me more than long plane rides and passport stamps that become the gateway to so much more. The funny thing about wanderlust is that it’s caused by traveling and can only be cured by more traveling, creating this vicious, never-ending cycle that will surely lead me to be very happy and very poor.

While traveling to interesting places is one of the reasons I’ve joined the PC (there are many, but I’ll save it for another blog), my wanderlust is more about what comes from traveling than just the act itself. It has exposed me to new countries, people, foods, cultures, and languages. Also, traveling tends to bring about open-mindedness, which I think we can never have enough of.

With one month to go I am nervous, excited, terrified, happy, sad, curious, eager, and hopeful. It's a little too many emotions for me to handle at one time, but I'm dealing with it. Sorry this post has been really long. I can't promise that others won't be longer, but once I get going I just can't stop, won't stop. Holla.