Guess this is it...

All this talking... about Zambia, what I'm going to be doing with Peace Corps, saying goodbyes and wrapping up loose ends... has come to an end and it's time to put this adventure in motion. Departing today at 2 pm for Philadelphia. Wednesday will find me on an airplane for longer than I'd like (15 hrs) and Thursday I'll be in Zambia!!!

These past couple of weeks have been amazing spending time with friends and family. I will forever cherish the time I was able to spend with each of you. I'm excited to see where everyone is two years from now when I return (not saying I don't expect snail mail/email updates to keep me in the loop in the meantime). Thank you everyone for being supportive of my decision to join Peace Corps - I know it hasn't been the easiest, especially on my family, for me to leave for such a long period of time. I'll be safe, keep my wits about me, and question situations more than I do/have during my time in Michigan where I have gotten quite comfortable and relaxed/trusting in most situations.

On a lighter note... some developments on the home front. It seems everyone has their own way of coping with a loved one departing for a long period of time; my family took it upon themselves to build a life size cardboard cut out named Andrea 1.5.

Yes it's true that we joked of something of the sort over Christmas, researched and learned that it's actually expensive to have one made, along the lines of 100 bucks. So I thought it was out of the picture. That is until my sister discovered large cardboard treadmill box left out for recycling on her walk home from the bar one night in Northville. Features of Andrea 1.5 include changeable heads, limited range of motion of arms, extremely like-able personality (smiles all the time although also quite passive), and considering a hinge at the waist so she can travel better.

My sisters have been posing her all over the house and Laura even took her out to the backyard to enjoy the fire and hopefully not go up in flames. I have to say Andrea 1.5 is a lot of fun, was cause for a fair number of laughs/jokes this weekend, and keeps my sisters entertained when I'm occupied trying to do something (such as last minute packing things..). So this is the now-famous Andrea 1.5 sure to be making appearances I'm sure at family events, on facebook, and out in the world. And here she is....

Also here's a short animal video my sister sent me from BBC. Absolutely hilarious.

 

"Nighttime... Daytime.... Nighttime... Daytime... " Hope to find one of these birds in the Zambian bush.

That's it for now. I'm not sure the next time I'll have internet. When I do I'll post an update. Don't be worried about radio silence on average I should have internet every 4-6 weeks. Which means letter writing is actually fast 2-4 weeks (hint. hint). Take care.

Packing Completed!!!

After packing, repacking, acquiring more things, removing some, repeat a couple of times... it's FINISHED!!!

So a question I've gotten from a fair number of people "How do you go about packing for 2 years?" It's actually fairly easy in the capacity that there are suggested packing lists the Peace Corps provides specific for each country (compiled from Returned Peace Corps Volunteers). I took the list decided what applied to me and then went about figuring what I had and what I needed to acquire (acquired a fair bit... but think that process was bound to happen regardless as many of my clothes are worn out and developing holes).

The packing requirements to follow:
2 checked pieces of luggage- bringing my small and large backpacking bags
combined dimensions not to exceed 107" - measures in at 104" just made it!
total weight not exceeding 80 pounds - just weighed in at 71.5 pounds

Here's a before picture of all my potential things...

And what is all that on my bed you might ask? Here's my list:

Education materials: 
- 2 maps of the World
- Travel size dictionary
(Wanted to bring a chalkboard but it got nixed because despite what you think doesn't fit the best in a backpacking bag...)

Clothing: 
- Raincoat
- Fleece windproof jacket
- 4 long sleeves
- down vest
- 4 t-shirts
- 10 pairs of outdoor underwear
- spandex shorts
- 2 pairs of leggings (one 3/4, one full length)
- 10 pairs of wool socks (mostly lightweight running variety)
- bathing suit
- 10 bras (sports and regular)
- 2 tank top sports bras
- 4 tank tops
- fleece pants
- light weight louning pants
- 5 pairs of shorts
- 3 pairs of pants
Dress Clothes: (for wearing in the schools)
- 5 button up shirts
- 4 skirts
- 1 nice dress for special occasions

Shoes: 
- 2 pairs of chacos (green striped ones and black ones)
- Nice sandal (patagonia strapy ones)
- Running Shoes
- Hiking boots (wearing on plane)

Toiletries: 
4 toothpastes
4 toothbrushes
2 floss
Razor and extra blades
Q-tips
Hair ties
Solid shampoo and conditioner
Solid face wash
Soap 
4 deodorants
2 pairs of glasses
Contacts
Chapstick
Cosmetics
Jewelry (couple of necklaces, change of earrings)
Nail Polish

Other Camping Goods: 
- Spices
- NOLS cookbook
- Ice plastic bags (ones we use for Outdoor Adventure trips)
- 1 box of shot blocks (for low electrolyte time)
- Headlamp (+old headlamp with broken attachment point for spare parts)
- Sleeping pad (ridgerest)
- 2 nalgenes
- Camelbak
- Bivy sack
- Hammock
- Bandannas and buff
- UV light and solar charger case
- Camping stove
- Benchmade knife
- Rain covers for packs
- 2 dry bags
- Duct tape
- 2 lock and seal containers
- Titanium cookset
- Compass
- Flint stick, lighter, and matches
- 2 small wildmed books
- Where There is No Doctor book
- SAMS splint
- potentially some meds?

Miscellaneous:
- Ipod (luxury item)
- Mini speakers
- Sunglasses and case
- Camera
- Extra camera batteries and memory card
- Solar panel 
- Travel alarm clock
- Money belt
- Journal (and two waterproof journals)
- 2 books: Art and the Zen of Motorcycle Maintenance and On the Road
- Small sewing kit
- Pictures of family, friends, favorite places
- 2 Belts
- Book of U.S. stamps (to send letters with people returning to the states)
- Netbook laptop

Recreational: 
- Light up Frisbee (friend making ploy in my village)
- Soccer ball and pump  
- Cards

K.. when write it all out - seems like a lot... but hey it all fits into the packs and fits the requirements. Check it out!

The next two years of my life - possession wise - you're looking at it :) Life simplification.

Staging Updates

Well it's officially a week away. Bit crazy - this is my last Monday at home. Below I'm posting an update of what I'm doing when I depart from Michigan on the 31st.

Schedule

January 31st
2 pm Fly out of Detroit
3:43 pm Arrive in Philadelphia for training
6 pm Peace Corps Registration (paperwork time :)

February 1st
AM clinic time
PM expectations/what's next

February 2nd
2:30 AM (that's right not a typo) bus to New York
10:40 AM Fly to Johannesburg

February 3rd
8:40 AM Arrive in Johannesburg (15 hour flight + 7 hour time change)
10:30 AM Depart for Lusaka
12:30 PM Arrive in Lusaka, Zambia!!!!!
Stay at the In-service Training Trust (ISTT) site in Lusaka for 3 nights

February 4th and 5th
Orientation/training at ISTT

February 6th and 7th
First Site Visit

February 8th
ISTT

February 9th-Mid April
After the site visit we'll go to the training site hub located at the Farmer Training Institute (FTI) in Chalimbana, Chongwe (~45 km east of Lusaka).

During this time we'll stay with families in villages within 11 km of the FTI. Our living conditions will the same as when we serve: mud huts with no electricity or running water (ie no internet at our homes or the FTI).

We'll eat regularly with our host families. Foods we'll experience include: maize meal nshima, sautéed cabbage, chicken, beef, and a small sardine called kapenta. Should be an interesting experience.

Typical M-F schedule: 
8:00-12:00 Language *
12:00-14:00 Lunch
14:00 -17:00 Technical

* We'll learn what language we're assigned within the first week there are six they train volunteers in. They are: Bemba, Nyanja, Lunda, Tonga, Mambwe and Kaonde.

April 21st, 2011
Officially sworn into Peace Corps after successfully completing all training  




Communication:

Mail: 
We will have very limited access to internet during training as well. I had originally thought we'd have internet daily/weekly - apparently not the case. Going to work on my snail mailing - my address during training is

Andrea Moehle
Peace Corps
P.O. Box 50707
Lusaka, Zambia

... you can also find my address on the "My Address" page which also gives you some advice of how to mail things so check it out (located on the right hand side of my blog right on top of the map of Africa). I'd love to hear from you and what's going on in your life stateside. Promise if you write me a letter (snail mail) I will write you one in return. Emails I'll read them all and do my best to respond to them but the simple fact is I'll have far more time away from computers/internet then I'll have with my paper and pen.

Phone: 
Planning on getting a phone when I arrive in Zambia. Land lines in Zambia are quite expensive. I'm not sure how this entire process works or what the cost is associated with it. I'll post an update when more develops. Apparently there's service in cities and perhaps towns? And a Returned Peace Corps volunteer from Zambia that I had coffee with was able to text in his rural village (pending the battery was charged) so we'll see what my situation's like. Who'd have thought perhaps my parents will get texting? 


Blog Posts: 
It's just a guess but think I should have internet every 4-6 weeks once I'm at my site (end of April). Not all that often but I do have to ride my mountain bike from my village however many kilometers to the Peace Corps Provincial house on a day I have off/a weekend. During training not really sure how often I'll have internet at all... when I do I'll post updates even if they're brief. 


.... Basically, let's keep in touch.

The Girl Effect

Just found this video while I was looking through some Peace Corps blogs. It's really well done, girl empowerment is one of the secondary goals while I'm in Zambia, and the video presents the idea that starting by giving one girl a chance to education can change the course of so much.

Departure t-minus 2 weeks!!

Sunday, January 16th

I figured it was probably about time to make another post seeing as how I've been quite involved in getting ready recently and it's been almost two months since my last post.

Since returning from Austin I've gotten to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas with my family. It's been a great final holiday season stateside. I've kept busy and in the education loop by substitute teaching in different districts around the area; I also worked at REI as a seasonal employee which was timed perfectly to be employed during the school winter break, to acquire some new gear for Zambia, and enjoy being connected again with the outdoor community.

In my final two weeks my google calendar is a bit full meeting up with friends and family saying good byes. I'm not really very good at this whole good bye thing and try to opt out for the 'catch ya later' option... not going to be very good when it comes to saying goodbye my final weekend when I can't put it off any longer especially not when I say goodbye to my family. Cross that bridge when it comes.

I'm sitting in my room at my parents house as I type this sitting on the only available bed space surrounded by everything that's exploded from my pack. I've repacked twice now and anticipating at least another two rounds minimum; a large part of that could be contributed that I love the skirts and button up shirts that I got for teaching in Zambia and I continually wear them teaching in the classroom right now, especially because then I can wear the cowboy boots I'm in love with that I got when I was down in Texas.

I'm going to set a couple of goals to complete in the next couple of days and hopefully having them posted here will hold me more liable:
1. Review the paperwork that I need to bring with me to staging and get all that squared away.
2. Make all final packing decisions and complete another round of packing
3. Coordinate the music situation and get everything I want onto my ipod (my luxury item :)
4. Visit the gym more often
5. Add packing list and staging/traveling info to this blog 

On that note need to get ready to teach some middle school science tomorrow so much depart. From this point forward I should be updating my blog more often leading up to my departure and once I'm over there.