Goodbyes

My parents and I are now in Philadelphia. We just got back from a fabulous dinner at Buddakan(thanks Ellen!). Dad had pork barbecue, mom had steak and I had lamb. Throw in a couple zen-grias (peach schnapps, pinot grigio, ginger brady and sake) and there were many smiles going around.

I'll check in tomorrow for "Staging" at 1.30. It gives us an opportunity to really understand what we are committing two for the next two years and gives us one last chance to walk away before anyone gets in too deep. It's a serious commitment to the program, your host country and to your own country. I can't imagine what it would take for me to leave before my two years or up, but one never knows what to expect. At this moment, I don't have the slightest of cold feet, even though I know that it's not going to be easy.

I've spent the last two weeks trying to finish my packing. It's been incredibly stressful. I've packed before but this time around was a lot more difficult. They tell us that you can find anything in Albania that isn't notecards or thermal underwear, but that didn't help much. I packed, re-packed, unpacked and rip most of my hairs out in the process. I got so tired of this process, and I already ripped out several large bags of potential items to take along. I don't know how accurate the scales are at my house, which also made it difficult. So in the end, I tried my best although I'm almost certain I'm going to be over. I have two carry-ons, and one is pretty large. I've been obsessing and obsessing about packing and having too much weight, but I reached a point where I really felt so overwhelmed that I couldn't spend one more second thinking about it. Instead, I just put the rest of my things in my suitcases and decided: "If worse comes to worse, I'll have time to get rid of any REALLY unnecessary items, and if I can't clear the weight, I'll just pay." I'm not made of money by any means, but I feel that if I do have to pay for extra weight, it will probably be worth it. Only time will tell. It might very well be the case that all of this stress, panic and inner turmoil will have been for nothing. I've flown with an even larger carry-on in the past and never had any problems. Time will tell.

After staging, I'll meet up with some friends in the city for one last night on the town before I leave. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for an entirely uneventful trip to Albania, but it's probably a little unrealistic.