The Joys of Packing

Since I moved to Cincinnati in 1990 I have lived in nine (9) different houses!  I have a proven track record of being able to pack up and move...sometimes with very little notice.  It's easy enough to pack when everything is going to one place...your new home! 

Now I am faced with packing up my belongings to scatter around to at least four different places - not one of them my new home. 

• My mother has space for things like rugs, pictures, dishes and some other special belongings.
• My wonderful friends Patty and Tom have a small guest home on their property and have offered to take the majority of my furniture - what a God send!
• Ellen and Maddie have graciously offered their basement to hold a storage unit of mine that will house all my Christmas belongings and whatever other boxes I can fit on it.  They will also babysit my flat screen TV!  I am going to ask (beg) them to take some more boxes - I have too many.
• My friend Jeff may have some room for boxes, but that has yet to be determined. 
• My worry is that I will have way too many boxes and will have to find a fifth location.
• Uggggggghhhhhhh!

I thought about just renting a storage unit, but when you start adding up how much that would cost for 27 months I decided it was not worth spending the precious money!

On top of the worries of above, I can't seem to actually PACK!  I have done purging...lots of purging!  I know that's good, but I must get moving on the actual packing.  I sit around in the evening, looking around and tell myself to get moving, but just can't.  I'm immobile! 

Now, my house is on the market, so it has to be nice and clean for showings.  This makes me want to pack even less, as then it will look more cluttered. 

Maybe because I know that I still have two months before I leave for Romania, I'm just stalling around.  Maybe I need someone to buy the place and want it to 2 weeks for me to finally get off my ass and get moving!  Maybe I need to get a grip!

So, here I sit...typing, instead of packing.  I have to get moving...maybe I'll go shopping!

Romania!!!

It's official... I'm headed to Romania on April 26th!  I am so excited!!!  It is definitely one of the countries that I was hoping for.  It's the only country in Eastern Europe that has a romance language, so that will make learning it easier (I hope!!).  I will be teaching English to primary age kids and working with other educators to enhance their programs.  It sounds like I will also have lots of time to get involved in community projects - and if none exist - start them! 

After I opened the invitation and called everyone I ran to the bookstore to buy a travel book to Romania.  They had NOTHING!  I looked for language books - nothing.  Music - nothing!  So sad!  I drove home and went onto Amazon and found tons of stuff.  I contained myself and bought a Rough Guide travel book, a Romanian Cook Book and a book on Romanian fairy tales and myths.  I then went to YouTube and found some language lessons and got an idea of what I'll be learning.  It is an interesting sounding language.  A little like Spanish, but with some serious Slavic influences. 

There is a lot of PC paperwork yet to do...go figure!  I need to do soooooo much to prepare for departure.  It's mind boggling.  I am meeting with my real estate agent today and will put my condo on the market.  I am also going to continue trying to find a renter...whichever happens first I will go with.  Packing is going to be a bitch!  Even though I have purged a LOT I still have a ridiculous amount of crap.  I have to get serious about things now.  Just two months to get it together.

Of course, I can't forget normal life continues.  I am teaching two classes at Cincinnati State and must continue to give my all to them.  So, today is all about Emergency Management!  I can't wait!!  ;)

Peace Corps Qualification!

Wow... it's been a long seven months since I was nominated, but I finally got my final qualification!  The PC was right when they said things could change.  I am now headed to Eastern Europe in April!  I am a little disappointed to not be going to Africa, but since Eastern Europe was my other preference I feel lucky!  I should find out this week which country will be my new home!

I've been reading "The Geography of Bliss" and last night read about Moldova (listed as the most unhappy of all countries!).  Talk about depressing.  I assume this means I will most likely be headed there!  In the book the author actually meets with some PC volunteers and they are all cranky!  They hate it there and the only good thing anyone can say about the country is that they have fresh fruit and vegetables!  Ugh!  Well... time will tell.  There are only about 13 countries in Eastern Europe that have PC missions...maybe it won't be Moldova!

As my brother, Stephen, reminded me...this part of the world has some of THE most difficult languages to learn.  So I really do have a hard task ahead of me...having never learned a language before, this will be a challenge, regardless of where I end up.

The past seven months have been a combination of busy and painfully boring!  I worked at Barnes and Nobles for a handful of months, until I could not take the task of scanning books one more minute!  It was nice to have mindless work for a few months, but it quickly became mind numbing!  I have been continuously teaching at Cincinnati State and truly have enjoyed the classes.  It's been a lot of work, always teaching a new class every 9 weeks, but well worthwhile!  I am tutoring at South Avondale School two mornings a week.  Working with 7th and 8th graders in this struggling school should be some good practice for what lies ahead.

My biggest worry over the recent past has been my financial situation.  It's not easy to put your life completely on hold for 27 months.  Although I have loved my condo, I do regret buying it (in hindsight!).  Now I am tasked with finding a renter or selling.  I thought I had a renter lined up only to have him disappear on me.  So, now I will place the condo on the market and continue trying to rent it out.  If neither of those plans work I will have to ensure I have 27 months of mortgage and condo fees in my bank account.  Although no one in my family wants to hear me say this I will have to pull some money out of my retirement plan.

My sister, Julie, has stated that the PC is the worst financial decision I have ever made.  She may be right, but I still feel totally committed that this is what I am supposed to be doing.  I have always had a nagging suspicion that I should be doing more with my life, giving more.  So... even though the money situation is stressing me out, I forge ahead and prepare for departure in April.

Again, I thank my family and close friends for being SO supportive of this decision.  I know some people can't fully understand my reasons for going this route, but I am am taking this leap of faith knowing that life will continue moving forward!