The Final Steps

So I've taken care of almost everything. I have my plane ticket for Philadelphia (that's where staging is going to take place) on Friday the 13th (such an ominous day). I've paid all my bills that can be paid right now. I'm starting to see all my friends and family and slowly say "See you later" (because I don't say "good-bye's" unless I know I'll never see you again). Everything is starting to fall into place and feel taken care of. As the day to leave approaches I feel much more calm and ready, which is odd 'cause I certainly thought I'd be flipping out or at least more stressed with each day instead of less.
I've gotten a lot of questions about some of the details so here's some explaining: Friday the 13th, I'll fly to Philly and start Staging. Staging is a two-day orientation to the Peace Corps in general, not the specific country, for all of the Trainees (PCT's) for Bulgaria. There will be about 40 PCT's in my group. Sunday the 15th (it's just not as fun to say as Friday the 13th), all of us will bus over to NYC for our flight to Bulgaria. It'll take a full day of flying with a lay over in Germany to get us to Sofia, Bulgaria. The first four days in Bulgaria we (the 40ish PCT's) will be at a hotel getting some primary training before moving in with our host families. The fourth day, or maybe the fifth, we will meet our host families and go with them. I'll live with a host family in a medium-sized town for the first three months. There will be 4 to 5 other PCT's in the same town as me with other families. Training is three months of intensive language learning, culture adaptation, skill training, and just time to deal with all the things that you don't expect to have to deal with. About 10ish weeks into training I'll find out what town/village/community I'll be in for the next two years. So, just to re-cap, I don't know where I'm going to be living within Bulgaria for the two years and won't for the next few months. The address I have is only for while I'm in training for the first 3 months.
I'll be teaching English as a foreign language to High Schoolers once I finish training. I really can't wait. Each day I get more and more excited and anticipatory. I'll be in Atlanta this Friday and Saturday if you would like to get together just call me. I'll be in Athens later today, that's a little bit shorter notice, but same thing goes. I'm also going to Eggs in the Easy for Easter weekend and I'm sure I'll get to catch most people there. Only two and a half weeks left!

Address!!! Only 4 weeks left!

My address for the first 10-12 weeks in Bulgaria is:

Krista Greiner , PCT
Zora Community Center
2 Nikolaevska Str., Floor 3
2600 DUPNITSA
BULGARIA

I would love letters and I'm really good at writing back! I will also have intermittent access to email.

I started the initial packing stuff last night. I made an excel spreadsheet of everything I'd like to take and which bag it will go in. I also paired all the different outfit combinations by letter and number. There are over 125 different pairings... obviously I went to Georgia Tech. Then I tried to put all the stuff in the bags... not as easy as making a spreadsheet. My backpack was completely full to overflowing with only half the stuff in it and my other bag had room to spare. My goal is to get most of the weight into the backpack and not touch it until I get settled in Bulgaria. I'm hoping that vacuum bags make a huge difference.
What am I trying to pack in these bags? Here's a list so far:
16 shirts
2 sweaters
2 dresses
3 skirts
3 pairs of pants
2 pairs of shorts
2 scarf sets
2 sets of workout clothes
2 pairs of long johns
1 sweatshirt
3 jackets
compact sleeping bag
fleece blanket
5 pairs of shoes
toiletries for 3 months
1 set of T-shirt sheets
6 books
assortment of my favorite teas
a photo album
2 chef's knives
assortment of Thai and Mexican cooking spices
That's all in 2 bags whose measurements can add up to no more that 105" and each bag can weigh no more that 50 lbs. Wish me luck! I'll let you know how it goes :-)

Why do they have to have titles?

I mean really. Does it have to have a label? I'm not so big on the labeling.
I just watched a bunch of videos and filled journal entries out about labeling people. Really I think it was supposed to be about quesitons you could be asked while you're serving, but aren't those questions really just so we can label each other?
Anyway...
It's almost a month exactly before I leave. I'm getting so excited and nervous. I have no idea what to pack, how much to pack, what to pack in... I'm trying to learn the Bulgarian Alphabet (it's Cyrillic) and boy that's exciting. I'm also starting to realize I have to say bye to everyone. I don't like good-byes so I usually just make it a "see you later" and don't have to worry about it. But this is for a little bit longer than normal, so I'll just have to see how I do.

The Six Weeks

There are six weeks left before I leave. If you'd like to stay updated on how and where I am and what I'm doing then this is the spot for you. I'm horrible about posting things, so I'm sorry if this doesn't meet your expectations for frequency of posts, but it's all I've got.


I'm feeling: loved, thankful, happy
and thinking: OMG six weeks and Amanda's already gone!!!!