I have a quiet Sunday today. After being productive with the packing and organizing of my life, I decided to stay up north at my mom’s today. She is gone, or at least on her way home from the coast as I type, and her house is nice and quiet.
I have spent some time this afternoon reading blogs, blogs and more blogs written by current Peace Corps volunteers in the Ukraine. My apprehension level has hit a new level this past week. And the easiest way for me to combat the apprehension so I can sleep is to pack another box, make lists, pack another box and continue to write my department manual.
Well, one of my concerns about Peace Corps service, besides the language and spending the first year of service feeling like an idiot with no voice, is the boredom and homesickness. The Peace Corps is full of highs and lows…and the lows can be nasty on the moral of the volunteer. So, what will I do with such lows. Well I am taking projects. Yes, those who know and love me, know that I love projects, especially home decor projects. No, I am not taking a home decor project, but I have a few others.
1. Cross Stitch
I started a sampler cross stitch in 2005 when I was visiting my Aunt Lorraine on vacation in Wyoming, and between fulltime school and fulltime work over the past several years I never seem to get to it. It is about 40% complete, so I am excited to bring it and actually get it completed.
2. Family Cookbook
The family cookbook has been a work of love and devotion to my grandmother and all the old family recipes. This was a project I started in 2003, after my grandparents passed away. And then I started college. It stayed in a box until I was laid out with a pulled sciatic nerve in November of 2008. By mid 2009 I was up to the R’s and about 75% complete (about 300 recipes entered). Then my old laptop was stolen in a home invasion. Thankfully I backed up everything on my portable hard drive, but due to a software upgrade by Blurb my old cookbook was no longer compatible and I lost everything. So, I will be bringing all the recipes with me and starting from scratch. I don’t even want to think about the lost hours of work, but alas, it is a great project.
3. My camera
I am trying to upgrade to a digital SLR before I leave. This may or may not happen and if not I will manage with my Nikon Coolpix P4. A camera has been my way to discover the world since I was a sophomore in high school and bought my first Nikon N8008. Unfortunately for the past several years my life has been to full, busy, and complicated to get the camera out unless the nephews and niece are around. I am looking forward to having the time and the inclination to wander and discover.
By the way, I will also be loaded down with a portable hard drive that has a large amount of movies on it. No Kindle as of yet. I have never really understood the Kindle, so I haven’t added it to the wish list.
Hopefully my plan to fight the boredom and homesickness works, otherwise I will be watching lots of movies.
Updated on January 19, 2011
I ordered a Kindle today. So excited! This could be a great investment.
1 comment:
I finally ordered a Kindle today, I've been thinking about it more and more and I'm leaving in three weeks, so it was now or never. I am still very adverse to the idea of an e-reader, but I figure moving to Africa merits trying to pack as little as possible. I have also been loading my hard drive with all my movies, i'm way more excited about that than the kindle :)
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