Right now I am in Philadelphia, having completed my staging, settled into my hotel room, and eaten my last meal in America for the next 27 months. (For those of you wondering, it was a house salad followed by spinach gnocci and tomatoes in a sage butter sauce topped with parmesan, and it was delicious. Not to mention the free sangria.) Tomorrow morning I wake up to board one of two buses carrying 39 trainees to New York City en route to Tanzania.
I meant to write this post sometime yesterday but the last-minute packing and repacking and tidying up all kinds of loose ends at home took up all of my time. Two hours before leaving for the airport (shortly after 1:30am) I realized that I had way too much stuff so I unpacked and then packed it all up again. Without further ado, here’s my final packing list:
Camping and Travel Supplies
- pack raincover
- water reservoir for my Osprey backpack
- stuff sacks 3 filled and 3 empty, all various sizes
- Camp Kit (plastic bags, bungee cords, rope, multi tool, Swiss Army knife, kitchen knife, scissors, alarm clock, batteries, matches, spork)
- fanny pack and “invisible wallets”
- 2 headlamps
- bike helmet required if I want to ride a bike as a Volunteer
- 2-person tent and groundcloth
- cotton sleep sack
- small First-Aid kit Peace Corps supplies one but I had one already
- sewing kit
- pack towel
- duct tape
- travel pillow
- sleeping sack
- toiletries (toothpaste, extra toothbrushes, dental floss, sea salt and a shot glass for cleaning my dermal anchor, spare glasses, lens cleaner, spare contacts, contact solution, Dr. Bronner’s, cotton balls, and q-tips)
Clothing & Shoes
- two quick-dry collared shirts, one long sleeve and one cap sleeve
- two t-shirts
- one Engineering Expo 2007 polo shirt represent!
- two long sleeved shirts
- two knee-length skirts
- two knee-length dresses
- one pair leggings and one pair dance tights for wearing underneath kangas
- outdoor pants
- Thai pants
- Thai shorts
- short shorts don’t expect to wear these too often but I wanted a nice American-style pair of shorts to wear for traveling
- two pair Smartwool socks
- two pair ankle socks not really sure I will need these
- wool & fleece sweater
- raincoat
- eight pair underwear, two of which are quick-dry
- one quick-dry tank top
- one black thick-strapped tank top
- three bras, three sportsbras
- exercise pants
- six bandanas I’m not sure why I brought so many
- swimsuit quite a modest one
- jeans not planning on wearing these often; they are more for comfort’s sake
- belt
- flannel button-up comfort
- cotton sleeveless vest comfort
- hiking boots
- Chacos
- Tom’s shoes
Recreation
- frisbee
- harmonica
- deck of cards
- Apples to Apples
- Appletters
- camera tripod
- Earthball
- hemp kit
- Rubik’s Cube
- travel-size Connect Four
- Coloring books & crayons for the kids but I’m sure I’ll get my share of coloring in
- books (The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, 2666, every J.D. Salinger paperback, Infinite Jest, The Little Prince, Dead Aid, Beyond the Sky and the Earth, and several more)
Electronics
- current converters
- netbook
- iPod
- 4GB jump drive I considered bringing a larger external drive but then realized I don’t watch many movies anyway, and I’ve only put one-third of my music on my netbook, so there isn’t much point to bring anything more
- headphones & earbuds
- camera & one extra memory card
Other
- hard candy to give to children as gifts
- journal
- Kiswahili self-instruction book
- Kiswahili phrase book
- Kiswahili pocket dictionary
All this fits into my 70 liter Osprey pack, which I have lovingly named Xena, and my 40 liter Black Diamond Demon Duffel, named David. Peace Corps imposes a weight limitation of 80 pounds and I’m just under — Xena weighs 42 pounds and David weighs 28.
A lot of this stuff I purchased specifically for Peace Corps (i.e. a new backpack, a new tent, Chacos, and a few clothing items) but the great majority of it I already had in my possession, which is why I think I’m packing so much stuff. I’ve got the mindset that if I have something I might need someday, why not bring it along?
Well the only sleep I got last night was about 90 minutes between two flights this morning, so it’s time for me to cut this one short and say Good Night!
