6/20 2 days left!

Well, here goes nothing!

After a wonderful week of tanning, boating, skiing, and most importantly, eating at my lake house in Missouri, I am starting to pack and get ready to leave. My mom, sister and I are driving to St. Louis tomorrow, and I'm flying out on Tuesday morning. Luckily, my amazing cousin Shelly has volunteered to drive me to the airport at 6 am. She's my hero :)

So packing has become an issue. Why do I have so much stuff? Why is it all so heavy? These are my questions. It stresses me out first of all, that at the end of this summer I will have belongings in Houston, Missouri, Thailand and DC. I should've put more stuff in storage...oh well. Packing for Thailand shouldn't be that difficult-I just need to cut back. Also, all of a sudden we are supposed to have closed-toe shoes (when the "playbook" said we should bring only sandals). Well-that's not going to happen. All of my closed-toe shoes are in storage in DC, or in a duffel bag in Houston. Not happening. I do have appropriate length skirts and dresses and conservative wear for teaching. Other than that I'm just bringing shorts and t-shirts and hoping for the best. I have printed out all of my documents, I have my passport, itinerary, and after a delightful trip to Target in St. Louis, I will be ready to go.

All of a sudden I'm realizing how long my flights are. 1.5 hours, 13 hours and then another 6.5 hours. Wow. I just need to keep telling myself it was the cheapeast flight and I can spend the extra money on new clothes once I get back to DC. I am praying for on-demand movies, I've learned after years and years of super long flights that that is the only way to survive them. That and red wine and tylenol PM.

More information came in on my host family. My living situation is now being described as the "lap of luxury". Apparently there is a lap pool, an exercise room with machines, and I have a huge room and bed to myself. During training a volunteer who had participated in the China program last year told us how he had to share a bed with 2 host siblings! I am definitely not going to be "roughing" it. Two of the other volunteers will be living in what I had imagined-a rural area, on a farm. Part of me is a little disappointed, this whole experience is after all about trying new things and pushing myself out of my comfort zone, while the other part of me remembers that I loathe camping (ikk) and will probably be much happier in the long run. I hate to admit it but I am totally dependent on my creature comforts. I am however, not bringing a blow-dryer (bring on the curls!), not planning on wearing any make up at all, and going au-naturale. Don't worry-this does not include hair removal (I remember my French host sisters-cringe).

No more planning has been done on our service program. I haven't gotten a single response from the professors I emailed at different universities, asking if they would help us with our mentorship program between high schoolers and college students. I'm pretty sure that very little of what we planned will actually work out, and that we will have to be super flexible once we arrive and tailor our program to what is actually feasible. I did receive a teaching schedule-so I know what times I'll be teaching, but wasn't able to decifer any other information from it. Sigh. I know I need to "go with the flow". I promise I'm trying.

I will probably not be able to write again until after I'm in Thailand! Wish me luck :) I miss you all, and I expect email updates about your summers! No excuses.

xoxo