Catching Up

I've never been able to keep a journal for more than a couple of weeks in my life, so blogging regularly is going to require more discipline than I've been able to muster so far. (And will depend on the availability of internet access at or near my site, which will be a complete unknown until I get there.)  Doing so is a pretty good way to contribute to the Peace Corps' Third Goal, so I'm really going to try.  I've learned an incredible amount from the PCV blogs I've read, and what I've sampled is just a tiny fraction of what's out there.  You really have to marvel at how the internet has changed the Peace Corps experience from what it was almost 50 years ago.  Which reminds me, I have a copy of Come As You Are: The Peace Corps Story by Coates Redmon, all about the early Kennedy years of the PC, that I'd really like to read before staging (because it's hardcover and too big to pack.)  Anyway, I digress...

It's been a hectic few weeks over the holidays, and this is supposed to be the calm before the storm.  Since last post I have:

-Packed up my apartment--the first place I've ever lived that was mine and mine alone--and put everything worth saving into a 10x10 storage unit.  Pretty strange to see all my stuff stacked floor-to-ceiling in an oversized closet like that.  Even though it's supposedly climate controlled, it's South Carolina ("famously hot") and I don't trust them enough to put my vinyl in there, lest I return from Morocco to unplayably warped records.  Those will be going to an undisclosed location with AC maintained by someone prone to hot flashes.

-Moved into temporary housing provided by Mom, made all the more temporary by the fact that she's moving midway between now and staging.  I am indeed a man without a home at the moment, but it's kind of liberating.

-Dealt with a (feline) death in the family.  2009 was a tough year all around on that score.  Happy to see it go.

-Already started saying some goodbyes to people that I won't be seeing again before staging, e.g. Heather's parents.  Shivani left back for M.I.T. on the 2nd, and I won't see her again for at least two and half years, unless she comes to Morocco.  Again, hard to process all this abstract future time.

-Most crucially, had a mini-crisis (occasionally blowing up to moderate) when Medical Services put a new hold on my file a few days before Christmas.  I thought I was being overly diligent when I undertook to inform them that I was now taking medication for acid reflux, but apparently that counts as a New Condition and requires a fresh doctor visit and, of course, more forms.  I tell you, these folks do not fool around when it comes to interrogating every aspect of your medical being with SS-like rigor.  (I'm sure I'll appreciate it more when I'm Over There...) It was frustrating, esp. while still riding the high of finally having an assignment, and timing couldn't have been worse for getting all that taken care of.  I finally managed to see the doctor today, faxed off the paperwork, and hopefully put all this to bed.