On Staging
I graduated last weekend, which was rather mundane, in all honesty. Same costume, different scenery, I guess. However, I did get to wear a hood this time, which made me look like a monk/Klan member hybrid. And so now that I know everything there is to know (and have a diploma written completely in Latin to prove it), I can concentrate fully on preparing to leave for Georgia.
I finally had the last of my dental appointments yesterday and sent in their bloody forms. Hopefully they won't send them back to me again. I also received my staging packet in the mail last week. More forms to fill out, including next-of-kin information (a bit creepy to fill out...this conjured up many of the same sentiments as being subjected to the AIDS test when getting the PC physical - not that I feared I had the AIDS, but it just seems like something that happens to other people until you are sitting there in the AIDS-test closet having your blood extracted. It really was the size of a closet, like I was being pre-emptively quarantined while being tested. On a side note, I don't think the hyphen there is technically correct, but having two e's side-by-side within a word where both are enunciated seems too wrong to be right. Good thing I am teaching English as an occupation for the next two years.). I also had to affirm that I did not run off and marry a foreign national since the last time they talked to me and also that I haven't been subjected to any disciplinary action by a military tribunal - because so many people jump up and flee the military and right away join the Peace Corps, I guess.
The Staging Packet also contained a "baggage advisory," which I have been dreading. I generally pack lightly, but to actually see the dimension and weight restrictions is a bit daunting anyway. It just sounds like such a small amount to pack for two years. Combined linear dimesions of my checked baggage shall not exceed 107 inches, and the combined weight shall not exceed 100 pounds. So I guess I'll be leaving that gigantic Churchill biography that I've been meaning to read at home, which will allot me an extra 5% of the allowed wieght. I guess packing will be the last thing I do using the English system of measurement, thank god. Oh metric system, I've been yearning to live in your midst for so long! We can be together at last! Hopefully you have been anticipating me as much as I have been anticipating you.
I also received an itinerary of my training that will take place at the Sheraton University City in Philadelphia. A bit shorter than I anticipated, but it does have a session that teaches me what it's like to be an attractive female. "A Slice of Life: Coping with Unwanted Attention" headlines the morning session of Wednesday's training. The packet also includes an itinerary for the international leg of my journey to Georgia. We depart from JFK airport in New York City (which is excellent, I've always wanted to go to NYC) and, even better, includes a 13.5 hour layover in Vienna (and even during daylight hours!). I hope we don't spend this time in the airport. We missed Vienna on our selective European tour last summer, which I guess is turning out to be rather fortunate, at least for me (Sorry Corinne).
Oh, and I got yet another CD-ROM full of information to comb through (I mean, of course, digest with bated breath and uncontained excitement). This makes three now, in addition to a substantial book and a growing mountain of other papers and pamphlets in addition to the additional research that I've done. And, there are the language lessons on the website, which remain incomprehensible to me. I think I'd have a better chance with heiroglyphics and the Rosetta Stone. Also, in case you were wondering, the font "Georgian," which this entry is written in, has no resemblence whatsoever to written Georgian.
I plan to call SATO on Monday to book my flight to Philadelphia - hopefully for the 12th so I can see some friends before my life is turned upside down...errr...takes a dramatic turn towards the interesting. Also, if you are bored, try reading Stories I Stole, by Wendell Steavenson. It chronicles many crazy, crazy (and not to mention endearing) stories about the author's time spent living in Georgia.
Tim
posted by Tim @ 06:09
2 Comments:
Hi Tim! My parents know your parents (I think from church) and they sent me your blog. I'm a Rotary Youth Exchange Student in Blagoveschensk, Russia. I think you've got a great blog started!! You're right to not worry too much about the language before you arrive-- try to learn basic words, but it's stressful and difficult to pick anything up before you're immersed in it. I tried to teach myself Russian for about six months before leaving, but beyond some grammar, didn't get much beyond "Hello."
About baggage-- I had trouble with that too! One thing you should be sure to bring is a photo album: it doesn't have to be big, but put in photos of you when you were little and now, with your friends, pictures of your home, university, and home city, etc. It's a very useful tool for illustrating cultural differences. Also-- bring one favorite book that you can read over and over, but don't weigh down your suitcases with books. I brought a bunch, most of which I'm leaving behind, but surprisingly a lot of the reading I did was e-books which I downloaded free online (the authors are long dead) from gutenberg.org. It will probably be better if you buy a winter coat and hat and stuff in Georgia, so you can fit in with the locals, so don't bother bringing those. Teachers in this part of the world get paid almost nothing, so if you only bring a handful of outfits you'll fit right in, don't worry about having something different to wear each day of the week. Put everything soft in Space Bags!!
And exploit the carry-on rules: you can have a carry-on (like a gigantic backpack, they measure and weigh small suitcases but never check backpacks) and a personal item, such as a laptop case. So you can really pack more than you think.
I know it's hard to go away from home for such a long period of time, but it sounds like you're preparing well, both mentally and with the horrible visa applications, and I'm sure you'll be a great representative of America! Good luck!!
hey tim -- definitely let me kno the details about when you're gonna be in philly ... im sure i can ditch work for a day to come visit haha. miss you!
later
*jen*
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