Live From Chicago

Well, the sad good-byes are over. Thankfully. Too many more and I might never have left. Right now I'm in Chicago for staging and tomorrow I leave the country. I'm incredibly excited and optimistic about going forth with this. In that way, staging has been good.

The "ice-breaker games" weren't too bad. There was actually just one, and it was rather benign so I pretty much stressed out for nothing. Typical. My bags ended up weighing in at 49 lbs. and 40 lbs. and they were a royal bitch to lug about the airport; nevermind the HUGE backpack I had on my back that was heavy with my laptop and various other goods I couldn't shove into my bags. My backpack was so huge that it wouldn't fit into the overhead compartment and I had to unzip it and pull stuff out to sit with on my flight. It was mortifying because I ended up holding up an entire line of unamused American Airlines passengers. I don't even want to think about flying again tomorrow. I pretty much hate myself for being so neurotic that I had to pack so much.

The big group of 100 has been split up into two groups of 50, so I've only been hanging out with half of the big group. Truthfully, I don't think I could pick anyone in the other group out in a line-up. It's okay though, at this point, I don't think that's a test for service.

When we get to Ukraine, we'll be whisked away for two days of classes "in the woods" (whatever that means). We won't be camping, but it sounds fairly remote. We'll see. I have to get permission from the country director to have this blog, so that'll hopefully happen fairly soon after I get there. I won't have internet access for at least a week though, so it'll be pretty boring for you for awhile. I'll keep a list of the absurd ways I embarrass myself though, don't worry.

Anyway, to all my loved one: I love you guys very much. Thanks for being so supportive, and stay tuned because there's more to come.