Forward Progress- Packing for the Peace Corps!

The past few days, Adam and I have been what we like to call "Mock Packing." We wanted to be sure that we had room for what we wanted based on the restriction of how much I could reasonably carry if we were to walk several miles with them. We weren't sure if we were going to be able to pack everything we wanted, so we had our "Must Haves", our "We Would Really Like to Have" and our "If We Have Room" lists. For your enjoyment, this is what Adam and I have packed for 2 years- and our stuff is pretty much mixed in each others' bags.

This is just some of the stuff we packed!

Bag Count for Emily: 3-4...you decide!
REI Grand Tour (it's kind of 2 bags since it has a zip-on/off daypack)- 25 lbs
Small Suitcase- 26 lbs
Camera Backpack- 10 lbs


Bag Count for Adam: 3-4...you decide!
REI Grand Tour (again, 2 bags in one)- 25 lbs
Black Diamond Backpack (with the Black Diamond Winter Pack inside)- 25 lbs
Duffel Bag- 20 lbs



What Emily Packed

(Little tastes of home)

2 pairs of dress slacks
2 pairs of jeans
1 pair of quick dry pants
2 pairs of capris
2 pairs of shorts
1 long-sleeved shirt
3 quarter length shirts
4 short sleeve shirts
4 tank tops
1 sweater shirt
1 dress
1 cardigan
1 hoodie
1 rain jacket
1 fleece jacket
2 workout/sleep capris
1 workout/sleep shorts
2 workout/sleep shirts
1 set of thermal pants/long sleeved shirt
1 beanie
1 baseball cap
2 pairs of gloves
16 pairs of underwear
6 bras & garment bag
2 sports bras
7 pairs of socks
2 bracelets & a necklace
Asics tennis shoes
Keen sandals
Rainbow flip flops
Black flats
Brown dress shoes
Posture brace
Camp towel
2 wash cloths
Head lamp
Canon Digital Camera & accessories
Canon SLR Camera & accessories
Medication for 3 months
2 sets of extra glasses and 3rd glasses case
Sunglasses
Citronella Bracelets (Thanks Natalie!)
Off Clip On Canister and Refills (Thanks Susan, Betty and Jennifer!)
Aveeno Anti-itch cream
After-Bite
Organic Insect Repellent...notice a trend yet?
Water bottle
Canvas tote with pens, stationary paper, cards, stickers for kids
Pocketknife
Belt
Jump rope
Tooth brush
5 boxes of tampons (I know, TMI)
Contact lenses
2 bottles of contact solution
Razors
Deodorant
Oil of Olay Face Lotion
Lip balm
Chinese Medicine (clear potent stuff)
Face makeup
Hair rubber bands
the Chi (because everyone knows how much I used it in California!)
Coffee french press
Coffee beans coarsely ground (to make it through until I can buy some in Ecuador!)
Instant Coffee & Instant Creamer
Sugar
1 set of chopsticks
4 packages of Jack Links Peppered Beef Jerky
Kellogg Fruit Snacks
Cool Mint Chocolate Clif Bars
Paper cutter, adhesive, patterned paper, cardstock and alpha letters. That is right...I fit in a few scrapbooking supplies!

What Adam Packed

(Gotta have good teeth!)

1 pair of slacks
1 pair of khakis
2 pairs of jeans
2 pairs of quick dry pants
2 pairs of cargo shorts
1 pair of quick dry shorts
2 pairs of board shorts
2 button up shirts
1 tie
5 collared shirts
7 t-shirts
1 rain jacket
1 thermal top
1 pair of sweatpants
2 pairs of work out/sleep pants
5 undershirts
1 beanie
1 pair of gloves
16 pairs of underwear
12 pairs of socks
Salomon waterproof shoes
Rainbow flip flops
Sanuk flip flops
Black dress shoes
Camp towel
2 wash cloths
Head lamp
Travel alarm clock
Sunglasses
Water bottle
Wristwatch
Belt
Leatherman
Razor
Hair clippers
Ginger Trip pills (for motion sickness)
Laptop & tons of cables & surge protector
Sriracha sauce

What We Share
Bag of change- quarters, dimes, nickels, pennies (since Ecuador uses US currency)
Travel sewing kit
Books- 501 Spanish Verbs, Barrons Spanish Grammar, Barrons Spanish Vocabulary, Spanish Dictionary, Lonely Planet Ecuador, Peace Corps Volunteer Booklet
Toothpaste
6 packages of dental floss (we love our Crest Glide floss)
4 bottles of Neutrogena SPF 70 Sun Block & 2 travel sizes
3 bars of Neutrogena face soap
3 bars of Irish Spring body soap
Hydrocortisone
Travel Size Shampoo & conditioner
Tweezers
Nail Clippers
Mini first aid (they provide us with a kit after the first few days...so this is just provisions for the first few days....lol)- bandaids & Neosporin, Ibuprofen, Cough drops
Ear plugs
Hand Sanitizer
Tea Bags
2 boxes of curry mix
1 container of pepper
Kitchen Utensils including- spatula, spoon, silicone brush, 2 knives, veggie peeler
Space saver bags (tons and tons of them)
Ziplock bags (gallon and quart)
Pineapple Cakes (for our host families)
One set of sheets
Duct Tape
Photo Albums of Family, Friends, Home Life, etc.
Map of United States
Map of World
iPod
Turkish evil eye- just because
3 thumb drives
DVD copies of some movie favorites- Zoolander, Anchorman, Love Actually, Office Space...
Paperwork...lots of paperwork

Things That We Still Need to Get
Peptobismol Capsules- it wasn't listed on the Ecuador first aid kit list
Immodium

Things that Peace Corps Ecuador Suggested that we will not be bringing
Sleeping bag. I hope we don't regret this one!

So are you shocked yet that we managed to fit it all in? I am!! And yes...I am the one that packs a lot of extra stuff that is not necessary but I figured it might be nice sometime during our service. This list also will hopefully help other volunteers in the future as they research what others actually packed. We'll come back to this in a few months to share what was worth bringing along and what should've been left behind! =D

5 days and counting...

With only 5 days left before we fly out to Miami, Adam and I are feeling pretty normal (not anxious, stressed, or really much of anything other than the same old same old). In part, I think we have been busy spending time with family and running errands so it's just another day in the life.

Second to last week in Ridgecrest

This past week was pretty eventful. We spent a good chunk of it with Susan, Betty and my parents to fix up one of the back bedrooms. Mostly we just cleared out the stuff in the back room, took down the wallpaper and the shag carpeting in there, and repainted. It looks pretty good! I'll post pictures once we get everything finished in there (still need to get some blinds and a light fixture). We also spent a lot of time purging, shredding and donating (please remind me to always ask myself "Will I need this or miss this in 7 years?").

Sorry Susan, your Legends of the Fall poster had to go!

The room in all its glory. A tiny bit of me will miss that wallpaper and carpet. A very very tiny bit.

Painting is fun...for the first 1o minutes!

Covering the floor with Chinese newspapers

In other news, it was also my suegra (mother-in-law)'s last day of work this week. She is now officially RETIRED!! It was an exciting day for her since she has had a countdown clock since last year! I loved the shirt that she wore on her last day!

My suegra with her countdown clock...0 days!

No more work but a lot more of fun!

With her colleagues

We also received a CD in the mail from the Peace Corps with some presentations about what our programs will be about. After going through it, I'm getting pretty excited. I think that Adam and I are going to have an amazing and challenging experience...and hopefully we will be better people for it! I think that we will be able to make a difference in the world, even if it is just sharing our experiences with people both in Ecuador and the United States.

The rest of the weekend, I hope to relax a little bit more and spend some time with the family before they take off for home. Andy & Gaby and the girls are flying in tonight but Susan flies back to Utah on Sunday and Betty drives back to LA on Sunday. Then, the countdown will be on because we will have one week to get all of our bags packed, and of course dot all our "i"s and cross all our "t"s before we leave the country for what will hopefully be a full 27 months! Lots of paperwork to go through before we leave!!

Eating, eating and more eating in Orange County

Adam and I had to make one last trip to the OC and it was a super fun and memorable trip because of the following 10 reasons:

1) Adam and I stayed with Jennifer at Vereda, along with Betty and with Jennifer's friends Michael & Michele and their son Jackson. It was a full house and Jennifer was a gracious hostess! Vereda still smells like Drew!

Betty in front of Jennifer's house with my dad's very first black & white t.v., the RCA Victor

Jackson getting excited for Disneyland

2) We kicked off the weekend with Cham Sut Gol!! Hilarious dinner too...I was laughing so hard I cried! And we got to say good bye to some good friends.

Mmm...all you can meat Korean bbq! Sorry to Stephen for making him smell like meat fat before his real dinner date!

I was laughing so hard while we were trying to take this picture

Adam and I with our good friend Cuong & his camera

Again, laughing uncontrollably

3) We went to the Farmer's Market and picked up some hummus and watched Jennifer agonize over which flowers to get.


4) We ate Thrifty's Mint Chip ice cream all weekend

5) We made forward progress on our photo albums! Not done...but close! Below is a goofy video of us when we were tired and still trying to finish up our albums!

6) We went to Disneyland and California Adventure with some friends for one last time

Ray and Adam on the Toy Story ride

Darian (my friend Lupe's daughter) and I

7) I met up with one of my friends from jr. high, Sarah Woydziak. We used to write letters to each other up until college, and then had lost touch. Apparently she was at UCI for the past 3 years! It was great to meet up with her and hopefully we can stay in touch. I forgot to take pictures sadly.

8) I kept Jennifer up all night and made her eyes hurt. I was actually doing ok though and probably could have chatty cathy-ed her until dawn.

9) I ate a gyro wrap from Wholseome Choice, In N Out burger, chili cheese fries at The Hat, conveyer belt sushi and America's Cup Yogurt for one last time without it being part of the weekend plans. Food always makes its way into my experiences!

Yes, four of us shared the fries!

Ray's first time at a conveyer belt sushi place

Gyoza at Kura Sushi

America's Cup Frozen Yogurt

10) We said goodbye to Jennifer 10 different times (ok, maybe it was 3 times). First when we left her house, then when she stopped by the garden and we were there too, and finally when we called her around lunch to say we were still in Irvine and should meet up for some conveyer belt sushi...and so her and Ray joined us!

Goodbye #1
Goodbye #2

Goodbye #3...until Ecuador!

Overall we had a great and busy weekend in Irvine. We couldn't have asked for a better weekend.

I got my haircut and ran into two RAs that I had supervised, Jimmy & Janice. Jimmy had long hair all year long and that day had decided to cut it all off

Jennifer is such an amazing, kind hearted and generous individual- we couldn't ask for a better friend!

9000 Miles, 15 states, and 11 GB of pictures later...

Our last few days hanging out with Susan and Paul were fun, despite both of them (and Adam) coming down with some kind of stomach bug. Adam and I were also able to drive down to Provo to meet with Paul Schramm and his wife at a Brazilian steakhouse.

For Memorial Weekend, we went back to Syracuse to spend the rest of our time in Utah with Amy and the family again. It was a lot of fun hanging out with the family (I scrapbooked with Amy, we went on a picnic, I played a loooong game of Monopoly with Arianna, and we watched the girls for a day when Amy went in for her eye surgery and took them to their singing recital). We are really glad we got a chance to spend time with them before we head out., though Adam and I also ran a lot of errands while we were in Utah. I hope that Kevin (who served his mission in Ecuador) and Amy are able to come visit.

My niece Arianna kicking my butt at Disney Monopoly

Amy & I finding time to scrapbook!

Chalysse and Serenna on our picnic...aren't they cute!

Chalysse and Arianna with the hammock that Mark put up on the swingset

The girls after their singing recital

Then it was off to California! We made a pitstop in Salt Lake to see Jared one last time. Then it was a loooong drive back to Ridgecrest. We were there for a few days where I had the chance to spent time with my parents- we even had time to make some zong (see video below). It was so nice to be back home again!

Our road trip was a lot of fun and was definitely worth going on. We were able to meet and talk with a lot of interesting people on our trip, see a lot of amazing things, and really have a nice introduction to more regions of the US. We put a lot of miles on our lovely Matrix and took a ton of photos, but it is nice to be in one place...even if it is just for a few weeks!

In the next blog post, I'll write about our time in the OC and what we've been up to this week in the 'crest!

For your enjoyment, some videos from the past few weeks:

My nieces showing me around their room!


Arianna and Chalysse telling me about their chickens



Our nieces' singing recital- they did awesome!

I'm not sure if this video will work, but I'm trying to get it loaded since it is a bit longer and larger. On May 28, it was the Chinese Dragon Boat Festival, and one of the traditions is to make zongzi (click the link to read more about the story behind the festival and the making of zongzi). I was so happy that I was in Ridgecrest with my parents, and we spent that evening wrapping zongzi, which I happily ate for dinner and for lunch the next day. I believe that we have plans for making more "zhong" as I call it, this weekend while Susan and Betty are in town too. Essentially, it is sticky rice with different fillings (like Chinese sausage, peanuts, etc.) and then wrapped in bamboo leaves and boiled. Yum!!