This time maybe I'll be bulletproof

Everything is wrapped up, literally and figuratively. I have two nites left here in Naperville, and I have but only three left in the states. Warm wishes come from every angle. I cannot help but feel that I don't really realise I'm leaving. My bags are mostly packed save the debacle that is the suitcase filled with my clothes and toiletries and my book bag.

For the record, I still don't know too terribly much about Ukraine, so I'm kind of on a learn as you go program. Here are my plans thus far as to how I can charm the rest of my group into undying adoration for my sardonic and dry sense of humor, and like all my good friends pleasure in the inevitable random things that tend to go horribly and hysterically wrong in my life.

Here are some quotes/clips/well wishes from others that I would like to include for comic relief and by comic I mean my friends are funny in writing, as well as in person. I, however, come off like an emo cutter whenever I try to blog. Here's to hoping this blog won't be like that and I'll actually share fun stories, like those from France.

really I should make this a quiz, I will number the quotes, try and guess who they came from . . . if you don't know anybody in my life it'll make it even more pointless and thus entertaining.

1. "Is it wrong that I'm already planning your hotel de ville wedding to some hairy Eastern European man named Sergei Ivanovich (is that even Ukranian?)"

2. " I guess we're going parka shopping"

3. "Doors open soon, so i'm going to leave you now. And i'll drink my pint thinking of you!"

4. "Why don't Ukrainian men want to date American women? is it because of Bush?"

5. " Keep happy and remember, alcohol and good music soothes all. Well, in my case, add a lot of chocolate to that equation!"

6. "stay safe and don't forget to pack scarves to protect yourself from radiation"

7. "i'm going to miss you. stay away from Chernobyl."

8. "don't forget to pack your crazy pills! ;)"

Come down from the mountain; you have been gone too long

So, of course, time is waning and goodbyes are coming in droves. It's hard if not impossible for me to imagine my life beyond all this. Most days, I get into a groove, do some packing, think about what it is that is absolutely necessary, etc. I'm what's the english word for nulle at this. Wordreference is telling me the best translation is hopeless or worthless, but the French connotation seems to have a bit more involved in it, a touch harsher than hopeless, barely functioning might be the most appropriate translation.

Either way, my godmother is coming this weekend to say goodbye to me. She makes this whole experience seem comical, as she does most things. She asked me a few weeks ago, what exactly I needed to get before I left for Ukraine. I told her the things still left on my list: a compact sleeping bag, an oven thermometer, yaktrax, etc. Upon explaining to her what an oven thermometer and yaktrax were, she exclaimed, "Kari, you cannot go there! Are you kidding me?" She, of course, is kidding. But it doesn't stop me from laughing at the ridiculousness of it all. I mean, honestly there are a couple of things I never thought I would need in my life, yaktrax is one of them. They would have been useful in Marquette, of course, BUT somehow in the states for all its excess, you do without, because you know in the end nothing bad is going to happen because you slip and fall. Now the thought of falling, somehow invokes this primal fear of bad injury and thus removal from the country and/or death. Like I'm in some kind of victorian England drama where I've a bad cold or I've twisted my ankle and somehow everyone is worried for the state of my well-being. Nevertheless, the thoughts of this life are all passing and fleeting.

I'm excited to see what awaits me in these months to come; to start feeling my soul in another language again. French has been therapeutic in a lot of ways, I found myself in French/France. I hope that either Ukrainian or Russian will bring me into new ways of being.

yesterday, when you were young, everything you needed done was done for you

Today, I got all my travel information for staging and for leaving the country.

I'm officially booked to leave at 6:20am from Chicago to head towards Philadelphia for staging for one day. Staging is actually a lot quicker and less time than I thought. I will arrive in Philly at 9:15am, and then I can head to the hotel, where I will register at 12. Our sessions start at 2pm and go until 7pm where we cover any number of things. And then, we are free to spend our last evening in the States. We get picked up at the airport at 6am the next morning and are taken to the airport where I have a 355 flight from Philly to Frankfurt and then I fly the rest of the way to Kiev.

Enough of the logistics, I'm starting to get really excited. It feels real, and as if it's coming on fast. BUT all that aside. . . I'm mostly excited to see everyone meet new people.

I've met some girls who I am going with already, and as far as I'm concerned everyone is fantastic. I really like a girl named Linnea who is originally from Champaign. We seem to get along really well and she's a francophile too so that's nice.

I don't think people really understand the peace corps process, this of course, is inevitable. In the end, the process of the bureaucracy and all that doesn't really bother me. Similar to everything I had to go through in France, except it's more papers and less having to go to the consulate, sous-prefecture, etc. All in all, I think it's pretty easy. I seem to be the only one. . .

OK I probably won't write until it's closer to the date. woo!