On the road
So here I am again with the Corps of Peace. This time around though things are a lot less nerve wracking. Two years ago I remember pouring over the invitation kit, obsessively reading blogs of volunteers already in Georgia and just lots of your basic needless fretting. Will they have sunscreen in Georgia? Do I have enough music in my itunes to last me 2 years? I left a 3 inch binder for my parents that covered everything they might need or I might need from them while I was gone. This time I’m going to China and I am decidedly less neurotic. As I casually pack I notice almost everything I’m throwing in my suitcase was made in China. I’m taking lots of shoes because PCVs already in the country have warned that shoes larger than a size 6 are hard to find. So as I’m packing my clown feet size 9 shoes I wonder about the Chinese people who made them and what they must think of American women and their enormous feet.
My packing list for Georgia included more Peace Corps-y items such as a leatherman, batteries and a headlamp. Although not knocking the usefulness of those I am a little more practical and a little less dreamy this time. For China my list includes a planner, a French press and index cards. So many wasted afternoons in Batumi trying to find those three. Developing nations, you’re not going to get me again!
I hope my experience in China will be as nice as my time in Georgia was. I’m looking forward to copious amounts of bike riding, tofu eating and drinking tea made from flowers that expand gigantically in water.
