Packing...

I kind of like that I use the ... a lot. it makes me happy.

But really, I am packing.
Packing my books, clothes I will not be taking with me, sheets, kitchen utensils, notebooks, letters, photographs....everything. Trying to decide what to take with me is insane. What do you need for a year in Peru? My site leader, Debbie, said that it has been a mild winter, you know, it's gotten up to 70 degrees lately....have I mentioned that my summer in Washington has been around 70 degrees on average days. Yes, it does get warmer, but man.....winter at 70?!?

My big questions were with laundry (they have been assuaged now). It may be due to my limited traveling experience, but how often do people in Peru, or any other country for that matter, do their laundry? And do they use our American conventional standard of washer and dryer----or hand wash in a river or use buckets? Do they have refrigerators? Do they drink milk?----I drink a gallon a week!

I know that when I was deciding to go, these questions were not part of my decision making process. And I don't think that they are particualrly important questions, nor are their answers. But they come to mind when I am packing and provoke an even bigger question.

How exactly is my life going to change over the next year?

Yes, there will be the big changes---speaking spanish, dreaming in spanish, living in a spanish world-----huge change. Not having my sister around all the time, or being able to call my mom when I need to vent or just a shoulder. But those are obvious changes. How will my world view change? I think it is inevitible that it will, but what will the change be? Will my desire to travel and speak new languages be engorged, or diminished? Will I want to spend more time in the US making changes at home? I guess a good way to put it would be to say, who will I be when I step off the plane at SeaTac airport in August of 2009?

Makes me wonder.
All for me for now.
Paz.