Packing for two years and three months

Hi, this is my blog . . . and I swear it will be interesting just as soon as I do something besides packing. I'm leaving in eleven days to go to Ukraine, as a Peace Corps Volunteer, and I'm attempting to figure out everything I need and to get that stuff into two bags that don't weigh over 100 pounds (together). Unfortunately, there are a lot of distractions, like staring at the wall . . or wondering how all these TV shows (that I'll see the first episode of but nothing else) will turn out . . or checking my e-mail to read the latest comment from one of the various Ukraine/Peace Corps listserves I'm on. About every thirty seconds I get a new e-mail from one of the listserves, with topics varying from "OhGod where-are-we-going-again?" to "Is Ukrainian wine supposed to have flakes in the bottom of the bottle?" to "Wow my name is Sarah too, there are a lot of Sarahs in this group!!!!!!"

I'm not sure how often I'll be able to update this, while in Ukraine . . . I'm sure there are internet cafes of some sort, and my snazzy new laptop has built-in wireless (no card! I had to ask the tech guy like five times before I understood that the wireless was INSIDE the computer), but I'm trying not to hope for too much.

I'll be living outside of Kiev or Chernihov for three months of training, with a host family . . and then on December 23rd, I move to my (probably rural) site where I'll live for the next two years - live with another host family for three months, and then possibly move into an apartment. Don't know if I'll be learning Ukrainian or Russian (possibly both), but I sure won't be using my Spanish major (it seems that all of us, on the various listserves and facebook groups, know Spanish. The Peace Corps moves in mysterious ways.)

I should probably stop talking right now - but this should be your warning: as those of you who've gotten mass e-mails from me when I'm traveling know, if I can talk this long about nothing, I can basically write a novel when something actually happens to me. So, I'd love to see your comments, and to have contact with all of my many loved ones in America, but if it turns out that I have regular internet access and start to really fill this thing up - don't exhaust yourselves. Take breaks. I don't want you getting sick of my blog a month into this - we're in this for the long haul.