Just a quick note to everyone to let you know that I am safe and sound and loving lining in Ukraine. My training town is amazing. I'm taking folk dance lessons and learning how to make varenyky and holuptsi, and etc. I miss everyone very much !!

my Lenin statue (the one in the town center ) and all of the chickens say hello !!

Finally, after all of my worrying and stressing, I've gotten on my way. My suitcase made weight...exactly, and they let me on my flight with all of my extraneous baggage. The handle on my suitcase snapped, so my suitcase is now carry only. Carrying 1 50lb suitcase, 1 30 lbs suitcase, a 20 lb backpack, coat and 15lb laptop case halfway across the world is not my idea of fun. So I might be off to buy a new suitcase tomorrow...just runnin with the lumps life gives me.

After another full day of training, we'll catch a plane on Saturday to Frankfurt and arrive in Kiev of Saturday afternoon. I won't be able (I think) to write until then, so I hope all is well in normal-America land.., pretty sure I don't live there anymore

My luggage weigh more than I do....Hannah

Things I Will Miss - My wonderful friends, Football games at the Doak, going to class, warm weather, beaches, poli-sci textbooks, SportsCenter, driving, gumbo, dressing cute, the English measurement system, degrees Fahrenheit, Mexican food, democracy, outlet malls, football, diversity ...

Things I Will NOT Miss - tabloids, omnipresent American junk foods, Tom Cruise sightings, materialism, my weekly stop at the gas station, housing subdivisions, traffic, Oprah, our obesity epidemic, celebrity baby watches, the Golf Channel, paying rent, minivans, soccer moms ...

Hmm...I sold my car. It made me sad. I miss it. Roly-Poly was good to me, bad transmission and all. Oh the sacrifices I have made for this ill-advised Peace Corps adventure of mine.

I just gave my sister 10 pairs of shoes. And there's more to come. Shoes and a life's worth of clothes. (Most of which I'm actually happy to get rid of)

As usual, I've jumped the gun. Am completely packed and I don't leave for 10 more days. I am an excellent packer and fit 70 lbs into my suitcase, but the airlines only let you bring 50 before they charge you. After 3 days of agony, I'm down to 50.4 pounds. But I'm still considering paying the extra.

In other news...I hate Kentucky even more than I thought I did. Everyday I feel more and more like a prune. Still need to buy gifts for my family, write a power of attorney and find someplace to put deodorant in my overstuffed suitcases. And I can't find the black shirt I was gonna wear on the plane. Eeek ! I'm more excited than nervous about leaving. In fact, I can't wait. The Peace Corps has a grad school program with Yale. I'm going to Yale. Dead set and determined. Either that or I'll move to DC. I hope I never see Kentucky again. Texas sounds nice too. Maybe Spain or Poland. So many options. Peace.

I guess it's not really 2 weeks, closer to 16 days, but rounding up makes me happy. I am SOOO ready to leave. I s'pose that urgency is heightened by the crazy little kids always jumping on my back and the urge to have everything clean and in order again. I am living in absolute chaos. Trying to pack for 2 years, getting rid of things I don't want or need and still trying to stay clothed, fed and showered is harder than it sounds.

And quite honestly, I'm going nuts not being an actual functioning member of society. I need to do something useful and productive that doesn't involve me, myself or I. I can't wait to get started on my language classes and teaching training. While I expect it to be boring, I still just can't wait to learn something, be forced to use my brain, etc

Miraculously, I believe I can fit all of my belongings into the alloted space ! But there are still worries about my suitcases being overweight. My boots and sweaters should arrive soon and then I can officially DONE WITH PACKING !!!

I feel silly writing this. Don't really know why I am. But I am...ENJOY !!!

I haven't even bothered counting yet, but I think its something like 40 days until I FINALLY leave for staging and get to meet all of the other volunteers. I fill my days stressing over the mundanity of issues like the difference between midweight and heavyweight silk sweaters. And do I reeeaaally need to take a sleeping bag? And why did I just buy 15 tubes of Vanilla Mint Chapstick? How much can I get for my piece of crap car? This is really too much for one person to think about.

But I do absolutley LOVE getting rid of all of my junk. I have spent the last week rummaging through my life's accumulation of crap...and wow there's a lot of it. Trash bags and Goodwill are my closest friends now. We chill...

I just want to get out of my parents basement, fly to Ukraine and start being a productive human being again. I keep humming that old hymn...I'll fly away o glory, I'll fly away...