What? I'm actually moving to Ukraine?

I spent the day running around, trying to take care of a bunch of stuff before I leave for Ukraine. Its scary to think that I'm actually moving my life from here in the United States to way over there! Taking care of these seemingly everyday things like my bank account and phone just makes it seem more real that I'm leaving... It hasn't really sunk in yet, but I'm leaving for Staging in a week!

I've been trying to close my Wachovia bank account every day this week. I was actually told over the phone by a customer representative that I could not simply just transfer the funds in my account to my Wells Fargo account, they recommended that I just withdraw all the funds and deposit it into my Wells Fargo account then call them back again and try to close my account. Thats what I was hoping that they could do with a few clicks of the mouse! This bank is ridiculous. Ever since it merged with Wells Fargo, the people at the local Wells Fargo here in California cannot access my Wachovia account - simply for the fact that it has not yet been "converted" over to Wells Fargo. Apparently they started "converting" accounts in California and are gradually working their way to the east coast, but I opened my Wachovia account in North Carolina so mine won't be "converted" until December 2011 or something equally ridiculous.

I also suspended my Verizon cell phone and cell phone number today. Call me selfish, but I've had the same cell phone number for 6 years (while I've lived in 4 different states). So I really want to keep my same old number. Luckily, Verizon allowed me to just suspend it for free under their military suspension policy. The down side to this is that I have to give up using my beloved blackberry and revert back to using the ghetto old Motorola RAZR. The up side to this is that it will mentally prepare me for using the even more old school Nokia phone (no color screen) while I'm in Ukraine.  

Side note~ I can't believe such a similar Nokia phone is listed on Amazon, the online reviews of it said it was only sold in developing countries... which means I guess Singapore is a developing country? They also sold the same exact phone in China for about the same price that I bought it for in Singapore.

At least the pink case makes the old school Nokia phone look cute next to my Blackberry.

I called United Airlines today to try to see if I could weasel my way into qualifying for the checked baggage fee waiver that they give to active military personnel.That didn't go very well, the representative that I spoke to over the phone flat out told me that the Peace Corps did not qualify and that my best bet would be to email their Customer Relations department and explain my situation. Plus I'm only flying United to DC for Staging, I've heard we are on Lufthansa for the flight overseas to Ukraine (meaning I don't qualify for their "international continuance" baggage policy). So this guy made it sound like it would be highly unlikely for them to grant me the fee waiver. Other PCVs in my group have also been trying to get the fee waivers with other airlines, but I don't think anyone has been successful yet. Maybe I'll just bring my official Invitation letter and some other official-looking documents to the airport with me and plead with the agents at the check-in counter at 5:30am to give me a fee waiver.
Here is something more exciting for you: I'm featured in the September issue of the Peace Corps San Francisco regional newsletter! Hooray for being a minority PCV and representing diversity.

Check out the original article here.

And just to remind you that Americans are the only ones that don't use the metric system, here is a fun comic from xkcd.com :) I'll have to get used to measuring things in meters, grams, and liters... so maybe my 2 calculators will come in handy after all!

I love xkcd comics about life, love and nerdy math jokes. The original comic can be found here .