Updated Packing List!

Today I met up with Kseniya, another PCV in the Bay area.We went to lunch in downtown Livermore, which was a quaint few blocks of shops and restaurants that reminded me of Athens, GA. Kseniya is super cool, she just graduated from the University of Hawaii with a degree in Psychology. She is actually a native Russian speaker so I got to practice a little Russian outside of Rosetta Stone with her and her mom.

Kseniya and I went to the local Dollar store for some random stuff, the store turned out to be a treasure trove of goodies with an aisle dedicated to teaching supplies, all for just $1! I bought some small picture frames and framed some postcards, like Sasha (my Peer Advisor) recommended... they look super classy!

Sorry about the flash.

I also picked up a nice map of the United States. I'm not sure why it has all the interstate highways on it, but at least it shows the states and capitals. I trimmed the blue border a little so it fits flat in my suitcase perfectly.

Like the purple shag carpet on the floor of my bedroom?

And since I didn't order the Oatmeal's Semicolon Poster (see this previous blog post), I also bought 2 posters with parts of speech and punctuation for my future classroom.

So in a frenzy of excitement, I sorted though all the clothes that I plan on bringing with me to Ukraine this evening and extensively updated my Packing List!  I reduced the number of button up dress shirts that I'm bringing, so I don't have to iron as much, and added some dresses instead (I'll be more comfortable in those anyways). My dresses are solid colors, knee-length and classy enough to wear to go to work (and then maybe out later that night). Here are my piles of clothes all over my bed. 

Thats right, working at American Eagle Outfitters taught me how to fold clothes into organized piles.

It is going to be fun fitting everything into my 2 suitcases! The good news is that I can basically fit all of my clothes into my red duffel bag (I tried), but I also have the black suitcase to spread out my clothes and other items like my yoga mat, sleeping bag, school supplies, toiletries, and my fleece blanket.

I hate how my luggage is UGA colors... I feel like a traitor. To Hell with Georgia! Okay, now I feel better. 

I also measured my luggage, after seeing an online discussion about the PCV's restrictions on the linear dimensions of our luggage. We are permitted to bring two suitcases with a combined linear dimension of 107" (sum of length + width+ height) and a total weight of 100 lbs, 50 lbs per bag. Apparently they will reimburse us for the checked baggage fees for the flight to Staging if we aren't able to convince the airlines to waive those fees. I haven't called United Airlines yet, but I saw on their website that they do waive their checked baggage fees for military personnel, so maybe I can talk them into waiving my fees. And yes, I know I'm not technically military personnel but if Verizon Wireless will suspend my phone under their military personnel exception, its worth a shot with the airlines. The only reason that I'm suspending my phone instead of canceling it for 2 years is that I want to be able to keep the same phone number (I've had the same number for the last 6 years and I love it).

Sasha reminded me to update the virus protection on my computer, just in case my computer gets infected with any files. Viruses are apparently common in Ukraine, she said that she unfortunately got a virus from a file that was on a flash drive (when her computer wasn't even connected to the internet!). I spent $20 and ordered the backup discs from Acer (for my Acer laptop) a few weeks ago and should be okay to reboot everything if needed (all my documents are backed up onto my external hard drive anyways since my old laptop crashed last year). I've got the installation files for Microsoft Office on my external hard drive with the product key too, so that is good to go as well. Hopefully I can avoid having to re-install everything, just because its a huge hassle. But spending $20 to have the backup discs just in case is better than having to run a pirated version of Windows... in Russian.