Preparations and Shopping, Oh My!!

For some reason I thought once I actually had my invitation I would be able to sit back and relax and just wait for my departure date. That was pretty naive of me! First I had two booklets of 100 pages each to read through. Then I had to send in an updated resume' and a statement defining what I expect from and hope to get out of my tour. Then there's the passport thing. Gotta get your picture taken, fill out an application form which is mostly greek, show up at the Post Office to get it officially processed, swear on your first born's life that you are a good kid and everything you put in the application is true and then put it all in the FedEx box, hoping against hope you didn't miss or forget anything. Which apparently I did because they called me from the PC mailing room asking what country I was going to and what date I was leaving so they could route it to the appropriate place!

So that part is done! Then I thought I should try to find out more about this country I will be living in for the next two years so it was off to the web for many hours of "research". Do I know much more now that I did before?? Well yes, but do I feel more informed about things that are specific to what my life in Guyana will be like? Not so much. There are very distinct and different cultural and geographic regions and since I have no clue where I will be I also have no clue what the culture there will be like! Aargh!! It did keep me from having to clean house however.

Now on to the really fun stuff. Shopping! Before you can know what to buy you need to know what you need to take with you and what you already have, right? Should be pretty simple. You make a packing list! Correct? What do you put on it? Uh-h-h-h-h-h. Lets see. Here are the requirements:

1. Clothing has to be appropriate to your job. If you are teaching in a metropolitan area you have to wear skirts and closed toe shoes. If you are working in a more rural area or are setting up computers instead of teaching you can wear slacks and sandals.
2. Clothing should be of natural fiber like cotton, silk, or linen because it is cooler. Natural fiber clothing wrinkles and takes longer to dry. Remember the humidity is 86% and there are no clothes dryers around. You can get irons there but they run on electricity which you may or may not have where you end up.
3. You should take books, music, radio, games, journals, etc. to entertain yourself in the evening all of which require at the very least, a light. If you have electricity, no problem. If not then you will need alternative energy sources.
4. A laptop is good if you work in IT. That means lots more decisions about burners, flash drives, blank CD's, surge protector, spare battery pack, tools and on and on. If you are setting up computers in a rural area you may need them. If you are teaching in an urban area you may not need them.
   
5. There has to be enough stuff to last two years in two suitcases weighing a total of 80 lbs. and oh, by the way you are supposed to take gifts for your host families - suggested items include candles, books, pictures, board games - you get the drift. There goes my 80 lbs.!
   

Now consider this. You don't know whether you will be placed in an urban area with reasonably reliable electricity or in a rural area where it is intermittent at best, and you don't know whether you will be teaching or mucking around with dirty old computers. Okay everybody - let's get started on that packing list. Should be a piece of cake!