Stewickie.com

Category: Packing

  • We’ve Loaded 16 Tons

    We’re currently 20,000 feet above Montana. I can smell the deer and antelope from here, despite the altitude difference. Coffee has just been served….which we hope does a better job of keeping us up than the last cups consumed with this morning’s rush through one of the Seatac airport’s popular breakfast spots. We’ve both been dozing throughout the flight after running on last night’s 3 hours of sleep.
    Packing finally peaked last night after a rough month. Early on, the accumulation of potential “must takes” piled up fast. It was hard to find a clear floor space to step on in the office that Tom graciously let us use for Peace Corps ‘pre-stage staging’. (we’ve been at Liz and Tom’s over the last few weeks). Backpacks and duffle bags lay in heaps in one corner (changing their contents on a regular basis). Boxes from Amazon, REI, and other stores that might contain reusable packing material cascaded across another. In every square inch of the rest of the room were piles of items, each pile, if stared at closely, could be discerned as belonging in a particular room of a house. This was a weird hybrid….move….pack experience. Packing for twenty-seven months is not packing for a vacation.
    To make things a little more difficult, the Nord office is a no-cat zone, and Desmond was not a happy cat…. meow-ing incessantly in his broken, smoky voice while staring through the French door window panes separating him from his human servants (us)…… as we struggled with sorting and deciding on whether to keep or get rid of our dwindling possessions.
    This morning, we finally finished packing two 50lb military duffels, two larger hiking backpacks, two smaller carry-on sized backpacks, and one laptop case….all to the breaking point. This is not a good place to be, really. Packed is good, finished is good, but when you are looking at your wrist and it says, “2:30AM”, but you need to be out the door at 5:50, things might have been planned a wee bit better.
    Added to this is we can barely carry everything. Here’s some advice for those Peace Corps volunteers coming in March 2015…. Get things done early. Pack. Practice loading. See if it’s what you want to carry. See if it is something you *can* carry.
    After the airport shuttle dropped us off at Seattle airport, we rented a cart to get the stuff to the airport ticket counter, where we had a really odd interaction. The counter lady charged us an extra hundred dollars, and almost rerouted our stuff to New Orleans. It’s going to take some time to get our money back, which sucks because they almost overdrew our checking, but at least everyone was nice about the situation and we were too exhausted to kick butt.
    One hour, 40 minutes till landing in the Windy City. We’re going to find our hotel and check out the beds. You know, to make sure they work. Looking forward to meeting our new Nepal Peace Corps family tomorrow, people who will experience heaven and hell with us, support us, and keep us sane (relatively speaking) over the next two plus years. We hope they will kinda realize that this out of shape, stressed, exhausted shape we are in…..is not all we’ve got to offer.
    And while we are thinking of future family/friends, let us send a thank you to all of our ultra amazing family/friends in our lives right now, who have taken care of us over the last couple months, reminding us of things we should have already done, clearing our cloudy brains when necessary, making sure we eat when we’ve forgotten, sewing things for us, sending things to us, providing support and distraction when needed. You are appreciated. Love all of you.

  • Extravert..ical

    Staring at things seems to help. Kinda… during this last week in country.

    We stare at people and cars and planes. We stare at cats. We stare at kids. We stare a lot at kids (they offer entertainment and expect little). In between staring, we are attentive to items that are on “The List”. It gets shorter and shorter, which makes us feel accomplished. Then it suddenly gets longer and a panic attack nears.

    Then we stare…

    Different people have different reactions to stress. Some folks like to go out and party hard, working it out physically with others. Vee and I like to find a dark room to read or watch a movie alone1. But, here at the beginning of our new journey, we have a great many goodbyes that must be said as we leave our old journey behind.

    So then… do you see the pull? We would rather be alone, but we’d rather be with everyone. Our core introvert natures are getting over-ruled by our limited time social needs. It seems like the only thought process we can think about and the only conversation subject we speak of is “The List” and Nepal. Both of which are interesting (at least to us), but we’re starting to worry that we’re not really conversing with people. We are just talking at our friends and family, and when we aren’t talking at them, we’re just staring at them. Our heads are in two places.

    Did I just say something? Did I have a point, or am I just spitting out random facts?

    “Look at that cute Kid. Ha, ha! Wait… what did you say?”

    “I think so, Brain, but isn’t that why they invented tube socks?” 2

    We’ve one more social day on our calendar, and then we’re slamming doors and shutting the factory down. We will miss everyone, and the opportunity to see folks a lot, but we are going to need a bit more sanity to make our plane on time.

    Do we have enough batteries? Did I pack my Kindle cord? Was I just thinking about something? I think it was important? *stare*

    1 Alone in this case means with each other.

    2 Pinky and the Brain reference.

  • From the Mountains to the Prairies to the Oceans…..

    Patriotic Edgar

     

     

     

     

    You know when you are dancing and suddenly realize you have been looking at your feet through the whole dance?
    This is the way our world has been spinning recently … through those days and nights and the rises and sets of the sun that fall between. Each spin has flung a few more material things off into nooks and crannies of loved ones, or off into the wilds of the whirring world. Each step is deliberate, weighted with consideration, timed with the partner, and paced to the beat of the world around. But, through it all, is an unsettling lack of awareness of the ‘dance floor’ as we ‘stare at our feet’ in disbelief.

    Sun-up at Willow’s Court Apartments

    Our leap into homelessness turned out well. We spent the last night packing and moving until sun-up, taking this last picture from the apartment before dragging the last load to the kids and grabbing a short nap on their couch. The next few days we spent sorting through all kinds of stuff. It was very difficult to look at an item and decide if it should go into the small ‘Nepal’ pile, the small ‘storage’ pile, or the huge ‘sale’ pile. The items hopped from one pile to the other…..and some…back again, often ending with yet another disgusted toss in the “Sale” area. Unfortunately, we ran out of sorting time before we ran out of stuff to sort last week. So, when we return to Seattle from our current travels, there is more purging and repacking to do…the goal to make our two-year footprint smaller. (Right now it’s more an overweight “leg-print”)

    Gus and HarLee have moved in with some fantastic ladies in Salem, Oregon and seem to be doing well. We’re very happy to have such a safe welcome home for them and feel lucky their foster parents send a daily feline adjustment report. We’ve left Des with the Seattle family, and will be returning to check in with him soon. We hope he is behaving himself.

    Our current travel began last Sunday morning when we left Seattle for the Meeting of the Moms (Denver Mom and Nashville Mom). The first leg of the trip from Seattle toDenver was overall uneventful, although we were able to see interesting scenery and one cute antelope along the way: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Rp1r7lAxN4&feature=youtu.be

    Once we arrived in Denver late Monday night, we collapsed at Stew’s Mom’s house, stirring long enough to read an incoming e-mail alerting us that our Nepal Peace Corps group would Stage in Chicago. We also managed to spend a few hours on some intense brother, sister-in-law, nephews, and niece quality time.

    Wednesday morning, we took to the road again, this time with Stew’s Mom at the wheel. Stew’s Mom is a driver, enjoying long cruises across the country, so we were happy to have her solid help with the helm, as well as the wonderful companionship she offered. This portion of the trip was much more difficult. We hit a number of storms and road construction that made driving difficult and dangerous. Luckily, we escaped unscathed. During this Prairie leg of the trip, we passed through St. Louis, where Vee spent her grade school years, as well as Southern Illinois, where she graduated from high school. Ahhhh….memories…

    We arrived in Nashville late Thursday night, and Friday morning the Moms got to meet, thus, a successful trip. Now we’re chillaxing in the beautiful state of Tennessee, watching feral cats slowly wander by the windows and enjoying the cool evening breeze……of the AC.

    We will be here until early tomorrow morning before heading back West, stopping in Denver for a few more days of visiting, and then picking up the pace to get back to Seattle for our final approach, leaving for Staging on the 3rd, registering on the 4th, and shipping out to the toughest job we’ll ever love on the 5th.

    The trip through the western portion of the country this time has been extra enjoyable. Knowing we will be away from our United States is making us appreciate our American cultures, our American environments and our Americanisms much more than usual.

  • Collective Vees Have a 100 lb. Luggage Limit

     

    (C) https://www.flickr.com/photos/ilker/

    I feel so self-absorbed right now. Even more than my last year spent seeing, hearing, talking, living graduate school every second of every day(and that was major self-absorption). Now this sorting, packing, and preparing has me focused on the past me…the current me….the future me…and all of her needs/wants…..me me me. What should I take that I won’t be able to get in Nepal? Is there anything I should buy here that will make my adjustment to a different climate, culture, comfort level….easier? Where will I sleep? How will I sleep? Will I sleep? Etc…etc…etc…The advice I get is very very helpful….sometimes too much so. I still remain confused.

    How much clothing should I take? The current volunteers say not to bring too much in the area of clothing….enough to keep you going between wash days. (and laundry is done by hand, so you don’t want too big of a pile of dirty laundry….less clothes…better) But, on the other hand, Nepalis are of smaller stature than an average sized American, so you might not be able to find clothing sizes that fit you….should probably have enough quality clothes that will last the two years. OR…..you could have family and friends send clothes to you…course…it costs an arm and a leg to ship to Nepal. Ah….and make sure your clothing choices are quick dry (as well as towels) The humidity here makes it really hard to dry anything. (At this moment, I’m looking at my plush cozy American towels and shaking my head)

    Electronic advice from ‘those who have gone before’: You’ll need your electronics for book reading, picture taking, music listening, and internet access or you’ll go insane. But….don’t bring so much electronic equipment that you look like the typical rich American or you’ll be pestered never endingly about giving things to the natives….wait….you’re going to receive a never ending amount of pestering because you are a rich American anyway….just try to keep your shit hidden. Oh….and all of your electronic stuff will die over here due to climate and unpredictable power surges, so don’t bring expensive stuff…but, do bring quality stuff that will be durable.

    And about food: Some of the Peace Corps volunteers in Nepal experience malnutrition issues while in country. Makes sense when you consider “Food Security” is the umbrella we are all working under over there. Lack of technology puts our American ‘eat local’ campaigns in a whole new ballpark, eh? Not much in the way of refrigeration in Nepal. And food is cooked over a fire. (Wood stoves were a recent project worked on by the current Nepal Peace Corps volunteers. Meals are cooked on open camp fires in the houses without cook stoves ….smoky smores, anyone?) So, should I use half of my luggage weight for dried food? Wait….can I dry food over there? Ummm…humidity is really really high, I don’t know what resources they have to dry food….I’m not confident of that. But, seriously, maybe I should be researching food preservation, right?? Or should I take a two year supply of nutritional supplements with me….will two years of nutritional supplements make it through customs? Even the crops that are growing have some major pest issues. A friend of ours serving in Nepal just this morning mentioned that over 200,000 monkeys have moved into his area and are decimating the corn crop. 200,000 monkeys? *shudder*

    I think my biggest current concern revolves around how I’m going to deal with the change in hygiene opportunities and what I can take to help me out in that area. I’m a little on the quirky side compared with most Americans in the area of hygiene. To the point of worrying that someone will notice the number of times I wash my hands and shower….and I dunno…turn me into the water conservation police? But, in Nepal, hygiene is not always easily accessible. Water can be limited and bucket showers are a strong possibility. I’m sure bucket showers get people clean, I’ll just have to learn how to do it correctly and….learn to shower with cold water and less often. (bucket showers involve wetting your body down, soaping it up, and pouring water over your body to rinse…. but, what happens if you use all your water for rinsing…and still have soap on you?) In Nepal, I’ve heard, bathing is done while clothed. While clothed? Huh?…..how is that even…? Never mind, I’ll figure it out when I get there. I’ve also been told I should consider leaving the toilet paper at home, cause it would have to be burned in Nepal after use…..and it really isn’t needed. Not needed? Huh?….how is that even…? Never mind, I’ll figure it out when I get there. Should I pack tons of baby wipes and containers of hand sanitizer? Soooo…..yeah….a different world ahead in the hygiene department.

    Different world altogether ahead. And to be totally honest, I don’t know which of my numerous “Vee personalities” will show up in Nepal…..trust me….they would all pack differently. And the collective Vees have a 100 lb. luggage limit. All about me me me….