unemployed bum...and loving it!

Well, I am now officially unemployed for the next month, since work ended on Friday. I'm planning on spending Sundays through Wednesdays at my parents' house in Lakeview and Wednesday afternoons through Saturday nights down in East Lansing, so as to be able to attend services at both Brockway and Riverview and to hang out with as many people as I can before I leave. (However, my dad tells me that I'm needed to help with roofing starting at 8:30 am tomorrow. Perhaps I should rethink this whole being at home busines...just kidding!)

Tonight at church we had a missionary couple speak who are going to Russia next summer. It was interesting to hear what they had to say, as Ukraine and Russia, while very different countries, share some similarities...such as central heat that isn't turned on until mid-October!

*giggles*

Bother. I was trying to edit this post and it disappeared.

Basically, it consisted of a quiz result telling me I'm a culture-loving traveler and the joyous news that I sold my accordion for $100, giving me some much-needed cash and getting rid of one more thing.

6 weeks from today...eek!

The Peace Corps sent me a very nice CD with language lessons (which are less than useful right now, as my computer has no sound) and much information about staging (the three days I'll be in Chicago before flying to Kyiv) and PST (Pre-Service Training...the first three months). Last night I was looking it all over, when it hit me that OH MY WORD I'M MOVING TO THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD IN SIX WEEKS. Basically, I sort of freaked out and started thinking, "What on earth am I doing? Why don't I get a nice boring job here in the Lansing area? My friends are here, my church is here, my parents are less than two hours away!"

Today, I'm dealing with it a bit better. :) I truly believe that this is what I'm supposed to be doing at this point of my life...any time that there could have been a big snag in the application process, it got worked out (twice), which I take as divine confirmation.

In other quasi-related news, I bought a book and CD of Great Lakes folksongs at the folk festival that includes lesson plans and handouts. My mind is working out a classroom unit of folk music, Michiganian, Ukrainian, and who knows what all else. While at the festival, I also got to talk to a man who paints Ukrainian pysanky (the painted eggs often given at Easter). He told me some things about Ukraine's history. Very cool. And I want to learn how to make pysanky!

Article for reading: "It's All About Jesus" by Sam Torode. He grew up in a fundamentalist Christian household and eventually converted to Orthodoxy. Knowing that Ukraine is highly Orthodox, I found this article interesting and food for thought.

pre-packing thoughts

Less than two months before I leave. Rather freaky, to my way of thinking. I'm starting to make mental lists of what I should take with me, both clothing-wise and other things. I read emails from the peacecorps2 yahoogroup that tell me to buy a winter coat here in the US; I talk to someone who just got back from serving in the PC in Ukraine who tells me to buy it there. I try to imagine what sort of clothes I will want to wear for teaching, and what I will want for just hanging out.

And that's not even trying to decide what books to take...although, as someone on one of my email listservs pointed out, if there are 120 people in my group, we all bring 5 books each, and we trade books amongst ourselves, that's a lot of books. This is true...I just hope they have good taste in reading material.

Just checking to see if this works, so no witty comments yet.