The Beginning of the End

  As i enter into my final weeks before departing for Kazakhstan, I cannot help but feel overwhelmed to the point of staying awake at 5 am writing for the first time in my blog.These moves are signs of anxiety but also of intense excitement. No doubt they are also constructive (obviously!) and overall positive. Before typing these lines I was on catalina island off the coast of california for the past month and a 1/2. The people i met there are so incredible I fail to find the words to express their powerful capturing of my heart, but needless to say, I feel lucky to know each and every one of them (for those in leadership i'm sending you a "honk honk" your way).

I have started my immense packing list and its proving to be way more fun than I really expected. another plus. I am looking forward to meeting so many new people in country and getting started on this most epic adventure. I am actually looking forward to the challenge of dealing with extreme cold and weather I have never been used to. I'm curious to see how I will adapt. anyway, i digest (stole that from rosheeed).

I am getting more experience in the avenue of spending an intensive amount of time with groups of people and different times and having to say goodbye. The whole process is such an amazing phenomena to me. Where routines made with and around a select few can bind a group together to such a degree its unbelievable.

I will be taking off officially on August 14th for Washington D.C. where my mom and Gene and I will spend some quality time in the capital before I am in the air again on the 19th. I will have a very brief and intense "staging" event where I will meet other volunteers and get more information. I am in the process of burning all of my movies onto my external and transferring software i will want to use in country. The technological side of preparation is pretty straightforward and basic. The other side of my suitcases are still missing "business casual" clothes. We'll see what i find.