the long car rides between northampton and boston frequently have me pondering exactly what it will be like to be away from northampton and good friends. the excitment of leaving has quickly subsided, and a feeling of hesitation has settled in. Laure says that there is no way to fully prepare to leave and that I will never be ready until i get on the plane in chicago. in some ways, my inability to pack is merely a reflection of my feelings of hesitation towards this future endevor. what have i gotten myself into? I wish i had more time here. at this point i would be so happy to stay in northampton and work. I know most people would think i am insane. i am insane. eventually things will come into perspective. but not until i am in korea.
things i will miss:
-bike rides to the tree
-toast
-home made hummus shmummus sandwiches
-woodstar coffee chats and large size chocolate chip cookies
-campus center and chapin lawn
-rivers day camp
-seeing my students around town
-the dirty truth
-hobo hotel/the flat/arlington st
-reading that turns into hours of conversation in laure's backyard in the pink lawnchair
-poofs
-svu with good folks
-ruffle oreo cookie sandwiches "the all american treat"
-a2 bbq's
-buffalo chicken sandwiches and calzones
-stars on hingham harbor
-wwII karaoke night
-late night tree climbs
-burdicks,dunkin donuts

come to the dirty truth on wednesday june 28 2006 at 9pm-it's my last night in town.

a.d.h.d. ramblings

I might as well preface my blogging (are we using that word as a verb these days?) with the fact that I have a severe case of a.d.h.d. thus my train of thought is very fragmented. hope my line of thinking isn't to hard to piece together

heading back up to Northampton tomorrow after my long awaited passport appointment. can't wait to hit up the dirty truth and the hobo hotel. I also get to see my students for the last time-I am going roller skating with them and a then on a picnic. Who could ask for anything better than roller-skating with 100 fun seventh graders followed by free pizza? I was extremely surprised at how many people show up to the passport agency ill prepared. Out of the ten people ahead of me I would say only half to 2/3 were successful in their attempts at obtaining a passport. The mildly frustrating part was that they consumed time dealing with the passport agents and thus made the wait time longer for everyone else. If one is going to attempt to make an appointment with a federal agency, you would think they would prepare adequately.

my shoe broke while i was walking in boston. it was mildly embarrassing not to mention extremely challenging to navigate the mean city streets in the financial district.
I love tom robbins. if i could meet him-what a phenomenal experience that would be. he's pretty fantastic and creates amazingly fantastic charismatic female protagonists. He also poses the question of whether red heads are supernatural. what a guy.

the man at the t gave me a free 7,50 cent charlie card. the charlie card, sounds like a ticket to go to an amusement park. not for a ride on the mbta. the metrocard seems so edgy. i guess boston is more silly than new york. i greatly appreciate that type of character.

attempting to pack

I have quickly decided that the packing process is much like writing a final paper. I am well aware of the due date and ultimately know exactly what I need to do in order to accomplish my task; yet nothing gets accomplished. Days go by-each of which I say to myself, "today I will get some things organized," yet bike rides, trips to the dirty truth, and facebook (yes facebook) take priority. fortunately in the past, my excellent procrastination techniques have not stood in the way of finishing those final papers-in fact some of the best papers were done well past the hours of 4 am. hopefully this experience will prove nothing different. I fully intend to do the best packing of my life...in the near future.

Passport debacle

I have yet again realized if I make it on a plane to Korea on July, 5th it will be a miracle. The mailman descended upon my doorstep bearing a letter from the IIE. I assumed it was my medical clearance. After the multiple trips to the doctor's office, how could it be anything else? Unfortunately, two sections were incomplete, leaving me with no clearance and thus no connection to a travel agency to get a ticket to Seoul. Damn it. Now to the visa- the friendly men at Northampton Post Office mislead me. In fact, any damage to a passport is considered mutilation; therefore mine is invalid. Due to this surprise, I need to get a new passport expedited and then apply for the visa. At least I found this out prior to at Logan.

In other rather interesting news, I definitely talked to a MtF woman named Diane on the phone at the passport agency.

I hate bureaucracy, I strongly dislike filling out forms and I am seriously questioning whether these are signs I should not be contemplating my capabilities going abroad for an extended period of time...just think trying to do this in a foreign language.

OK THINGS JUST TURNED AROUND. While typing this I magically received medical clearance and the travel agency just contacted me.

I am OFFICIALLY DEPARTING on July 5th at 7:20 PM United Airlines! It just became real. I will be in Seoul by July 7th at 4:50 in the morning. Here's to learning Hangul in O'hare Airport during a 6 hour layover! Cheers to a 13 1/2 hour flight to Korea. Hope I have fun neighbors! Here's to the Fourth of July at the hatchshell tent and all! Marching to Stars and Stripes Forever begins...now.

Getting Ready to Go: Passport, Visa, Travel Arrangements

I feel as though I am in a time warp throwing me back into the days of live journal...remember that? anyhow, this is my first time writing. way to hop on the bandwagon of yet another online cultural phenomenon!

Visas, medical clearance, and passports make me wonder whether I am a competent human being. What a hassle. I am fortunate that I did check out the fulbright forum, as i quickly realized threre were so many pre travel conditions i needed to get taken care of.

First off there is the passport- for approximately one week i was sure i threw my passport out while moving from my apt. at school. i ended up finding it in Laure's basement; not at all where I had originally envisioned finding it. Yes, the question was posed whether laure intentionally didn't find it in one of the boxes i left at her place; thus hindering my ability to leave the country and go to korea. Alas she would never do such a thing. despite the water damage- the men at the post office assure me that it is valid. this better be true.

medical clearance- i am fortunate not to have to deal with health insurance for the year because my escapades with the dr's office was too much. after a week and 1/2 of begging them to complete all of the tests and approximately 11 visits in 4 days, I finally obtained the information and results i needed.

at least i got a hot green rain slicker for the monsoon season!