Seven weeks to the day after receiving my invitation to Rwanda, I’m all packed up and sitting on a plane to staging. In the past two months, I’ve accomplished my most daunting to do list to date: quit my job, sold my car, moved halfway across the country again, taught myself Rwandan History 101, overcame my childhood failures and finally learned to ride a bike, and somehow managed to fit the next two years of my life in under 80 pounds of luggage.
I thought packing would be the hardest part, but try as I might I kept coming up under the maximum baggage allowance. Over the last couple of weeks I turned my parents’ dining room table into Packing HQ. I was surprised and a little bit appalled to watch my packing decrease by about 1/3 of its original size after I took everything out of its packaging. My test bags came in 20 pounds under my maximum weight, and even after a last minute run to Target for two years’ worth of Sour Patch Kids, I only gained about 10 more pounds. So, it will be fun to find out what 10 pounds worth of things I forgot to pack!
I will do my very best to update regularly. So, sit back and enjoy watching as my English steadily deteriorates over the next two years!
