Ugh!

Okay: my luggage officially sucks. It's not necessarily the weight, though it is quite heavy, it's the awkwardness. I've got that big backpack that I carry on my back, but then carrying that little backpack over one arm is way more difficult than I expected. My shoulder just isn't big enough for both straps, and because of the slippery nylon material, the little backpack keeps slipping off and I have to catch it in the crook of my elbow, until I put down my guitar case to free up my hands so I can readjust it. This makes the going very slow and tedious. I'm going to have to find a new strategy here. I guess if I carried the little backpack on my chest it could work. I'd look quite bizarre, but it's better than struggling to carry everything.

I was awoken this morning by a hyperactive chihuahua trying to lick my eye. After that wonderful welcome to the new day, I spent the late morning and early afternoon here at Espresso Royal, my East Lansing home-base. Four hours of studying Guaraní verbs later, I'm thinking I should move somewhere else. But every time I pack up to leave, someone I know comes in and sits down. It's like I'm being passed from person to person. I guess that's how you really know you're a regular.

backdated post: wrote it on the bus

Tuesday, Jan 26, 2010

12:33 am

I learned a scientific fact today. As it turns out, the interior dimensions of a backpack are inversely proportional to its desired volume. In layman's terms, this means that the more stuff you need to pack, the smaller the luggage seems. For such a large (and somehow very heavy) backpack, I am taking surprisingly little with me. (Okay now that I'm actually making a list, it seems like a lot more. But it made a seemingly very tiny pile on my bed.) My mother was trying hopelessly to give me "just one more" sweater/pair of jeans/shirt/pillow/cookbook/basically anything else that was within her line of vision. NOTHING else will fit in this bag. After all that, my pack contains:

1 sleeping bag + liner

1 pocket knife

1 multi-tool

4 books/notebooks

1 set of colored pencils

1 toiletries bag (toothbrushes/paste, deodorant, floss, etc)

1 solar charger + rechargeable batteries

1 DVD (I'll give you one guess, see below*)

5 t-shirts (well, six counting the one I'm wearing)

2 button up shirts

2 sweaters

3 pairs of pants (counting those I'm wearing)

3 pairs of shoes (my normal pair plus sandals and running shoes)

2 long underwear (pants/shirt)

4 pairs of warm wool socks

10 pairs of cotton socks (hey, they wear out quickly, and were in a pack.)

5 pairs of undies (boxers or briefs? I'll leave you in suspense!)

That's about it. This is what I'm taking with me. It's both scary and refreshing to carry all your possessions with you. True, I look a bit ungainly carrying a big backpack with a sleeping bag strapped to the top, a smaller backpack covered in flag-patches, and balancing it all with a bulky black guitar case... but knowing that I can carry everything I effectively own on my back makes me feel like I could go anywhere, and do anything.

At this very moment, I am on a bus. I have been on the bus for about an hour... only 14 more to go. I'm really good at booking myself on these overnight bus trips. I said goodbye to my room. Goodbye to my cat. Goodbye to my mom, dad and brother. Goodbye to the U.P.

*Domi trivia question: If the Domster were to bring one and only one DVD with him to Paraguay, which DVD would it be?

A) Napoleon Dynamite

B) The Princess Bride

C) Borat

D) The Wonderful World of Antique Victorian Lampshades

The answer is, of course, B) The Princess Bride! Only my favorite movie ever of my whole life! I only met one other person who can out-quote me watching this movie. Sadly she mysteriously turned up missing. Just sayin'. If you answered A or C to the above question, it's best you never mention this to me. If you answered D... then you're dumb. (It is, however, a real movie. I found it in a drawer of old VHS tapes in my living room. I didn't watch it.)

23 more days!

The day-count is running down very quickly! I got a good, sturdy internal-frame backpack a few days ago. This morning I woke up and noticed that my flashlight had fallen off my windowsill and landed behind the nightstand. It was only the position I was lying in that allowed me to see it at all. I didn't want to forget it in the inevitable last-minute rush, so I stuck it in one of the side pockets of my new backpack. Standing there, it suddenly occurred to me that forgetting my pocket knife would be inconvenient, so I went to get it, and stuck that in a pocket too. Just for good measure I tossed in my pocket first-aid book... and it didn't end. I packed my sleeping bag and liner, and started collecting a few articles of clothing before I stopped and shook myself: I still DO have another week and a half before I even set out.

Before flying out of the country, I've got a few stops to make. In a week and a half I'll bus it down to Chicago to visit my uncle and a few friends before hopping on the train to East Lansing. I have family and about a million friends in EL that I want to see before I go, so it will be a very busy week and a half. I will get to see my old a cappella group, Capital Green, host and subsequently dominate the annual ICCA competition. (That's the International Championship of Collegiate A cappella for those of you not cool enough to know that.) I can say farewell to MSU, the Peanut Barrel, Sindhu's Indian restaurant and the Lansing Refugee Development Center.

From East Lansing I will take the bus to Detroit to catch my flight on Feb. 8th. It is a very early flight, so I may actually have to take the bus there the night before and just spend the night in the terminal. (It's not as bad as it sounds, except for once in Santo Domingo when I had 2 Dominican guys trying very hard to get me to go party with them and their "sister". This supposedly gorgeous sister was not present, and I have a nagging suspicion that I would have ended up with a lump on my head and no luggage had I went to the "bar" with them.) From D-town I'll fly to Miami, arriving in the early afternoon. Since my staging event isn't until later in the evening, I think I may try to hit up South Beach for the afternoon. This will be the last beach I see for a while, so hopefully the weather will be nice enough for me to soak up some rays and splash around a bit before it's landlocking time. I'll pack my swim trunks near the top of my luggage. :)

35 days to go!

I just booked my flight to my staging event in Miami. In various emails and letters the exact date of this event has changed no less than three times. But now it is American Airlines official: February 8th. That leaves me thirty-five days, in fact, instead of 38, not counting today. It's an earlyass flight but that will leave me some time in the afternoon after I check in to my hotel to bum around Miami for a while. Maybe I can even make it to the beach! It's a straight shot down the highway from my hotel to South Beach, maybe I can catch a bus or something. I'll have about 8 hours of free time. Things are starting to happen, and it's exciting!

39 days to go!

I've started making mental packing lists. I am allowed 2 bags, and a carry-on I assume, equalling no more than 100 lbs. This sounds like a lot, but it adds up quickly. I'm not too worried about clothes. I'll bring 3 or 4 pairs of jeans, 5 plain t-shirts, a few undershirts, socks, underwear, etc. I do need to pick up a few new collared button-up shirts for more formal occasions. I can get any other clothes I need when I get there. I'm excited to buy my first ao'poi shirt!

I am trying to resist the urge to bring my books. They're too heavy, and I doubt I will really need them. I'll bring a few essentials, like my trusty old Spanish dictionary, Cien Años de Soledad, maybe Walden, a few others if I can fit them. Oh, definitely taking Vagabonding and Marco Polo Didn't Go There, by Rolf Potts. Fantastic for travelers.

I'll also bring notebooks, colored pencils, and a small sewing kit. Plastic bags, a flashlight and a good knife. Unfortunately I think my guitar will have to stay at home. I don't have a hard case to carry it in. Maybe I can find an inexpensive guitar there in Paraguay, though I may have to forgo a few meals to afford it.

I only have 39 more days until I'm in Miami for the staging event. That seems like WAY too many! I'm using most of my time to study Guaraní. It's really interesting, but very challenging. There's not much I can say yet, besides a few greetings and the numbers 1-10. My first sentence that I constructed all myself: Che aháta Paraguaype. "I'm going to Paraguay." Correct or no, it's my first baby step. I can also greet a friend: Mba'e tekóiko chera'a!, or greet someone new for the first time: Mba'éichapa.

One last important one: Taiporâ ndéve ko ary pyahu! Happy New Year! :)