Only a few things left to get: Chaco sandals, some toiletries, and various clothing items that I can't pack until the last moment.
For some things, 56 days can feel like an eternity. I know when I first counted 192 days, I couldn't help but think: it will never come. We always seem to do that. The things we want the most seem to approach our present like a snail. While on the flip side those things we dread seem to leap at us unnaturally fast. There is so much left do to in these next 56 days that I know they will pass far more quickly than the last 136. Aside from the last minute things to pack, several days will be spent with my sister in California. Disneyland and Knottsberry Farm with my sis and her boyfriend seem like a splendid way to say goodbye to the USA.
But I also have to file for an extension on my driver's license because the DMV doesn't renew more than a year before a license is due to expire. Mine expires in April of next year. I leave in March, so instead I have to file for a year extension, TWICE. Once before I leave, and once while I'm in Africa since it will still expire before I get home. There is no way in hell I am going to retake that damn test. You'd think there would be some sort of special exception for Peace Corps Volunteers. There is for military personnel on duty overseas. Why not the Peace Corps? If anyone knows different, PLEASE tell me.
Also get to transfer power of attorney to my parents and make sure they are authorized to access my bank accounts in case I need something (or something happens to me, perish the thought). Have to buy insurance for all the stuff I am taking over (electronics, I hear, like to grow legs and walk off in Senegal, so the more protection the better) and....
Drum roll please!
...I have to either pay off my loan in full or apply for deferment.
There has been a great debate in my head over the last six months on this issue. Pay it off, or defer? Pay it off, or defer? If I defer, it's frozen and no interest accrues and I keep my modest savings account. But it is there when I get back and it will still need to be paid off. If I do it now, I cut my savings in half (*shudder*), but it's done. Nothing hanging over my head, nothing waiting to take a bite out of my resettlement payment. But it does cut my savings in half. What happens if there is an emergency?
Hence my dilemma.
I may end up having to make that decision after the next couple of paychecks so I know exactly where I stand financially. I don't like waiting until the last moment for these kinds of things, but when it comes to having enough money to get by or not, I may have to wait that long.
On a pleasanter note, I have been doing self defense classes since October and will be testing for the next belt on Saturday. I'm super nervous about the written test - and little less nervous about the physical test. But it should be exhilarating. I'm apparently challenging to purple belt, instead of the white/purple. Didn't do that on purpose, but what the heck, why not? Belt level doesn't matter to me anyway. I just need to know how to do the stuff. And I feel like I have learned a lot. Hopefully I'll never need to use it, but if I do, hopefully I'll remember and act without really thinking about it.
I think that's all for now.
Cheers!
Christine
