Sad and Stressful times

So sadly my grammy passed away last week.  I was really upset because I so badly wanted to see her before I left the country.  When I told her that I was thinking of applying to PC, she told me how much she wished she had traveled and encouraged me to pursue goals that I was passionate about while I was young.  I miss her so much already, but know that she will be watching over me while I am away.  We suffer here, but her pain is now gone and she is with our wonderful grampy once again.  That being said, the silver lining was getting to see my family in NY who I rarely get to visit, especially Kristin's girls who are the cutest damn things EVER and sooooo funny!!!!  We celebrated their lives with their wedding picture out, drinking tequila and reminiscing about how funny and amazing they were.  Whenever our family got together the house was always filled with booming laughter and good times and that is exactly how wer remembered them. 
RIP gram and gramps, we will love you always!

But now that I am back I am throwing myself  in headfirst getting things in line for PC so here is a quick (maybe... I tend to ramble) summary of what that entails.

ISH I HAVE TO GET DONE
1.  I have sent in my updated resume and aspiration statement which is essentially an introduction of myself to Uganda... hope I didn't come off as a ditz

2. I have sent off my visa and passport applications.  Fingers crossed that I dotted and crossed all the correct i's and t's and nothing delays those.  (This is the main thing that could get me removed from training but I sent everything in pretty quickly so shouldn't be a problem)

3. Next is getting all my financial loose ends together, i.e., loans, POA, selling my car, insurance blah blah blah.

4.  Learn LUGANDA!!!! Oksava...(sp?) lol (kris and steph)
This is the language primarly spoken in and around the capital Kampala where I'll be the first 3 months.  Spoken by the Bugandan people of Uganda who are the primary ethnicity in the country. ANDA ANDA ANDA....  Luganda is a tonal language FABULOUS (insert sarcasm)  This means stressing the wrong syllable or changing the sound of that syllable changes the whole word completely...  
For example:   amazzi = water    amazi = feces   (Saw that and knew that I would no doubt at some point ask for a cup of shit or embarress myself in some other true nikki fashion)

ISH I WANT TO GET DONE

1. Book vacations!!!!  So I am going to Sedona with my daddy near the end of January and St. Thomas probably with my mom and sister and hopefully to Mexico with Miguel.  Christmas in NY per usual and squeezing in another Chicago trip somewhere in there.  I took off the whole month of January because everyone knows I hate my job and I'd like my last month here before I leave be fun.  That being said... I want to see as many people as much as I can before I leave so I'll do my best to make it happen (Annie you know another bburg weekend is makin the cut too)

2. Buy a new kindle and ipod and download everything under the sun on it.  If you want to buy me giftcards for either I will graciously accept them.

ISH I NEED TO PACK

So here is my provisional packing list.  Suggestions are welcome and I am sure things will get added and taken off of here as I go.  My cousin told me she brought wayyyyy too many things with her and I should only take stuff I know I'm not going to be able to get in Uganda so here it is.

-          2 LED head lamps (with lots of rechargeable batteries)

-          Solar charger (Hear Solio is good)

-          Batteries

-          New camera ( I saw one that is digital and prints polaroids too…?? Looks cool! Any suggestions on cool cameras let me know!)

-          New ipod (download all my movies on it too!)

-          I WANT A KINDLE!!! (cristina showed me hers today, apparently without wifi on it claims to last on a single charge session for a month!!! And would be nice not to cart toooo many books around)

-          Laptop (download 10,000 more songs and movies on it before then!)

-          Hiking boots

-          Sneakers

-          2 pairs of flip flops

-          External hard drive

-          Flash drives

-          Hefty supply of pepcid AC (damn heartburn) and Excedrin (awful migraines)

-          Shampoo, body wash, toothpaste, deodorant , facewash (to get me started)

-          2 giant things of dental floss

-          Duct tape (allegedly very useful)

-          Swiss army knife or something like that… (it’s gotta come in handy in Africa right?)

-          3-5 tank tops

-          3-5 fitted tees

-          3-5 skirts (below the knee)

-          Several t-shirts

-          One nice dress for swearing in, etc.

-          1 pair of jeans

-          3 pairs of long shorts (soccer shorts)

-          1 hoodie (VT OF COURSE!)

-          Excellent rain coat! (apparently it’s so beautifully green there because of the excessive amounts of rain!)

-          1-2 pairs lounging pants

-          Sleeping bag

-          AWESOME PILLOW (I will compress the hell out of that sucker!)

-          Tent??? I don’t know if I need one I want to camp but I’ll have to see

-          1 swimsuit (one piece)

-          Small speakers ( I used to have this round one that magically disappeared!) that can run on batteries

-          Nail clippers & tweezers

-          Journals

-          Something to carry money in under my clothes

-          Midsize backpack

-          Baggage locks

-          Really good sunscreen

-          Small mirror

Well thanks for reading, it was kind of boring so if you made it through congrats!(but I have nothing for you) 

Please forward the link to anyone you think might want it as I am notoriously awful for getting in touch with people and forgetting things! Many thanks!

Nikki