I'm not even close to being done packing and I already have over 80 lbs of luggage. Geeehhhh what do I doooo?
I was afraid I'd have this problem.
Allow me to use this blog to try to diagnose the problem.
I have one suitcase that has about 50lbs in it (which is the most you can have in one suitcase). In that suitcase is all my clothes, a bag of toiletries I'll need on a daily basis, my shoes, towel, sewing kit, a binder of movies, and ziploc bags. Hm. 50 lbs seems like its a lot for just that stuff. Did I pack too many clothes?? maybe. Ok, Let me go through my clothes and try to consolidate...
20 minutes later: I got rid of 8 articles of clothing. I also put back a pair of flip flops. I decided 4 pairs of flip flops are excessive. So now I have 1 pair for the shower and 2 to walk around it. I would get rid of all the flip flops and just buy there, but I'm a size 10 shoe and something tells me its going to be near impossible to find shoes my size in cambodia. With the new room in my suitcase I was able to fit my hats (i put 2 back though, leaving me with 5. i like hats), a pencil box, my headlamp, and deet. I guess that's slight improvement.
I have a small suitcase that I was going to use to put most of the rest of my stuff in. I just weighed the suitcase. It's 6lbs. Is that a lot for a small suitcase? Maybe tomorrow I'll look at kohls and see if they have a miraculous giant suitcase that weighs in at like 2 lbs.
-I have a bag of toiletries I have to take. That's 6 lbs there.
-I have a box of church-y stuff. I need that because I'm my own pastor, worship leader, and devotion leader over there. So there's another 5 lbs.
-Those are the bigger things. Then I have a bunch of small things I have to throw in the suitcase. Let's say that theres about 10 lbs worth of paper, sunglasses, belts, drink mixes, address book, backpack, water bottle, and glasses.
Now here's the part where it's going to start to hurt.
-I have 8lbs of books I wanted to bring to read...
-I have 10+ lbs of printed music I wanted to bring to practice/study/find comfort in.
10 mins later: I now have 6 lbs of books and 8 lbs of music. Apparantly Handel's Messiah weighs a lot haha. It was sad to put that back. I really should take my Music Theory textbook out of the book stack, but I don't want to! I wonder if I'm the first Music Major to go on to do the Peace Corps. Probably not, but I would love to know how past people coped with leaving music study for so long. And if I'm debating doing music again after the Peace Corps, I can't allow myself to get too rusty.
I'm the worst Peace Corps packer ever. I swear I'm not materialistic. I just.. have packing issues? I dunno. I'm leaving this for the night though. I will re-evaluate in the morning.
Okay, first of all, calm down! You'll be okay :) I'm in Thailand so the packing list is pretty similar. Here are a few tips.
ReplyDeleteTake minimal clothing. You won't need as much as you think you do. And if you need more, you can always have people send it to you - or buy it there ... things are cheap in this area!
As for books, also take minimal books. Other volunteers (and your PC office) will have a huge library of books to trade and choose from. If you want the books later, again, have someone send them.
My last piece of advice I've already said twice ... have people send you stuff! Take the things you won't need right away (anything for your eventual house, etc) and leave it in a box at home. Once you are there, have people ship stuff to the PC office and then you have it.
Another note to mention, if you really want all this stuff right away, PC isn't going to kill you for having more. The only issue is the airline limits. So, if you're willing to pay the overweight fee, you don't need to care much about the weight ... and you do want to be able to move the stuff around yourself so don't go TOO heavy ... but it's not as big an issue as they make it out to be.
Good luck!
You're not the only music major to join the Peace Corps! (Well, technically I haven't quite finished joining yet; still waiting for the invitation). I'm supposed to be going to Africa with the Peace Corps in September (maybe).
ReplyDeleteI majored in oboe, and spent the last year teaching in China. I had kind of a hard time practicing, since I lived in a dormitory with lots of other people, and I really missed "practice rooms," so I didn't practice that much.
Next year I shall turn over a new leaf!
I'm excited to see how you manage to keep music relevant in your new life. Good luck!