Lattes and Packing

It’s a cold sunny April day in Seattle. I’m drinking my exquisitely crafted double shot vanilla latte from Uptown Espresso just blocks away from my downtown apartment and basking in the sun that’s shinning in the window. I have really come to love this city. On these rare sunny days, the mixture of green trees and blue sparkling water from the ocean almost make me forget it’s freezing outside. (Freezing of course by my own personal standards…)  But let’s not get carried away, I have a million things on my to-do list, not to mention I’m leaving the country in less than two months.  On my recent vacation to Belize, my traveling buddy and best friend, Lori, had to listen to my constant ramblings of “do you think I could take this to Africa with me?” or “I need something like this for Africa” or “have you seen the list of stuff I need for Kenya?” This daunting packing list is always in the back of my mind. Everything I seem to look at or touch gets immediately categorized in my head as either ‘bring to Africa’ or ‘don’t bring to Africa.’ It’s almost like my mind is in some crazy state of limbo. Here is what I’m dealing with: I’m allowed two checked bag that do not exceed 40lbs each and one carry on. I must pack enough shampoo and personal hygiene stuff to last at least the first three months of training. So this is my packing list of “must-haves.” I’d appreciate any suggestions people have for me!!

-Sleeping bag

-Personal pillow

-One light blanket

-Set of Queen size sheets

-Towels

-Mosquito netting

-One pair of hiking/running shoes

-One pair of Chacos

-One pair of comfortable dressy shoes

-Rain Jacket

-Warm sweatshirt

-Lightweight cotton pants

-Cotton T-shirts

-One dressy dress

-Leatherman multi-tool (Juice CS4)

-Head lamp

-Nalgene bottle

- Steripen (Journey with LCD screen)- to sterilize my water with UV rays

-Netbook computer with external hard drive

-Multiple electronic converters and outlet adapters

-Ziplock bags

-Not to mention some shampoos, lotions, tampons, face washes, mascara, undergarments etc.

Am I missing anything!?? Making a list is easy, but actually acquiring these items is the hard part. I feel as if I spend my days off roaming the aisles at REI and I always find something else I want to add to my list! A special thanks goes to costco for packaging tampons in bulk. My departure date is May 30^th and I plan on leaving my job on May 13^th. This should give me enough time to finish my packing and spend some quality time with my family and friends.

49 days until my departure!

-Yours Truly, Christina Gusa

Preparing for departure to Kenya!

My assignment:

I have been chosen to work as a health volunteer in Kenya. I will be working on education and prevention of HIV/Aids, STDs, and Malaria.

Living conditions:

According to my welcome booklet from the Peace Corps:

As a Volunteer, you will most likely live in a rural community and not have access to indoor water, plumbing or electricity. Expect to use hurricane lamps and candles for lighting. To cook, you will likely use charcoal, wood, or a single-burner kerosene stove. Peace Corps Kenya, for both philosophical and budget considerations, requires host ministries or sponsoring organizations to provide all Volunteers with housing. Volunteer housing must conform to the general standards of the community. That is, the housing should not be of substantially higher or lower standards than typical houses within the community. The standard and condition of Volunteer housing vary widely, from mud houses with thatched roofs to very modern cement houses with running water and electricity. In short, you can expect to have, at the very least, a room to call your own.

Training:

For the first three months in the country I will be participating in intense cultural and language training. I will most likely live with a Kenyan family and attend classes with the rest of my group to learn the country’s language: Swahili. This training is taking place in a town called Loitokitok.

I leave Seattle on May, 30^th 2011. My heart is filled with excitement and sadness for the loved ones and friends I am leaving behind. I know this is going to be one of the most amazing and rewarding things that I will do with my life and at the very same time I can’t quite get out of bed in the morning due to my intense love for my soft down comforter. Oh yes, and the hot showers and flushing toilets that I have become accustomed to. Oh, and the insect free existence I have been living. Despite all the above, I can’t wait to share my knowledge with the world. I went to college to learn how to be a nurse and I have been practicing over the past few years to become the best nurse I can possibly be. However, knowledge is meant to be shared and I certainly didn’t spend four years in school to keep it all to myself. I also can’t wait to share my stories with all of you!

My Favorite Things

I got an exciting email this morning from the Peace Corps stating that my medical clearance was just passed! Now my paperwork has moved on to whoever makes the final decision about my placement. Everything seems to be moving pretty quickly and it has made me reflect on some of my favorite things.

My family: I survived the snow in Seattle and had a great thanksgiving at home with my family in Mount Vernon.  I spent some much needed time with my little sister Caitlin and even took her to the shooting range to teach her how to shoot a gun.

My cat: What in the world is going to happen to my sweet angel of a cat when I leave? Who will be his new family? Well since my parents said no over and over again, I guess that means no.  I will continue the search for the perfect semi-permanent home for him, but in the mean time I’m going to enjoy his warm, fluffy, attention loving body until the day I leave.

My boyfriend: Almost two years together and we are faced with what two years apart will look like. We just took our last trip together to the great Island of Jamaica. He’s my best friend and we have been so many amazing places together. I hope to be able to post pictures of us in whatever far away land I end up in.

My friends: I have so many supportive friends who are as anxious as me to find out where I will be living for the next two years. I treasure every time we meet over coffee or margaritas and we talk about where our lives are heading. I love hearing their stories as they are planning for babies and new careers and it makes me think of how far we have all come in the last 5 years. As I’m writing this I’m picturing all of your faces and laughing at all the little moments that I will never forget.

MY TEETH HAVE BEEN CLEARED TO SERVE IN THE PEACE CORPS!

This post is not for the faint of heart…

Warning… seriously not for the faint of heart.

As I have mentioned before, the medical processing with Peace Corps is VERY throughout. For example, they required I get my wisdom teeth evaluated. Sure enough they were evaluated and promptly removed. This means my oral surgeon had to drill into my upper jaw bones, crack my two top wisdom teeth in order to remove them through the holes in my bone. The bottom two were merely dug out the good ol’ fashioned way, leaving me with holes in the back of my mouth that I’ve been flushing out with water after each meal for almost a month. Secondly, Peace Corps asked me to have a gingival graft done to my lower front two teeth due to a receding gum line. My Periodontist explained this can be a hereditary condition, but also could be caused from having braces and not enough gum tissue to go around as my teeth moved. So here I am with healing holes in the back of my mouth and I am going in to get the rest of my mouth that hasn’t hurt yet, to get worked on. The gum graft went like this… cutting of the frenum (the tiny piece of tissue that connects your lower lip to your gums) and cutting of the gum I have left down there, shaving off a section of tissue from the roof of my mouth, then suturing the roof gum onto the area that is missing gum tissue on my front teeth. I was pretty well numbed up and there was nothing to hear during the procedure, but the worst part was tasting and feeling the blood drip down the back of my throat. Now back to the soft, liquid diet of yogurt and ice cream. At least my teeth are in tip top shape.

My gums before

This is the roof of my mouth that sacrificed the skin for the graft

This is my mouth after leaving the dentist

Three weeks later and i'm as good as new!

The road to Africa...

Dear friends and family,
On May 24, 2010 I was accepted into the Peace Corps. The way that this process works is very lengthy. Almost one year ago I submitted my application with essays and letters of recommendation. Once my application was received and processed I was called in for an interview at the Peace Corps regional office in downtown Seattle. After my interview I got a phone call from the regional office notifying me that I was recommended for the Peace Corps and I was given my nomination. My nomination is to depart to the region of sub-Saharan Africa in January where I will be working as a nurse involving HIV/Aids promotion/prevention/treatment. This position requires two years of nursing experience and I have been working as a registered nurse at the Seattle Veterans Affairs hospital on a spinal cord injury unit and will celebrate my two years of working there this month! So everything sounds pretty set in stone right? Wrong… Seven tubes of blood and a lengthy physical later I sent in my EXTENSIVE medical paperwork and am waiting for it to be processed. I have spoken with people who have been through this process before, and I have found out that it is not uncommon to miss a nomination deadline due to delays in processing paperwork. My fingers are crossed and my heart is set on Africa, but in the mean time I am taking the advice from my friend who is stationed in Morocco with the Peace Corps. I am going to enjoy every minute with my friends and family and trust that everything happens for a reason. I will keep you all updated on how things are going at home and through all the bumps and bruises along the road of my 27 month commitment to whatever country I end up in!
-Lots of Love-