Monday, June 23, 2008

Snake Mythology; T-minus 25 Days and Counting!

Hello faithful readers!

I'm back in Bristol, VA having left behind the lush er...damn hot desert landscape of Tucson. I really liked Tucson (If you ever find yourself in Southern Arizona, make sure to drop by the Cowpony bar. It kicks ass!) I could see myself settling down in Tucson someday, that is if I ever find myself settling down.

One thing left me feeling a little ripped off regarding my time in the desert. Five weeks in the middle of the rocky sandy, blistering nothing and I didn't see ONE...DAMN...SNAKE!! I don't want to hear any more about the desert teeming with Rattlers with a snake lurking behind every sagebrush. As far as I'm concerned, that's bull crap. What a gyp. All those scenes in the westerns where the cowboy is riding along on his horse when suddenly...EEEK! A RATTLESNAKE!! Yeah, right. Maybe if he was riding along in the middle of the night...making noises like a gopher...a sick gopher...with a wooden leg. Desert snakes are a myth!!

Anyway, absent vipers aside, when I got back to VA, my Peace Corps staging kit was waiting for me! The staging kit is the PC signal that the final countdown has started. Inside were updated packing guidelines, a final checklist of things to do/bring to staging, a schedule of training as well as my international flight itinerary. So...

On July 19 I'll be hopping a plane to San Francisco!! I'll be spending two and a half days at the Hotel Kubuki, a Japanese themed 4 star hotel! Woo Hoo!! Originally, I had thought I'd be flying straight into Phnom Penh but I guess that doesn't happen. My international flight itinerary reads like a list of all of the places that I've wanted to go. We leave San Francisco on July 21 at 2pm. We fly 11 hours to Japan (woo hoo!!). From Japan, we fly 6 hours to Bangkok Thailand (WOO HOO!) and from there it's a short 1 hr flight to Phnom Penh Cambodia. I know, I know, it's not like I'll be leaving the Airport or anything, and in actuality, it's probably going to be a pain in the neck passing through all these airports, but for now, it just sounds cool. REALLY COOL!!

So now I'm busy shopping up things like light blue short sleeve dress shirts (ugh!) voltage converters, flat blade razors, "dark" colored slacks all the while trying to learn enough Khmer so I don't sound like a complete jackass. I'm looking forward to finally stepping out the door and getting this next chapter underway. It's close now and I think I'm ready.

1 comment:

Rebecca said...

Hey Mitch - I'm excited to meet you in SF in less than a month! Too bad you didn't see any snakes in AZ...I've had a few run-ins with them in Colorado already this summer. Gross! Thanks for that forwarded message about the packing list. I'm tempted to throw a change of clothes and a toothbrush in a sack and call it good. Uggh! The list is taking over my life. -Rebecca