Blog for the dates of 1-4 March 2003

It has been some time since I have written here. I will endeavor to catch the blog up to date in small batches.

I last wrote after the Tour d'East Coast and family adventure. I returned to Boulder for about 12 days to finish up work and packing and get in a healthy dose of freaking out.

I was so overwhelmed by my friends' outpouring of support, meals and attention. One common thought throughout this process has been how I do nothing alone and how I am so supported in this adventure.

We had a happy hour at Bacaro in Boulder the Saturday night before I left. I was gratified at the amount of people that came, down to Sherry, a wonderful, interesting woman I know b/c she has been cleaning my teeth at Dr. Baxt's office for 6 yrs or so...

It was surreal to think that the night was my last one for a while and saying goodbye at times was difficult. I stayed out too late, guilty all the while for not being home and spending QT with Hawk. It’s hard even now, some 3 weeks later, to think of it. It was snowing hard and when Christopher and I got back to Frieda’s home, we took Hawk out for a jaunt in the snow. Hawk was a bit more crazed than usual perhaps in reaction to my obvious stress. I guess there’s just no good way to leave.

The next morning, I got up early, still finishing last bits of packing, and Christopher helped me stuff my 4 bags, Hawk and us into his jeep. Luckily, it had stopped snowing sometime in the night, and the driving was fine. I was tired, numb, overwhelmed, grateful beyond compare to Christopher for being with me and being willing to drive me to the airport.

Without going through the whole sad saga, I said a difficult goodbye to both the dog and the man. I made it to my gate and found my PC friend, Scott, waiting already to fly to Chicago.

When we took off, the plane made a broad arch to the West to turn around and I felt so happy to see those craggy, snowy peaks from such a vantage point one more time before leaving. It felt right to say a proper goodbye to them as well. Only they are nearly guaranteed not to change much in my absence.

We arrived in Chicago to the hotel where we’d stay for 2 days before departing for Ukraine. Those days were pretty surreal. I met lots of people, we had initial training to begin our PC indoctrination and took care of some logistics. There I met Carrie, who is becoming a good friend, as well as loads of cool, interesting people from all sorts of backgrounds. Young college grads, people with a few years work experience, retired lawyers, business people, lots of non-profit experience, lots of living abroad experience. We had a generous per diem and it was indulgent to eat Vietnamese, sushi, etc. for lunches and dinners.

The last night in Chicago, I stayed out way too late at an Irish pub and had fun meeting new people and hanging out with people I already knew. One of our PC staff, Matt, was out also and it was fun to get to know him unofficially.

The next day was full of “hurry up and wait” moments. I was thrilled to be able to comfortably carry my luggage on my back and w/ the luggage cart and felt quite smug when watching other PCT’s struggle. (competitive nature rears its ugly head – must remember, the race is with myself)

I was so grateful that Frieda had gotten me a postage-paid envelope for me to mail my cell phone to her from the airport. I spent much of my time in the line to check in talking to Stephanie and this was such a lovely way to say goodbye to home, and spent much of my waiting time before the airport calling people, leaving messages on answering machines, etc. It was so comforting.