the camera is empty

PLUG!
Thursday, March 1st is Mouat's Night of a Thousand Dinners. It's a dinner supporting landmine awareness. All proceeds go to the Canadian Landmine Foundation. If you are in Abbotsford on the 1st you should buy a ticket! Only 17$ at the school. You get a fantastic dinner, donate to a great cause and learn something too. Enjoy.

Rewind Please
So I’m going to Africa tomorrow. It is absolutely insane.
Up until last night all I could think about was how excited I was for the Oscar's (which were fantastic but also a bit disappointing since I hadn't seen the Departed, and Ellen was less funny then I thought she would be). Then, this morning, I woke up, and the first thing that came to mind (as is the case many mornings) was "Africa." Only, this morning it had a very different significance. It was no longer, "Africa, I just finished a book on Africa" or "Africa, what a lovely dream I had about Africa." No, it was "Africa, holy crap, I’m going to Africa... like tomorrow... like 36 hours... like one more night." wow.

I have to talk about the packing situation. And how on earth will I talk about packing without mentioning my mother. Seriously, this woman is amazing. haha, I feel like a pirate, but don't worry, I don't get a tattoo of "Mom" in a heart on my arm. My mother has done more for me in the past few week then most people do in a lifetime. She has been ceaselessly dedicated to my trip, and I would not even be close to being prepared without her. She has bought so much, made lists, written down phone numbers, labeled, photo copied, reminded, done, perfected and basically caused everything that needed to happen, happen. On top of my Mom I’ve had my Godmother. Frick, I’m lucky. Thanks Pat and Mom!

But, essentially, it's still a stress of a situation. You can bring two bags (each 50lbs) under the plane and one carry on (22lbs) onto the plane. Sounds like soooo much doesn't it? Yeah, think again. I have this humongous bag for donations, and my backpack for clothing and personal needs. Turns out I packed the big bag perfectly and it came out to about 72 lbs. oops.
I had to put a whole bunch of donations into my clothing backpack, take out some books (sorry Yalda) and put some paper in my carry on bag. It was all very stressful. I love packing, but that was just over the top. I don't want more then two bags, and furthermore want to leave one for when I come back. It was so stressful withering down all my stuff. BUT I’m HAPPY to announce that bag #1 is 49 lbs, bag #2 is 48 lbs and my carry on will be a bit of a stretch but I’ll just stuff a whole bunch of stuff in my pockets and pretend I’m cold and wear my jacket. What is most exciting is that, for the exception of some books donated by Yalda and a glue container, everything will be going over. Yay! Thank you to everyone who donated; it'll be awesome possums.

Other then that, I can say I've been fairly chilled for the past few days, except for going to school. Every time I go in it seems I am just reminded of all the scholarship, university things I have to apply to, and I’ve pretty much gone in everyday. Mrs. Merrick has just started laughing at me when I come in and she’s a councilor too. It's just really hard to put up with that pressure and know there isn't anything I can do about scholarships that come out while I’m gone, but let's face it; there are bigger and better things to be done in the world. Right?

Oh and I just have to mention. People have asked me what I'm going to miss the most. I've thought about it a lot and realized that I'm going to miss ice the most. I'm pretty much up to 3-4 trays a day. It's pretty addictive. Some say eating ice is a sign of sexual frustration. Others say iron deficiency. Well, I suppose I am iron deficient…See, there is no healthy ice in Africa because who knows where the water is from. So basically, my addiction will be very upset with me, but my teeth will be happy.

Lucky Chances
One lucky thought of the day is that my camp application came in today. I filled out everything (pretty much signed and wrote my address for like an hour) but now it's done and in the mail. That is really, really good because otherwise I would be sans contract. This year I'll be going (thanks to some hard work and wonderful bosses) in the spring session starting on June 1st. That will be so wonderful. I'm pretty stoked to be back with all the camp people. We're a cult you know, it's pretty great.
Oh! Plus, filling out that application reminded me to bring my staff booklet and games booklet from counsellor training years and volunteering last year with a whole bunch of games and songs! It'll be so cool to get some Ugandan kids singing good old camp songs and playing camp games!

I guess that's all for now. I actually really need to get onto this scholarship thing I haven’t done, but that should be done. It's quite strange to be doing something so down to earth the night before I leave...

"Certainly, travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living." --- Miriam Beard