the time has come.

my plane leaves in less than 7 hours. i should probably be asleep.
but i have my first official trip story. it seemed pertinent to share. i can sleep on the plane. =P

about a month ago, the program director asked for volunteers to transport dental supplies. it seemed like a benign enough request and they volunteered to pay the extra baggage fees so, being the flexible people-pleaser i am, i volunteered. i got confirmation that i would be receiving the supplies and then heard nothing else about it until wednesday. of this week.

while i was at work on wednesday night, holding down the fort at the panera bread, i received a text from my mother, alerting me of the arrival of a package for me. she and my father had assumed it was the dental supplies considering it was giant and weighed 73 pounds. i wasn't expecting anything else that weighed the equivalent of a nine-year-old child so this was probably a safe bet.

when we opened the package we found a ridiculous amount of toothpaste, toothbrushes, and dental floss. probably enough for an entire village. which is probably good when you realize that's exactly how much we need. but still--i proceeded to spend all of today trying to package it all as efficiently as possible. but really, how efficient can you get when the goal is to carry 73 pounds of oral hygiene items onto a plane?

so if you need a pick-me-up tomorrow, go ahead and imagine me in an airport in guatemala city, surrounded by 5 bags, two of which will reek of copious amounts of mint. also, you can use this story to explain to your kids why you should ask lots of questions before responding in the affirmative to a vague request to transport goods internationally.

in other news, the fundraiser at buffalo wild wings was a success. i was able to raise $75 and, thanks to this event and the extremely generous donations made by my family and friends, i will be able to afford this trip while still having enough money to pay for all of next school year. praise the Lord. hallelujah for continuing through college debt-free.

and thus ends my last update to this blog in the united states. next time you hear from me i'll be in an internet cafe in solola. or borrowing the laptop of another volunteer in the house. but either way, i will be on non-american soil.

can't wait to fill you in on the actual adventure. it's finally here. =)