50 Years for Peace Corps; One Week for Me!

So I'm currently in the midst of attempting to pack for my immanent departure. You wouldn't really think that packing would be too difficult... but it is starting to take over my life. I'm not worried about fitting things, because I can be a pretty crafty packer... but I am worried about the suitcase weight limits. I even had a dream the other night that I put like 4 t-shirts and a toothbrush in my bag and then weighed it, and it weighed 400 lbs. 

Here's kind of an idea of what I'm dealing with right now:

So, packing is kind of taking over my life right about now. But it's not the only thing on my mind... today is actually the 50th anniversary of the Peace Corps, which is pretty awesome. JFK founded the Peace Corps 50 years ago, in 1961, and Obama has proclaimed today to be the official 50th anniversary. And I leave one week from today for Senegal. I think it's kind of cool that the Peace Corps began while JFK was in office, and now I'm leaving to be a PCV while Obama's president. Peace Corps is clearly important to Obama (he's raised the PC funding considerably since he's been in office), and while he may not be doing everything perfectly, I'm glad that I'm leaving to volunteer under a president who cares about the organization. Here's Obama's proclamation, if you want to check it out:   http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/02/28/presidential-proclamation-50th-anniversary-peace-corps

These past few weeks, the good people over in Dakar have been e-mailing all of us info/tutorials on Wolof (one of the regional languages of Senegal), and general info on the Health/Environmental Education programs that PC has in Senegal. Today I have to take two online surveys to prove that I've actually read and absorbed that material. I'm being tested before I even get there! Hopefully I can make time in between packing today to brush up on the info so I won't disappoint my program leaders.

And one final plug before I go: for those of you on Facebook, go to the Peace Corps FB site and look at their album of the new PSAs. I think they're really good. Check em out: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?fbid=496133905913&id=110634980913&aid=265215

Off to study/pack/try to regain my sanity!