The Stress Mounts

It's been almost two weeks since we found out about our invitation and just over a week since we accepted. It's hard to believe that the time is going by so quickly already. We haven't even gotten our act together to send a mass e-mail to our friends and extended family to let them know what's happening. Getting the blog up was our first step in that process, but Sarah's been out of town for work and we just haven't taken the next step.

I've been pretty zen over the past two years as we waited (waded?) through the process of getting into the Peace Corps. Sarah's been just a bit more on edge and less patient. That's OK, though. It's just a fact of our personalities. That's how we are in life in general.

This week, though, I'm starting to feel the pressure. When that happens, things can turn a little ugly. It's not terrible yet, but I need to take a deep breath. This is just the beginning, after all. We're trying to be proactive and plan as much as we can for the process of packing up our lives. We started a Basecamp so that we can keep track of everything we need to do. It's been a bit tough since Sarah's away in Canada right now. Not only is the majority of preparation for getting the house on the market left to me this week, but Sarah's Internet connectivity has been really spotty.

To put it in perspective, we've got to get the house on the market, get the rest of our stuff sold or packed, figure out what to buy to take with us to Romania, get a start on learning Romanian and hold down our full time jobs, and we've got more paperwork (like an updated resume and aspiration statement) to complete for the Peace Corps. In some ways that last has been more stressful than anything, since it really requires communication between Sarah and me which has been really tough from a distance.

So, it's really time to refocus and remind myself that this is all part of the experience. With every bag of books I sell at the used bookstore and every box I pack with crap to give away to family or friends, my life is getting simultaneously more simple and more complicated. A friend of mine is going through a cleanse right now by only eating rice and red lentils. It's not much fun while she's doing it, but she says she feels like a million dollars when she's done. I've got my own cleanse going on right now. In the long run it will feel great.

I've also been very exited to find other volunteers in our group (known as PC Romania 28, since we'll be the 28th group to go to the country). Sarah found a young woman's blog who will be serving with us: Jo in Ro. From there I discovered a Facebook group specifically for our little clan, and today I took part in a massive group chat and the a couple people from 27 gave us all some tips. All of a sudden this feels seriously real.