Omnomnom...

It's typhoid time! Today, I picked up a teeny tiny box of Salmonella typhi Ty21a capsules that I get to start taking tomorrow. It has roughly a zillion special instructions that are pretty easy to deal with, but I'm still finding the idea of following all these rules in order to keep my bacteria alive a little strange. Oh well - when you look at this little guy, it's easy to understand why the instructions involve not chewing him up, dissolving him in liquor or cooking him with warm water. He's just toooo cute! 

(Si vous cherchez de l'information sur la vente de café, vous la trouverez ici!)

Caffeine Fix

Today, I picked up the most delicious-smelling piece of mail I have ever received: thirty pounds of freshly ground coffee! The order from Equator finally came in so there's a small army of coffee ready on my kitchen table for those of you who ordered some. For those of you who haven't but would like some, don't despair! There are still nine unclaimed bags that I'll gladly sell you. When those run out,I'm planning a second order, so think about what you'd like and send me an email! (By the way, you can click on the poster on the right to make it bigger. The most important part is that I'd like the orders in by June 3rd.)

I know I promised excitement a while ago... Soon! Once I hit 30 days til the trip - it's at 35 now - the preparation will actually start. Next week will probably involve typhoid inoculation (postponed because it doesn't get along with antibiotics), new hiking shoes, a trip to MEC, news from BaseCamp about my placement and the creation of the best first aid kit ever. Get ready!

Inspiration

I have this friend named Meagan. She's one of those people who is somehow smart, funny, beautiful, friendly, charismatic, easygoing and committed to making the world at better place.

I didn't really know these things about Meagan last year - although I suspected - because we didn't really talk much in residence. But sometime last spring, we struck up a conversation on the minibus and she told me about her summer plans. She was, as many of you know and some of you may have guessed, going to Nicaragua with BaseCamp to learn Spanish and volunteer in a hospital. I was blown away! That someone just finishing their first year of university had taken the initiative to find a program, give up a summer of work and go to a strange new country to volunteer was amazing to me, and so inspirational!

Kind of. I read Meagan's blog diligently throughout her trip, but while I was trying to live through her experience a little bit, that spark of "That could be me!" went away after that day on the minibus. I couldn't see myself actually doing what she did; I didn't think I had the guts.

Until November. Because, you see, I have this other friend named Cathleen. She, too, is a smart, funny, beautiful (etc) person that I worked with in a very special place one summer. We have a lot in common, and it was a big deal for me when she told me once that I reminded her of when she was younger. (If I'm like Cath when I'm her age, I'd say I'll be doing pretty darn well!) She and I are both fans of lists and order and knowing what's going on all the time; when we were working together, I would hardly have called either of us adventurous. This is why I could hardly believe it when she went on a decidedly adventurous trip to South America! I had always had it in my head that exciting backpacking trips and exotic travel were for free-spirited wild children - and I am anything but!

Still, when Cathleen went on that trip, it occurred to me: I could do that. And when I decided in November that I did want to go on a trip, I remembered Meagan and thought - Hey. I could do that!

So I'm going to.
Thanks, girls.

Wanted: Ideas

I apologize for the blog neglect - you'd think that I'd be updating it more often given that school is done and it's almost time to actually prepare for the trip, but it's actually taken me until now to get into the swing of summer and recuperate from a wildly stressful April.

Some of you may have noticed that I leave in 46 days, but it seems highly unlikely that I'll have reached my goal of $6000 before then - right now, I'm about $500 away from being able to pay for my flight and program fee. But that's okay! My extraordinarily generous parents have agreed to lend me the money I need and let me pay it back after the trip, if need be - which means that I could have a fundraiser or two in the fall. I'm thinking taco night + silent auction + a little talk about the experience.

Still, I have a lot of time between now and July 1st that could be filled with fundraising. But I'm out of ideas! Aside from the coffee (which is coming soon) and the slow-motion bottle drive (which is still going on), I'm not sure what else I could do.

Do you have any brilliant ideas to share? I'd love to hear them!

PS: I went to MEC today and I get my typhoid pills this week, so there could actually be interesting stuff up here soon!