Mixed Feelings

     I am less than a month away from my departure to the Philippines, 22 days to be exact!  We just found out this past Thursday the region we will be placed in for the majority of our stay.  I will be with Gail and Glenda in the Visayas region in Tacloban City!  I am so excited!!  What is so unique about this city is that it was hit by Typhoon Haiyan a.k.a. Typhoon Yolanda in 2013 which devastated the city and killed 6,300 people.  When I found out about that from my mom and started reading the news articles, I felt sickened in thinking about the horror residents had faced and curious about the recovery after.  I know Filipinos are a resilient and strong people so I am sure I will see incredible progress over the past two years.  Although, I know that many are still affected by the trauma, and would like to do anything I can to help the city rebuild while I am there.

   On another note, along with my excitement, I am also feeling nervous about the trip approaching in less than a month.  I feel that there are many things I still need to do to prepare, and I am a little scared to be away from my family especially my husband and puppy!  I am also feeling nervous about being alone for some of the flight, it just seems like a lot is coming and I don't feel ready.  I will also be teaching up until I leave since our school district has had so many snow days this winter that we are in school until June 24th, which doesn't help :(  With that said, I know this experience will change me in ways I can't even imagine and I have been waiting and wanting something like this for awhile!

Almost a Month Away

     It's a Monday night, May 18th, I'm two days away from being a month away from departure!  I'm feeling the stress a bit.  I looked at a calendar and the realization hit me, I don't have much more time here in Chicago, and the two weekends before I leave I'll be out of town!  I thought to myself about all that I still needed to do before leaving and felt a bit overwhelmed.

     To ease the stress of that feeling, I decided to make a To Do list before departure.  I have lately been getting into using One Note through Word, and made a page titled "To do before departure June 20" under my travel tab.  So far, I have about 14 things listed, and I know the list will continue to grow as more things pop into my mind.  Ahh!!!  Just this past weekend, I purchased a travel backpack -- I figured that would be the most comfortable thing to carry around and it has a good amount of space.  Funny that I don't actually own a backpack, this one is made by Timbuktu (my husband says they have good quality, durable products), and he seems right.  Buying the backpack did make things a little more real.  There is a ton to do before I leave but I just plan to take it one day at a time.  Let me know if you have any advice, this will be the longest I've stayed outside of the U.S!

Post Pre-Departure Webinar...So much to do before June 20th!

I'm super pumped about going to the Philippines--Team Philippines woop woop -- I just finished the pre-departure webinar about 15 minutes ago, can you tell?  It was very helpful but got me thinking and planning.  I'm going to list the things I need to start working on/thinking about below:

• What to bring, need to make a list of things to pack/buy
• Creating a presentation on Chicago and Spry Elementary School
• Registering with the Embassy once I know exactly where I will be assigned
• Gifts, small and lightweight
• What I want to do/see while I'm there
• Planning down time
• Having my students write letters to the students I will be meeting
• Talking to my mom and planning what to do
• What to do with social media?  Should I set up an instagram account for just picture that Filipinos can follow me on?

If there is anything else you can think of please add!  I've never gone away for this long of a time before so I'm so excited!!!