7 hours and counting...how do I stuff 2 years into 80 lbs?

Ok, its midnight, I leave for the airport in seven hours, and I still have a ton of stuff to do. This packing thing is getting interesting. Peace Corps limits my total baggage weight to 80 lbs, and I'm at 90lbs. I cant figure out what to take out. Should I leave the French dictionary? NO! How about the 10 packs of AA batteries? HELL NO! What about the giant containter of Shampoo? YES! I can steal those little containers from the hotels! You see, sometimes I have to type out my problems in order to solve them...

I'm excited, sad, a little stressed, but contrary to what a lot of people think, I'm not nervous. Well, I guess not having a big container of Shampoo makes me nervous, but that will pass once I get my hands on those little hotel containers. Haha, I'm delirious. But seriously, I've come too far to be nervous. This is after all, my third Peace Corps assignment in the past year (Togo, Haiti). This time, its going to work out! Its hard to believe the time has come.

Here is the letter I just sent out to everyone on my email list. Dont read beyond this point if you got that email.

Hello everyone! (Friends, family, and random people)

My time has finally come, finally! After an extended wait, I'm actually going to leave for Cameroon to serve in the Peace Corps for the next 2+ years. Tomorrow, I head to Philadelphia for three days of "staging", and then on friday its off to Cameroon. I should be touching down in Yaounde, Cameroon at about 10am Denver time on Saturday.

This email list has grown to immense proportions over the past year. Some of you on here may have nearly forgotten who I am, others know me all to well. Either way, if you're on this list, it's because I think your cool, or I have something to gain from you : ). Also, if you're on this list, you are welcome to come visit me. Let me know if the idea of going to the heart of Africa sparks your interest (cheap beer anyone? lions? Beaches? How about malaria?-dont worry you can take medicine,,,).

In addition to the periodic mass emails I will be sending out, I have set up a weblog to update anyone interested in what I'm doing on the other side of the world. That way if you're ever like "hey, I wonder what that guy Allen (a.k.a. Al or Abay) is doing...", you can just open your web browser and go to http://allenincameroon.blogspot.com/, which you will have saved in the "favorites" section of your browser. I will also post links to my photos which should be pretty interesting.

I will have pretty consistent email access in Cameroon (yeah, they even have internet in Africa!). I will be living in a city where internet cafes are readily available. So please feel free to send me an email, I will get back to you, I promise, even if it takes me a little while. If you're old fashioned, and prefer hand writing a letter, do it! Send all letters to:

Allen Banick, Peace Corps Trainee
Corps de la Paix
B.P. 215
Yaounde, Cameroon

This will be my address for the first three months, I will let y'all know when it changes.

Ok, so its almost midnight, I leave for the airport in 7 hours, and I still need to do a whole lot, including packing...

If you dont want to be on this list, let me know, and then go to hell because I dont like you either!

Thanks to everyone who has supported me as I begin this exciting phase in my life.

Once again that web address: http://allenincameroon.blogspot.com/

Au revoir,
Goodbye,

Allen Lyle Banick III

P.S. I will have my cell phone (303-809-6915) up until I leave Philly on Friday, then I will flush it down the toilet, or burn it. Feel free to call, I'd love to hear from you b4 I go/

Packing...

This time next week, I will be touching down in Philadelphia for three days of staging. This time in 11 days, I will be touching down in Yaounde, Cameroon, getting my first glimpse of what I will be calling "home" for the next 27 months.

I've been spending the morning packing, organizing, and trying to watch the French Open at the same time. The French Open was too distracting, so I turned it off and put some tunes on instead. I've been drinking lots of coffee to accelerate the process.

It seems like my "to do list" keeps growing. I keep getting stuff done, but for everything I do, I think of two more things I need to do. I have to somehow split the next 5 days between friends, family, and preparation. I know I'm probably overpacking, and I wont need half the crap I'm bringing, but hey, I'd rather be overprepared. I'm bringing way too many books, which really weigh my bags down, but I cant decide which ones are worth leaving behind, they all seem so interesting. I also have about 50 AA batteries, I should probably leave a few behind too.

I can't forget to register to vote, and get an absentee ballot. This upcoming election is extremely important, I gotta vote! If I remember correctly , part of the controversy with the last election involved overseas votes that weren't counted, they'd better count mine...or else...

Okay, better get back to work. I'm going to a concert tonight, and I want to have some peace of mind by then so I can enjoy it!

Done Working

I finished my last day of work on Friday. This leaves me two weeks to prepare everything I need. I bought two very important things on EBAY today:
1) An MP3 CD player
2) Travel Speakers
I cant imagine going anywhere without my music, so I got what I needed to last me 2 years in Africa. Now I just hope it doesnt break, get stolen, or lost.

I find it hard to believe that in 3 weeks I will be on African soil. I still cant picture myself there. I guess it all still hasnt quite set in yet. Once I actually start packing and saying goodbye, it will all hit me. Thats what happened back in February when I was supposed to leave for Haiti. We'll see.

I'm trying to enjoy as much American culture as I possibly can before I leave. Tomorrow I head to Coors Field for a Rockies game, it doesnt get more American than that!

Previous posts

I've moved my blog to this address from another location. Here is an archive of every entry from my old blog.

May 5th, 2004
Got my plane tix
I got my staging information today, and Peace Corps made my plane reservations from Denver to Philly. Leaving june 1st at 10:10am. I get to Philly a day before staging starts, enough time for a philly cheesesteak and a quick run up the stairs Rocky climbed back in '78. Then two and a half days of staging and it's off to Paris, then Yaounde, Cameroon.

April 26th, 2004
5 weeks
Only three weeks of work, then two weeks after that, and I'm off. Better start packing. What will I pack? How much will I have to buy? I'll find out soon enough. I'm a last minute planner, so we'll worry about it later.

Go Nuggets.

Gotta love the pointless blog entry. I had to write something though, I don't want to be seen as a careless blogger! People live for this blog!


April 1st, 2004
Why am I doing this?
Today was another beautiful spring day, and I got to enjoy it in the comfortable confines of my cubicle. The sun was shining bright, but the only light I enjoyed was generated by the fluorescent lamp above me. I need to get out! This is only a temporary job, and its great for what I need right now, a little money to pay off the bills and head across the Atlantic.

That brings me to the question everyone asks, "why are you joining the Peace Corps, why are you going all the way to Africa?" After a day like today, that's really easy to answer, although the answer itself isn't all that simple.

I'm not out to save the world, I would love to do that, but I think thats slightly out of my range of abilities at this point. My reasons are more selfish than anything, to be honest. Returned Peace Corps volunteers always say they gained a lot more than they were able to give. In my case, I expect nothing different. I certainly want to help people in Cameroon, and maybe I will, but I'm going into this with the expectation that I will come back a more complete, more determined, more oriented, happy person. I don't know how that will happen exactly, I just know that it will.

So now for the reasons, I will list them to keep it simple:
*I want a real challenge. Challenges and the ways we overcome them are what make life worth living, or at least interesting. Stepping away from everything famliar and working in a field I have no "real world" experience in, in a totally foreign, exotic environment is, in my opinion, a pretty good challenge, that most would not attempt.
*I'm 23 and I want to see the world. I want to learn about other cultures, which will in turn help me to learn about myself.
*I want to meet other people that feel the same way I do.
*I was very fortunate to get a college diploma, now I want to put it to use in a way that will maximize its value, by benefiting others.
*I want to see places and people and things most people in this country dont even know about.
*I want to practice, and improve my French, and be fluent again like I once was.
*I want to learn a new language, if that is possible.
*I want to help people if they need my help, whether it be in acquiring business skills, learning english, or in ways that I cannot forsee at this point.
*I want to see if "the international life" is something I want to live for a long time to come
*I want to get away from the television, and read as many books as possible.
*I want to get away from all the first world luxuries I take for granted.
*I want to enjoy a cheap, cold beer and fresh, grilled fish on the beach, under a palm tree, while watching the sun set on the Atlantic. (I will make sure this happens).
*Seeing, experiencing, and learning about Africa is going to be the adventure of a lifetime!
*Maybe I will convice someone who reads this to do the same thing.
*Last but not least, I want to see a toilet flush in the Southern hemisphere (rumor has it, the water goes clockwise!) -Cameroon is in the northern hemisphere, but a short trip south to Gabon will get me where I need to be.

There are probably a thousand more reasons than the ones listed above, but I won't know what they are until I get to Cameroon.

Thanks for reading!
62 more days!