update: 27 days until departure

We get asked almost every day if we are "all packed up, ready to go?" Well, not really. The ratio of things we have done to things we need to do is still on the order of 1:50. Some recent things are these:

- Bought a new (new to us) computer online last week. It is a small notebook from Averatec. Though it's not a ThinkPad or a Vaio, it'll do for our time and be light to carry. The specs even say the adapter plug isn't grounded! You would think that would be undesirable due to safety, but for us, it means I don't have to take any pliers to the plug to be able to use it with plug adapters or the dynamic outlets of mainland China. Bought a nice sleeve too.

- Check with Yahoo.com & facebook.com groups daily to get packing/technology/teaching/language advice from helpful current volunteers. I've added a few more blogs to the section of links below entitled "Peace Corps Experiences." I take no responsibility for the content of those, by the way.

- Sorted through all books. The Friends of the Library has been, well, friendly to us over the past 7 years, and we have collected a lot of books. Some of them we've never read. We set aside books that might be helpful for teaching, though this stack must be pared down even more. The books to be given away are labeled by genre and friend to whom first dibs will be given. Then the church gets a go. Then they go back from whence they came to be sold and re-sold in Gainesville.

- Had a wonderful going away party at the CSCG with our friends. I am sure that Nick and I will both have dreams about sitting there, finding our way with friends, and drinking (or making, in Nick's case) coffee and espresso. We should get a staging packet very soon with instructions for acquiring plane tickets and specific information about the orientation in San Francisco.

Cheers!

P.S. Timestamps are now China Standard Time.