What April is looking forward to (and not looking forward to):

Looking forward to:

• Having life be simple – I have a hard time not over extending sometimes
• Missing the 2008 US presidential election hoopla…or at least the worst of it since it has already started
• Seeing the Panamanian presidential election process
• Learning to cook new foods and use new spices
• Seeing what a real “heavy rain” is (they measure it in feet – not inches – in some areas)
• Learning and using Spanish daily
• Not living in an airport flight path
• Not driving for two years – letting the Maryland driver’s angst seep out of my soul
• Not seeing Christmas commercials daily- starting in October
• Reading about the USA from an outside perspective
• Doing a lot of walking
• Possibly living without easy access to electricity
• Going snorkeling sometime
• Seeing the Panama Canal
• Seeing orchids and leaf cutter ants
• Learning a tiny bit about birds and birding
• Visiting the peak were you can see the ocean on both sides
• Spending lots of quality time with Kevin

Not looking forward to:

• Vaccination shots
• Mosquitoes
• Diarrhea
• Missing family events- major and small
  
• Increasing my banana consumption levels (arg)
• Waiting for 1-2 months for mail
• High humidity (Think Baltimore summers year round – evening LOW around 70)
• Wearing lots of sunscreen

Parties and our schedule until we leave

With just one more week of real work, less than a month in Maryland, and just five weeks in the US, we're about to the point where we have a schedule for each day remaining. And that includes two parties, so read on for details!

In Maryland, we'll be having a goodbye party at our house on Saturday, 21 April, and you'll get a chance to meet both of our parents. The house isn't huge, but swing by anytime after 4pm. We'll take advantage of daylight hours (and hopefully good weather) and go until late. We're on a cul-de-sac, so park in our driveway if there's room or anywhere along Harp String (other than the inside of the circle) or Bright Soul. (7167 Harp String, Columbia, MD 21045. From Snowden River Parkway, turn onto Carved Stone - Starbucks/Supreme Sports Club - and go past Hunan Manor/under the powerlines, then RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT. We're at the end of the cul-de-sac.)

The rest of our time in Maryland includes an MLS game, MSAR FTL testing, final doctor and dentist visits, selling the wagon (not the veggie car, that's the Beetle), an awards dinner for April for her volunteer work with youth through MSAR, paperwork, and packing. Sometimes it seems like we have a lot to do, sometimes it seems like we have a lot of time.

My last official day of work is 1 May and that afternoon/evening, we'll load the truck (volunteers appreciated :). On the 2nd, we drive to Kevin's folk's in Lexington, VA and unload furniture and have our first chance to relax for a couple of days, before we drive to April's folk's in Bethel, OH on 5 May.

That week in the Cincy area, we'll see Grandma Cropper (8-9 May), Grandma Miller and Grandma & Grandpa Dierks (9-11 May), as well as other Cincy relatives, before the second party, on our last Saturday. April's folks will be hosting a goodbye party at the Bethel Community Center in Bethel, Ohio on Saturday, 12 May starting around 5pm. Email for more details if you're going to be in Ohio around then.

While we don't yet have any details (hopefully in the next couple of weeks), we anticipate that on 13 May, we fly from Cincy to our staging, which we've heard a rumor might be in Miami. We spend two days there doing paperwork, getting shots, meeting everyone, and then fly to Panama City on the 15th, and the full adventure begins!

Welcome!

Wow! Things sure do go fast sometimes! We started to send out information about this blog to yesterday and have already had more than 50 requests to join it. Thank you all for joining us on our journey. I/we are new to this blogging buisness, so please be patient with us.

We intend to post to the blog as regularly as possible, and who knows what that will mean after May 14th! My personal goal is that Kevin and I will post at least once a month. We will also encourage additions by friends and family who have head from us.

There are a couple of blog features that you might enjoy on the right hand side:
->Links to other related pages...go check out the live shots of the Panama Canal! (I fully intend to go through the canal at least once...we will have to post before we go so you can look for us!)
->A spot to sign up for alerts when the blog is updated. It checks once a day at 1am to see if the blog has a new post and will tell you about it.

I must say that after being careful for so long about who I talked to about Peace Corps...it is quite strange to have EVERYONE know! Welcome aboard!

The News is OUT!

Well, it's official. The news that I am leaving the Zoo for the Peace Corps is now completely public to all of our staff and volunteers. No more hiding anything from anyone! Yeah!

7 weeks and counting...

So, we have 7 weeks left.
5 weeks before we leave our home of 8 1/2 years.
3 weeks left of work.

Things are starting to look different around here. We are organizing things...paring down to what we keep and letting go of the clutter. It is both a slow and a fast process - I know that that doesn't make sense. But it feels like the days on the calendar stream past and yet the work to be done feels both slow and yet on target for where I want to be right now. I know that that will change as the deadline looms ever closer.

Some things about life feel the same, and some are rapidly changing. I handed over all of the things related to my leadership with Guiding Eyes for the Blind puppy raisers recently and last week was my last class teaching puppy classes. Our last pup, Viking, went to a new raiser and now the house is very quiet.

We also handed over all of the training materials for Maryland Search and Rescue. It feels strange to see emails going out with someone new running the discussion. At work also, things are starting to move on without me. This weekend there were several trainings at work that I would have normally lead or coordinated...and they went on without me. It is odd. On one hand it is good to see programs that I have given lots of time to in good hands. On the other hand it is odd to be so easily replaced.

Thanks to Mom and Dad Cropper for helping with the packing, 1/4 round trim and stripping the paint from the front door. We felt like we got a lot done this weekend!