I am the master of packing!

I do not mind in the least taking a brief moment of pause to congratulate myself.

(Pause)

(pat on the back).

Ok. Good.

My activities over the past four days:
(1) choose clothes and toiletries for Morocco
(2) try to get them into large backpack, only to realize that, at this point, only the clothes will fit.
(3) cutting clothing in half
(4) repacking. Everything still doesn't fit.
(5) consulting fellow Morocco students and alums and deciding to discard large shampoo and large conditioner, large soap, large toothpaste, and hair dryer.
(6) packing travel and trial sizes of everything.
(7) I'm closer!
(8) discard two more shirts, one pair of pants, 3 pairs of socks. pack everything down really really small.
(9) Get everything in backpack, and move on to carry-on.
(10) What? My entire library doesn't fit into my carry-on?
(11) remove books. squeeze my personal pharmacy and gifts for host family into carry-on.
(12) realize I need to purchase eye drops, bug repellent, laxatives (yippee!), laundry detergent, and floss. How will I ever get those into my bags?
(13) Go shopping, return, and spend half an hour squeezing more air out of bags and rearranging medicines.
(14) Catalog the locations of everything. (My inventory list is quite impressive).
(15) Marvel at my grand feat.
(16) Put backpack on, proudly walk downstairs to my mother's bathroom scale, where I realize that my weight + bag's weight = 160 lbs. The weight limit for luggage is 25 lbs. We're in business!

Sometime soon I may post my inventory and a picture of the products of my packing mastery. I am a chronic over-packer, but somehow I was able to fit supplies for nearly 3 months into one large frame backpack and one carry-on.

I took more luggage to the beach. This is incredible.

I now stare at my large backpack with pride. I'm already dreaming of European backpacking expeditions. I've gotta get some mileage out of that thing.

In a dream...

"In a dream, a devout disciple of the master was permitted to approach the Temple in Paradise where all the great old sages who had studied the Talmud all their lives were now spending eternity. He gazed in at them, and to his amazement, they were all sitting around tables, just as they had done on earth, studying the Talmud still! The disciple watched them passionately exclaiming and arguing and reverently fingering the text. He wondered, 'Is this really Paradise? It seems like the earth.'
...But then his thoughts were interrupted by warm laughter. 'You are mistaken. This is not Paradise. The sages are not in Paradise. Paradise is in the sages.'"

Twelve days until I leave the country

My stomach ties up in knots every time I realize I have less than two weeks left in Kentucky. I am generally organized to go.... I have only a large frame backpack in which to take my belongings, so I can't plan on taking much of anything, really. While I'm thinking of it, I'm going to write my packing list. Sorry if this bores you. This is my blog. Deal with it.

-three pairs of pants (two jeans, one black yoga pant)
-long shorts
-four t-shirts
-two long sleeve shirts
-two camisoles (white and brown)
-two skirts
-socks
-underwear
-raincoat
-sweatshirt
-one or two "tablecloths" (the large pieces of fabric that I wrap and tie around myself, and call a dress)
-sweater
-(to dress up?-- brown skirt, burnt orange sweater)
-flip flops
-two pair tennis shoes
-one towel, one wash cloth
-swimsuit


That's all I can think of now. more will come later.