The End of the End in Philly...

QUOTE OF THE DAY:  "I just got robbed by a sweet old lady on a motorised cart!"

- Jim Carrey in "Dumb and Dumber"

Well well well...I will leave this one short and sweet once again as I am sitting in the hotel lobby in Philly waitin' to hop on a bus to the airport to head out officially!  I will summarise the past few days for you all:

- Leave PDX and while on plane by chance hear 2 others talking about Peace Corps.  I proceed to pass a note to them like I am in 3rd grade (fortunately Mr. Webber didn't catch us this time) and introduce myself to them.  Layover Phoenix and arrive in Philly.  After catching a taxi and proceeding to the hotel, I get ahold of a few other volunteers I had been in touch with and meet them at this little Irish Pub near the hotel.  After crash-course introductions and a good night's sleep it's time for registration the next day.  Now all the other volunteers have arrived and we sat and enjoyed some pleasant sessions on logistics and such on going to Uganda and joining the Peace Corps.  After some Indian food dinner and a 20 degree trip to the Rocky steps at midnight it's time to sleep and wake up for our last full day in the good ol' U S of A.  This day is a lovely day with more sessions and sad goodbyes to the staff that has helped us over the past few days.  Last night in Philly was filled with a plethora of appetisers, a few drinks, about 20 volunteers and a lot of open-mic bands.  Closing of bar, they let me play a few tunes on the piano as a going away present for me as I fear I will not be able to play for 27 months!  Sleep...wake...eat dry toast...pack...and now I am going to make one last run to the loo and we are off on the bus to the airport!  Now remember I will not have an opportunity to write for a good week or two, so please be patient and realise that no news is good news!

This has by all means been an incredible experience thus far and we are not even in Uganda yet!  It is incredible how face friendships can be made in the matter of a few days when put in to a foreign situation.  It's amazing that I know that I already have dozens of people looking after me and caring about me.  I miss you all, and I wish you all the best these next couple of years!  By all means keep in touch and I look forward to all of you visiting.......

T-Minus 3 days...

**QUOTE OF THE DAY**-- 

Alfalfa- "Why am I soaking wet?"

Porky- "Don't worry, Alfalfa.  I used to have the same problem."

After a 9am wake-up, a shower, an egg-turkey-cheese-salad-tomato sandwich and 6 cups of coffee I have begun to tackle that endless search for the best way to pack for 27 months...Although all that is necessary for survival is available in Uganda, there are many little comforts such as the boxers with pumpkin pie logos or my 50% off clearance after-shave from Fred Meyers that I do not dare forget. Yes yes I know I could go without these items, but lets face it, if I have the room to pack them, and my bags are underweight, why not bring a little bit of home with me.  The hardest part of packing for this journey is the organising of all my possessions.  Imagine packing a little of everything you have experienced in your life in to two bags (plus a carry-on) and how do you organise that?  ZIP-LOC BAGS!!!!!  Anyways after half a dozen trips to REI and a couple of trips to Powell's Book Store, I feel as though most of my shopping needs have been met.  Once I have gotten through one solid run of packing I will post a packing list.

It's surreal to imagine that in a matter of a week I will be off US soil and commencing a journey that for the majority is only seen through photographs.  Any and every emotion imaginable has passed through my head not once, or twice, but constantly throughout each and everyday.  Sometimes I find myself just sitting in a daze with hardly a 'single" thought going through my head, disallowing me to really grasp the short amount of time I will be living this current life.  Believe me I am excited though, the constant stream of thoughts is not of fright or uneasy bowels, but instead of anticipation of a whole new world, a new fantastic point of view.  No one to tell us no, or where to go, or say we're only dreaming...Oops, that is from Aladdin...But either way I hope that as I write to you all I can somehow let you all live vicariously through me via my words...

Well I gotta get back to packing, watching Little Rascals and drinking too much coffee.  But I will post on here a couple more times before I embark over the frigid Atlantic to the planet Africa...That's right, it's another planet, I bet you guys never knew that.  They actually found out that Pluto was right below Australia, and not light-years away in space, that is why it is not a planet anymore.  Wow I am..nevermind.  Bye for now!

OH...And the picture attached to this is the living room in my parents house as I attempt to gather all my belongings...

The FIRST Email--Finally Figuring this Blog Thing Out...

((((REMINDER::This was written approximately one week ago??))))

Hello All!!  Well it appears that going with my new hotmail account (daniel.koza@hotmail.com) will be too much of a burden...SO I will be utilising good ol' gmail for all my emailing needs!  Sorry to be throwing you all through these burning loops of fire, but unless some horrendous act comes in to play where my hands are taken from me and I can no longer type and no longer write emails then I will expect...that is right...EXPECT to keep close tabs on all of you via (kozadaniel@gmail.com)........Also I found that many of you did not get the first email I sent, therefore I will be copy/paste that whole little thing in to the body of this message.  If you have read it then read no further than this paragraph, but if you did not receive the previous email then be sure to read, because there will be a quiz on it when I get back in 27 months, so without further ado, here we go:

CHANGES TO PREVIOUS EMAIL:::::

I had said that the PO Box would be good for the first 10 months...what I meant was the FIRST 10 WEEKS....

Also if a package/letter (or anything for that matter) is sent, make sure to write things like "Par Avion" or "Air Mail" on it...Also if something bulikier sometimes writing "Educational Materials" on it helps..

Cheers,

Daniel Koza

Well the time has come for me to write this wee message to you all.  In just under two weeks (February 9th, 2008 at 8.30am to be exact), I will be sitting at Portland International Airport with a large pack on my back, a bag in hand and another duffel collectively filled with choice items for my life over approximately the next 27 months.  Why will I be doing this you might ask?  Well I have decided to join the Peace Corps and will be beginning my journey to the African nation of Uganda.  Some of you have known for months of my pondering over this opportunity whereas other of you will likely be shocked (and hopefully not appalled) over this decision.  Although I am excited as a Honey-Baked ham on Presidents Day, this decision has been no walk in the park.  For the past couple of months my mind has gone back and forth like two little kids on a teeter-totter, but I have gotten to the point where the fat kid (hello Peace Corps) is kicking the little kid's (basking in the comforts of home) butt and keepin' him floatin' up high in the sky.  I am ready I tell you..mentally at least...but oddly the stress and nervousness have not caught up to me yet.  But enough of this gibberish, I should tell y'all what I will be doing!

On 02/09/2008 I will be stepping on to a plane to fly out to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  I will spend a couple of days with approximately 56 other potential volunteers and on 02/12/2008 we will all fly out and after a quick layover in Brussels will disembark to the soil of Uganda.  Our first 10 weeks in Uganda will be spent living with a host family and attending sessions and on-sites along with the other future Peace Corps Volunteers (PCV), and assuming that my language and culture training go along smoothly, I will be officially sworn in as a PCV and will be sent to my assignment.  More than likely at this point I will be living on my own and will spend the majority of my days traveling by bike to different school districts..OH, so my official title at this point will be "Primary School Teacher Trainer."  Essentially I will help current instructors in multiple school districts in improving their teaching ability.  Aside from this primary project, more than likely I will be involved in a number of other side projects which I will not know until I have arrived.

AGONY---This is what I feel at the moment, because moments ago I accidentally deleted my entire email list...Therefore I had to re-type all the emails back in, which took me nearly another hour...SO then I am going to copy and paste a pre-typed email from Microsoft Word, and I accidentally deleted half of this email.  So for all you people that this is likely good news, because it is less junk for you to read, but for me it is pure agony.  But nonetheless I will leave this email with all of my contact info.

Cheers,

Daniel Koza

MAILING ADDRESS:

Daniel Koza, PCT

United States Peace Corps

P.O. Box 29348

Kampala, Uganda

NOTICE:::  This is my postal address for only about the first 10 weeks, and then after that I will have a new address which I will post to you all.  Also if anything is sent to me only send things in envelopes (small little white ones or the big padded ones ) as large box type packages tend to get lost/stolen.

I will be setarting a blog as well at http://danielkoza.blogspot.com but the site is in its most premature stages as my technologically challenged self could not figure out how to make things work on the blog...But feel free to check it out.  I will be posting this email on there soon.