Thursday, October 16, 2008

One more day...

Just one more day before I'm off to Santa Ana, El Salvador to do a build for Habitat for Humanity. We'll be working on a community center in a Habitat neighborhood that currently has about 60 or so Habitat homes. Very exciting. We leave Minneapolis at 5:30 a.m. on Saturday morning (!!) and will be in El Salvador by noon. Needless to say, I'll be a little crabby; so I'll have to watch myself around the nice(r) Lutherans.

Getting prepared to leave at work has been nothing short of a nightmare. My employee C is still out recovering from surgery. I've been flying solo for the last 6 weeks and it is starting to take its toll. I talk to C a lot though, which is a great mental break. She suggested that I could get lucky in El Salvador if I pick up a tape worm. She said her mother knew a woman who's son got a tape worm and lost 60 lbs and didn't want to give it up because he could eat whatever he wanted. Sign me up! I doubt the story is completely true, but it is tempting. I told C that I would get down and drink from a puddle next to a dumpster just once to see what happens. Anyway, tomorrow at work I have a list of about 10 things to finish before the end of the day, then I can leave. It will be tough but I don't think I'll be staying too late.

Packing for this trip is particularly challenging. The gay gene for over-packing is very strong in me. So, it goes against the foundations of my genetic coding to see the provided packing list saying to only pack 2 pairs of shorts and 2-3 shirts and 3-4 underpants with a note in parenthesis that says "the hotel has a laundry service." Hmmmm. What if I get grease on my shirts and the hotel doesn't pre-treat?? That would be wrong. What if I poop my drawers (it could happen- think Montezuma and his penchant for revenge) and the hotel won't wash my poopy pants? Oh god. What ever am I to do? I think I need to sleep on this and try again tomorrow with a little bit clearer head.

2 comments:

janban said...

Have a great trip! When will you be returning?

brenda k said...

Some advice for packing. Pack your bag with the suggested clothing items then simply layer up yourself with the rest of what you would like to bring! Wear 3 or 4 underwear, half a dozen t-shirts and you could probably work out wearing at least 2 pairs of short, no? See, right there you have another weeks worth of clothes!

Have fun! Careful with that puddle drinking idea though - do you watch Survivor Man or Man vs Wild? I would process your own pee and drink it before puddle jumping!