I am 28. White. A Female. And a former Peace Corps Volunteer. I am HIV Positive. This is my story of how a few months, a few people, and a few events in Zambia changed me and my life forever. This is the story of how I contracted HIV and brought my Peace Corps Journey to a crashing halt... and how I am working now to pick up and put back together the pieces of my life as a newly diagnosed person living with HIV. This was not the journey I had originally planned... my path has traumatically and dramatically changed... but it is the one I am on now. There is no going back. There is only forward. I welcome you to follow along with me as I attempt to explore this new life ahead of me, whether you are someone from the Peace Corps community, or someone living with HIV. I welcome your comments, questions, suggestions, and opinions. Let us go forward together. To start from the beginning, click here He Gave Me More Than A Bracelet.

Thursday, April 19, 2012

My Stuff Came Home

Sorry for my absence this past week. I spent a good amount of time... guess what? Unpacking my stuff from Zambia! Yes, that's right, after 6 months, my stuff finally came home! My Facebook friends were able to see this process as I uploaded mobile pics as I unwrapped, unpacked, and started organizing all my stuff. So, I'll give you all a glimpse of this process as well! Enjoy!

6 months later and it's here! Now to open and see what surprises it holds!
Plastic wrap off.... Hmmmm...I seemed to acquire an extra hiking backpack somehow... Thanks some PCV in Zambia!
Yay! 2 most wanted items right away! Computer and camera! Cross your fingers they work!
Look how nice and neat! Thanks Heather and Brittany!!!
Hahaha shoes, books, mail, and more!
Uh oh.... This one is not mine...
Whats better than lots of Kwacha? Lots of Kwacha and lots of Dollars! Omg!
Just a little termite dust.... No biggie...
Lol I don't know where to start.... Maybe the laundromat...
May still look like a mess to you, but I have successfully sorted through all bags and items now.... Now to figure out what to do with it all...
These are the empty bags in the bathtub. They are pretty nasty...gonna need a good washing
So, yeah, I spent the whole first day unpacking the bags and organizing things into piles. Everything was pretty dusty/dirty/muddy, so I gave the suitcases a good hosing off in the bathtub... then washed all the shoes in the bathtub... and all the clothes went straight into garbage bags for the laundromat. Spent the next day at the laundromat... and tada! I now have a whole new wardrobe!

Thanks so much to Heather and Bee for doing such a great job of packing up my stuff! Love you guys!

Here's a few highlights from the whole thing:

Good Surprises
- A working Computer and Camera!
- Getting everything I put on the packing list
- Extra $$$ I wasn't even expecting
- Citenges and Pictures from my friends :-)

Unfortunate Surprises
- An entire bag of stuff does not belong to me, but was mislabeled with my name & now another PCV is still waiting for her stuff :-(

Funny Moment
- One shirt had a baseball size hole chewed out of it (by my pet rats I assume lol)
Posted by at

1 comment:

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)