Remember that I love you, Fendi!

Today is the last day that I saw my daughter until either I return to USA from Africa or she comes to visit me overseas.

I left a very special gift for her to find when she returns home from work this early evening. I enjoy giving her surprises. When she was a child, I would leave a different Beanie Baby on her side table for her to discover, put little love notes and goodies in her lunch bag, put out birthday gifts the night before and decorate her room with surprising fun things. Sometimes they are random gifts for random occasions or no occasions. Then there are the Valentine, Easter, and Halloween goodies to bestow on her too.

On her bed lies a gift bag which contains a small box wrapped with a big bow. When she unties the ribbon, she will find a small bracelet with the word "love" in crystals. My wish is that she will wear this daily on her wrist and always remember that her mommy loves her everyday and always regardless of which body of ocean separates us...for distance can never separate love, especially unconditional love between a parent and child.

She still has issues of me leaving. It's not the Peace Corps itself she disapproves, but that I am leaving outside her comfort zone. Emotionally, she feels abandonment.

The gift is not an attempt to buy her off as she is never persuaded by materialism and is way too intelligent to be manipulated. This is a tangible token of my love; a physical symbol that can remind her that I am not abandoning her because my love is always with her.

Don't sweat Swahili

I only have the best of intentions; however, life's more pressing issues distract even the most studious learner.

There are two schools of thought on studying the foreign language of your host country on your own a bit prior to arrival. Some say it's a good idea and some say don't waste precious time.

The latter thinking makes sense as what little valuable time we have left, it should ideally be spent with family and friends. Enjoying quality time trumps learning all the 9 different classes of noun and memorizing all its prefixes, infixes, agreement rules and whatever other grammatical structure that this language from its Bantu root will drive you crazy.

Although personal safety in a different culture is relied heavily on language integration, it would behoove volunteers to get a head start even though Peace Corp's language training is hardcore and top notch. Supposedly, it's world class language training. Being a polygot, this was definitely an extra advantage of wanting to be involved with the Peace Corps. Foreign language to me is not dull laborious work; it's sexy and exciting!

If I feel like it, I'll peruse a borrowed book from the library, if not ...as they say in Swahili: hakuna matata! Or as Pumba taught Simba in The Lion King, don't worry!

Last dinner with daughter

Whether by coincidence or design, appropriately enough, my last evening spent with my daughter was dining in an Ethiopian restaurant. This was her idea and I gladly agreed as an African dinner is a a smashing good farewell send off to me from her in that she will remember where I'll be. I have invited her numerous times to visit me in Tanzania; but as usual, she does not indicate an emotion swaying either way. I hope she comes to see me and to discover a new world different from hers.

Same day last year on 9/11

Exactly a year ago, I thought how symbolically meaningful and especially memorable had my recruiter announced of my Peace Corps nomination. It was the month of September that the first opening of a general job assignment took place during my application process.

I was not nominated until the third job opening in the month of March the following year, 2012. The second time I learned I didn't receive a nomination was whilst abroad traveling in Nepal, I seem to recall.

Those waiting period for a nomination allowed me to surrender to the fate that shall be decided for me. I would have gladly accepted and not be disappointed or bitter should I didn't make the competitive cut. If I didn't join the Peace Corps now, I would return to India to continue an incomplete and unfinished journey.

India is not going anywhere. However, my interest, motivation, and physical stamina to live and work under harsh condition may wean or all together disappear when I am older to reapply for the Peace Corps. It is meant for me now to take this path. I am ready while I still am still physically, mentally, and emotionally willing.

3 weeks and 3 days till...

I'm lying on my daughter's mattress on the floor of her new apartment in Boston. We still need to buy basic furniture, ie. desk, bed, drawer, coffee table and a television. As I think what are her "necessities"; suddenly, I think about my own "necessities" in my currently unknown housing in Tanzania.

People adapt to what they have and do not have. You become accustomed to driving a Mercedes-Benz, riding a bike, or traveling by foot. One can have the luxury of eating three different variety of all-you-can-eat cuisine or one main meal consisting of a heavy carb-filled plate of grains. It's all the same in terms of survival and living. You get used to a certain kind of living condition and lifestyle. As long as the basic needs are met, the rest is extra credit.

I'm feeling that once I return home to California, with only 2 weeks and 3 days left until I depart for Peace Corps, it will emotionally feel like 2 days and 3 hours as I still have not entirely completed my "to do list" and towards the end the social obligation one should oblige. There are also some very, very long phone calls I've owed people that I still have not returned.

When I leave my house on September 30, I know I will wonder if I have missed doing something or forgotten bringing something. It's an unsettling feeling surrounded by angst and stress.

I have 3 weeks and 3 days to avoid and prevent this.

I say "hasta la vista" this month to my family and friends

Today is officially September 1, 2012. I leave the last day of this month.

Time passes extremely fast and I feel neutral. I am at this moment neither excited nor unexcited.

This is my modus operandi: I will start "feeling" whatever one is suppose to feel the moment my feet touches foreign soil. This means that anything leading up to it: the drive to the airport, boarding the plane, and even meeting fellow Peace Corps volunteer on American territory will still feel familiar. Surely, I will start to get the vibe of the Peace Corps experience in anticipation of what is to come but I am not there yet...

My heart will start to sing and perhaps flutter when, we, the Peace Corps volunteers start to one by one leave the aircraft arriving at the Mwalimu J.K. Nyerere International Airport queuing in line to give the Tanzanian immigration officer our Peace Corps passport. He looks at us exhausted as we will be arriving late and he makes a loud thump sound as he stamps our entry and then we will leave the airport building with our 100 pound baggages where we packed our life.

... I will then take my first sniff of Tanzanian air. Now, I will have become excited...and hope I didn't forget to bring something....

Read till you drop 'cause you've got 27 months, girl!

This Labor Day weekend is laborious for me in that I have been uploading, downloading and whatever and however it takes to get 2 years and 3 months worth of reading material on my new toy, the Kindle Touch.

One lady I met who served Tanzania many years back read over 200 books during her service. I suppose when there is no electricity and the village sleeps once the sun sets, reading is a feasible activity as long as you have a tiny teeny headlamp worn on your head.

I love the compact, convenience, portability, and whatever other bells and whistles it come with... but honestly, nothing beats like holding a weight of a worn out book in one's grubby hands where you can earmark a page, write notes on it, or draw mustache and devil horn on a face of a book cover!

These new eBook reader are quite a brilliant invention as everything you want to read, your entire life's worth of library, can all be had and carried in your pant pocket anywhere in the world! Being the gear and gadget aficionado I can be, my Ipad also has ibooks in which it's somewhat debatable as to which is a nicer format to read: the Ipad or the Kindle. More choices are more confusing. On second thought, I'll just go get my old book now....