bye, bye, miss american pie

So I'm a mere two days away from leaving for Chicago and the beginning of orientation. That puts me ten days away from the Philippines.

In preparation, and quite accidentally, I have gotten a nice fill of what I believe is somewhat "American culture". And here's how...

Last week I took a lovely trip to go visit my friend Liz and her family and we went to Cedar Point in Sandusky, OH where her mother's family has a long history of attendance. Let me say first of all that it completely rekindled a long lost love of roller coasters I will not soon forget and should you ever find the opportunity to go, I would highly recommend doing so.

I'm not sure if amusement parks are "American". I'm not sure where the concept was born (I suppose I could make a guess, but I won't). However, going to a place that serves your traditional fair ground foods like cotton candy, funnel cakes, and amazing lemonade seems American enough for me. Regardless, the "festivities" put on at night are quite patriotic.

Now, I'm not a very patriotic person. Not that I don't feel somewhat thankful to be living in a "developed nation" where I am given lots of freedoms and choices that are non-existent elsewhere, but I am not a flag-waving, red white and blue, yankee-doodle gal. The show that Cedar Point puts on every night, however, is quite patriotic. You get to hear the wonderful "Proud to be an American" and join your fellow park goers in a rousing chorus of "God Bless America". Plus there are tons of "fireworks" (I say that because they're a little dinky) and lots of stars and stripes. Normally not my scene (except that I LOVE fireworks). However, I must be honest that there was a weird feeling that came over me during all of this. I think its the idea that it is specifically our culture. It's familiar. The thought of leaving a country where everything specific to it you are accustomed makes hearing things like "God Bless America" have a certain importance. And it did cause me to sing a little of "Proud to be an American"...well that and spiting those next to me. I think I will return to this thought again sometime.

Along with this "America" theme, I have to mention that I have had a strong desire for southern cooking lately. I had an amazing barbecue dinner a few days ago and am drinking all the sweet tea I can get my hands on. I apologize.

As far as preparation beyond that (and more importantly), I think I have just about everything that I need. I am amazingly tired right now, and am fully aware that tomorrow is going to be one of the longest days in quite some time, and yet I can't pull myself away from the computer and make myself go to sleep. My mind is racing. The odd thing is that it is not concentrated on specific thoughts about the Philippines or my trip. It's merely wandering around life and memories and family and friends. That's what I've really been thinking a lot about lately.

Most of my trepidation has been swayed by two amazing conversations in the past week with previous Philippines YAVs: Sarah Tuttle and Jean Brown. They are both two amazing people and make me feel like I am a bruise on the apple that is the Philippine YAV program (I'm kidding of course). I hope that I can live up to the two of them and that my experience can be at least half as amazing and rewarding as theirs were. I am grateful to the both of them for not only quelling my fears, but making me increasingly excited about leaving.

I'm having a mixture of extreme fear and extreme excitement, but I'm beginning to get closer to being calm about it all. I just want to let it happen now and come at me as it will.

I think I'm almost ready.

I hope to make at least one more entry before I leave and hopefully one from Chicago about orientation. After that we'll see. That's all I'm promising for now.

Peace, I hope