Two years and some change is a long time. I thought that in preparation for my departure to Bulgaria I would be worried about my mental health. I thought I would be stressed out by all the things I have to do, like quitting my job, selling my car, or pawning off my furniture. I was mistaken. The hardest part of all this is not getting rid of my material possesions, but figuring out which of them to take with me! There is no "official" list of items because every country is different in climate and culture, and worse, there is not even any comfirmed advise from people IN Bulgaria becasue the appropriate attire depends on where in Bulgaria I end up being placed. It is cold cold cold and hot hot hot depending on the time of year and the person you talk to. So I am at a loss. The bag size limits are a constraint too becasue I was raised with the notion of, "if you can carry it, take it. You can never have too many options." However, once restriction are bearing down on me I want to just throw up my hands and give up on any sort of fashion ideas. To top it all off I have been working for over a year now, at the corporate headquarters for a large national retailer. I have been to countless "trend" meetings and style shows, have launched new "must-have" clothing lines, and monitored the daily clothing habits of the rich and famous to see if we have gotten any good PR. This is the kind of place where people look at what you wear everyday to see what sort of "look" you are going for. I am so ultimatly glad to get away from all the superficiality, but some of it lingers in me as a pick through the pile of clothes on my closet floor. Some little demented fashion diva in the back of my head keeps wispering "if you pack it...it can be worn..." You know, in the retail world the seasons are very important and packing for all four, or rather 8, if you combine two years, is very hard. To make it worse, the steriotype of a Peace Corps volunteer is one of a worldly open individual who does not care about looks and fashion (and i would love to fit that) so i feel even worse as i wonder if I should buy 4 shades of powder just in case I get tan in the summer. I think I may throw in the towel and just sling a pair of snow boots over one shoulder and a bathing suit over the other and hope for the best.