I’m Leaving on a Jet Plane

As some of you may know, I’m preparing for a trip to Ukraine. I know some of my friends and family will want to keep up with me while I’m overseas, so instead of trying to keep everyone informed individually, I’m going to try a blog.

I get asked a lot about my reasons for going. Missions? Work? School? At first I didn’t know what to tell people. Apparently, “just because” is not a valid answer. I ask you, can a girl not up and go overseas just for the heck of it? But I actually do have reasons, and it’s not as random as you may think, even though it seems sudden.

It started back in August when I decided to finish learning Russian, not really realizing at the time just how big a language really is. Now I think maybe you never really “finish” a language. I just thought I would finish what I started. But it began a chain of events. The next big thing happened in January when I got in touch with some of my old friends from my previous trips. That was when I decided to go back. I’ve been to Ukraine before, but the last time was seven years ago, and I had lost touch with a lot of people.

I bought my tickets last week. I feel like such a big girl! And then I panicked a little bit. “Ack, I’m actually going!” I don’t think I really believed it until then. You know how it is. You make plans, you talk about doing stuff, but you never really get around to it.

3 months to go and I have passport, tickets, living arrangements, luggage, and plug converters. So far, so good!