Friday, August 23, 2013

Packing. 23 days away

Make sure to bring running shoes to climb Pedra da Gavea
Located in Barra de Tijuca

When I decided to move to Brazil I didn't realize what a monumental task it would be to condense my life into two 70 pounds suitcases. In addition to that, I had to move ALL of my stuff from Virginia (VA) to Pennsylvania (PA) unpack it, live for a month, repack it, then i'll have to take it back down to Virginia to live for a week, repack it again, and catch my flight to Brazil. I'm flying out of VA because flights turned out to be a lot cheaper from there, although I have not confirmed exactly where I'll be staying or who will be taking me to the airport yet.



Overall, the whole packing experience has been more painful than training. Luckily, I have some idea what to expect from the Connection Rio Blogs and from previously living in the Dominican Republic, but this time I'll be traveling for an undetermined amount of time.

 So far I've got:

  • Several long sleeve shirts
  • a bunch of tank tops and t-shirts 
  • Jeans and a few pairs of shorts
  • BATHINGSUITS (I keep forgetting I'll be at the beach)
  • a Ridiculous amount of work out clothes
  • Medical tape and prewrap for training
  • 6 months of contacts, and two pairs of glasses
I still have to go to the store and buy:
  • Peanut butter (expensive in South America)
  • Toiletries (tooth paste, razors, face wash, hair stuff, etc)
  • Feminine products (hard to find all the same brands in South America)
  • Protein powder and vitamins
  • Headphones (to block out the other people in the room in necessary)
  • Bugspray and sunscreen
I also want to get Brazilian money so that I have money to pay the taxi and other random fees that ALWAYS pop up at the airport. Since I speak Spanish I've managed to weasel my way out of random visa fees in Dominican Republic and Costa Rica, but I'm not going to push my luck with my broken Portuguese. 


Shoes have been another hard part. I'm a tomboy at heart so you would never think that I would have so many shoes, or be so sentimental attached to the ones that I do but I proved myself wrong as a loaded box after box of shoes into my Uhaul truck. I've broken it down into 
  • Running shoes (possibly two pairs sense I've had a pair destroyed by mud on a mountain before)
  • Two pairs of normal shoes
  • 2 pairs of sandals (nice)
  • Two pairs of flip flops (for wearing the the gym, the beach, and in the shower)
  • a pair of high heels
The goal is to have one of my two suitcases packed by next week because I have to go down to Virginia to teach some private kickboxing lessons (I'm using the money to pay for my private Jiu Jitsu lessons). This way I won't have to lug two heavy suitcases on the bus and the metro when I make my final trip to Brazil Via VA. 

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