One week = Hitu days

Look at me, Mom! I can french braid my hair all by myself! I will surely survive in the third world with this skill. But should it be called a freedom braid? Nah...that's silly.

We had part II of packing today. We began this morning and immediately had a disagreement about how it should work. Travis' mom and brother saw us argue for the first time (not the first time we argued...but the first time they saw it!) We were arguing about how to best approach the PCs limits on inches (h + w + l). If we measured our army duffels from the top to bottom, they would go over the limit, but they won't be filled all the way. Travis felt that if the bags weren't filled all the way, that the only part that would be measured was what had stuff in it. I felt that they would measure the entire bag, regardless of how full it was. Neither of us were budging. I finally said, "Fine, do it your way for your stuff and I'll use another bag. And if you get fined for being over the limit, use your money to pay for it....dang, your money is my money, too." Ah, marriage.

So then we decided we needed to take a break. We went to see War of the Worlds with Travis' brother and his girlfriend. It was actually a good movie. I like alien movies, not science fiction alien movies, but action alien movies, like this one and Independence Day. I hope that never happens to the Earth, but if it does I hope I'm somewhere like East Timor. Surely the aliens don't know about East Timor.

And then back to packing. We reached a compromise that we will use the army duffels after all. Then, we will use duct tape to tape down the extra part of the bag, so the bag will take the shape of the stuff in it. Doing this, we come out 4 inches below the limit. Amazing.

Also impressive is the fact that we are each 30 pounds below the 80 pound weight limit. I honestly don't know how someone could pack 80 pounds into bags that fit the dimensions that they require.

My sister and her fiance are coming tomorrow. Did I mention they're engaged!?! Woohoo!

We're about the eat lasagna...yum!

What do DMB and PC have in common?

Tonight we wined and dined. Eating Travis' dad's steaks is better than eating them at a restaurant! And we had wine from the Pope's vineyard, the Pope himself! We are almost into our last week. In just over a week, we will be stuffing our bags and saying our goodbyes and crying and crying and crying. It's so weird.

And I'm not sure if I'm ready for it, but is anyone ever ready to live a world away from their family? This Peace Corps dream of mine is finally becoming a reality. I'm going to dive in head first (but I think I'll hold my nose). It's pretty tough to think about missing all those family get togethers, birthdays, friends' weddings, graduations, new babies, etc. But it's gotta happen in order to fulfill this dream, so I will do it. I'm sure 2 years, 3 months will go by pretty fast, but when I get back, so much will have happened, and it's hard to accept that. But I must.

I'm glad I have Travis. I was planning to do the Peace Corps thing before we even got together. Now that I am with him, I cannot imagine doing it alone. He is my rock...and I know I will soak his shoulder in tears one week from tomorrow when we get on that plane.

And then, when we arrive in Los Angeles, we will meet all the other folks who are committing 2 years to this awesome mission. And they will all be feeling the same fear and excitement as we will surely be feeling that day. And it will be like I once studied at Centenary...

My senior project was about a theory called Empathic Solidarity, by David Heise. This theory basically states that when a group of people (and they could be total strangers) feel the same way about the same thing (the pivot), they form a bond. In my project I applied this theory to the fan club of the Dave Matthews Band. Dave Matthews Band fans would chat online about how they felt about the band and their music, and a friendship would be formed. This, in effect, would lead to a great trust between these fans leading them to open up their homes to each other, after only having chatted online! With the group of Peace Corps trainees gathering in LA next Thursday, I am willing to bet the theory will prove true once more. We all will be feeling very similar emotions about the same thing, the Peace Corps, and this will bring definitely bring us closer together. It's inevitable. We will make lifelong friendships because of this shared Peace Corps experience.

My thoughts are exhausted and my wine glass...empty.

Eight! (Ualu!)

Portrait of a Peace Corps Invitee, by Rebekah Leger

And then there were 8. Days, that is. We are now halfway through the packing trial, and we have great news! Each of our backpacks weighed approximately 30 pounds! The bad news is they still felt very heavy...boo hoo. Also, we have to measure the dimensions and height + length + width has to equal less than 107 inches (and that's for the two checked bags combined). Anyway, our backpacks come out to about 57 inches. So hopefully our duffles will not be jam packed and they will be 50 inches or less.

We're breaking for lunch and my dentist appointment. Then we'll pack our other bags with the non-clothing items, and if those bags are too heavy we'll mix clothes with non-clothes and see what works.

I'm so glad we're doing this a week ahead of time. I think it will make for less stress later on.

Sia (Nine)

Bekah, with her lips stained strawberry sno-cone red, is trying to tell you that we are leaving in nine days. Today we visited our old friend, Good Will, and dropped off some stuff. We got rid of my old computer and filled our safe deposit box with millions in diamonds and an original Picasso. Tomorrow, we test-pack!

Sanulu (Ten)

This is our bed today after Bekah, that hard, hard worker she is, unloaded all of the goodies we plan to bring. Well, this is not nearly all of it. But on this day, the ninth to last day here, we are done with buying things. One of the last things we have to do is pre-pack our stuff 1) to make sure we do not exceed the 80 lb. weight limit, 2) to make sure it all fits, and 3) because it's fun.

The M Bag up there Bekah got from the post office. We can use it to send books to ourselves, we think, at a lower price and slower speed. The host gifts are those Louisiana cooking mitts, soccer balls and pumps. Bekah picked up some coloring books, crayons and stickers for the kids. We also bought, on a whim, a large US wall map for a conversation piece.

Hello from the Big Easy

We are in New Orleans now. I know I know...travelling fools. This trip, we are visiting our friend C, who was in Peace Corps Ecuador (we have mentioned her before). We had a busy day. First we dropped Travis' brother off at the N.O. airport to catch a flight to Atlanta. Then we went to the mall where C is working and told her hello. Since she did not get off until 3, we caught a movie at the independent film theater here. We saw "Mad Hot Ballroom" and I recommend to anyone who has the privilege of seeing an indie film in their town. It was AWESOME! It is about children in NYC learning ballroom dancing and it tracks their progress over ten weeks from beginning to the final competition. It surely put a smile on our faces and makes us want to learn ballroom dancing. Really...they made it look so easy!!! So after the movie we caught up with C and walked to the French Market, where we bought two pairs of earrings for myself and also some gifts for our host families...or host moms, some over mitts for the kitchen. They have alligators on them and say "Louisiana". Fun. After this we came back to her apt. and rested for a while, but not long b/c we had to catch happy hour at Superior Grill...yum! We had a great meal and super margaritas and then walked to Creole Creamery for some ice cream. We passed by Whole Foods Market for a bottle of wine and now we're about to cork it. We have had a great night! New Orleans is beautiful and a pleasure to explore! Bonsoir!

Yummy in my Tummy

I am a food person. I like to cook, and I love to eat. I have all sorts of favorite foods for different moods. I get strong cravings and usually seek to curb them. Some of my favorites: pizza, ice cream, Starbucks coffee (decaf), Coke (also caffeine-free), Doritoes (I share this craving with Saddam Hussein, I understand), fried chicken...you get the picture. Most of the time, my cravings are not healthy.

Since we've been married, Travis and I have been eating very healthy, probably the healthiest I've eaten in my life. And I'm happy with that...very happy, because my waistline reflects the change. But, in the last few weeks and for the next 2 until we leave, I am feasting. And it's fun.

Whenever I want to eat something unhealthy, Travis urges me to ignore the cravings. Most of the time, I listen. But yesterday I informed him that I will not be listening to his rantings for these next 2 weeks. I love food, unhealthy food, so I will eat what I want (and what we can afford, of course) for the next 2 weeks.

Today I am eating Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers, and unless you're from South LA, you will have no idea what these are. They're great.

I'm sure I'll have Mr. Gatti's pizza at least twice in the next 2 weeks.

I'll be sure to stop by Mary Lee doughnuts in BR on the way to NO this weekend.

And I might just have to have a shrimp poboy at a local NO shop. With fries, no doubt.

All this food talk sparked some creativity. I wrote a song...sing it to the tune of the "12 Days of Christmas." I call it "12 Days til East Timor."

Twelve Caffeine Free Cokes, Eleven Lemon Freezies, Ten Frappucinos, Nine chocolate bars, Eight french fries, Seven pints of ice cream, Six Doughnuts, Five....chicken....fingers, Four hamburgers, Three glasses of wine, Two cold beers, and a PIZZA for every day!

I love to eat!

More mail tips...

Snail mail does take about 4-6 weeks to get to East Timor, so if you mailed a letter now, it would probably arrive 2-4 weeks after we got there. Hint hint...

How to send us mail

If you readers want to send us anything - letters or care packages filled with lots of goodies - here is the address:

Travis and Rebekah Leger, PCVs

Corpo da Paz

Caixa Postal 310

Dili, East Timor

via Darwin, Australia

This is the address of the Peace Corps office in the capital. We will let y'all know if we get a different address, but this one above should always work. Even a little letter would be much appreciated. We hear volunteers can get really homesick.

Not that you would, but the Peace Corps recommends that you do not send expensive things because they may not make it due to theft, plus, there are heavy custom taxes. Also, PC suggests you send packages in padded envelopes, as boxes tend to be taxed and opened more frequently.

The Louisiana we will miss

I've been thinking about the things I will miss. I remember that while I was in Denmark for a semester one of the things I missed was something I never would have predicted - thunder. It rained there, but I can only remember hearing thunder once.

So, I know I won't think of everything I'll miss, but here are a few.

This little guy, and many others, live in the ditches on our street.


Squirrels live in the trees around here. We love to watch them.


This is the Mighty Mississippi River, the longest in the states. Isn't it pretty?


This is the 1-10 bridge that crosses the Mississippi. I see it first!


I don't know for sure, actually, but I recently read the bridge that crosses the Atchafalaya River Basin, above, is the longest in the world.


Bekah's favorite eating spot is Jason's Deli, though Mr. Gatti's, a local pizza place, may also share the title. We don't have a Jason's Deli in our hometown, so we have to find them when we travel.

Below, I'm eating our favorite, a Ranchero Wrap.

Coffee Call is another of Bekah's favs. This is in Baton Rouge. They sell not only coffee but beautiful beignets, like the one's below.

And we're back...

Well, we have returned from Oklahoma. What a great week. For those who don't know, the Davis/Snider families have been camping at Lake Tenkiller in OK for 45 years now. I myself have been there every summer of my life except for a few in the late 90's. This was Travis' second year to come and his family came for a few days, too. We had a great time. Some highlights of the week include: Travis learned to pull up on slalom. He had been dropping a ski since last year but after lots and lots of work he got the deep water start. My little brother pulled up on one as well. Travis also wakeboarded for the first time. Travis' little brother learned to ski for the first time. I slalomed and wakeboarded and doubled with Travis and quadrupled with Travis, my brother, and my sister-in-law. What fun it was! We all were so tired by the end of the week...from skiing and also because the weather kept us up some nights. It was a pretty stormy week at the Lake, but luckily the storms were mostly at night, and not during the day as to ruin our skiing weather.

So I guess we kinda got a taste of the quiet life. No TV, no cell phone, no Internet. We even used our headlights at night to help light our path and the Mexican Train dominoes that we were playing. Those lights are very helpful.

Best of all was the family time. Without all the distractions, you really get to spend quality time with family. We had so much fun goofing off, skiing, and playing games. I did have to say goodbye to some people...my grandfather and step-grandmother, my brother and sister-in-law, and my dad. I'm lucky that my two sisters, my other brother, my mom and my niece will be coming down to Lake Charles to see us off when we leave.

Some things we know will be difficult when we get to East Timor. It will be hard not to have water at the ready. I wear a mouthguard at night, and have to soak it in warm water every day. I didn't wear it all at the Lake, b/c I would have had to heat water on the stove. I know I will have to keep up with that in East Timor, because I have to wear it and clean it everyday.

On our way home from OK, we stopped in Shreveport for a friend's wedding. We got to see a lot of people we went to college with, and that was great. Everyone seems to be doing well. It's so interesting to see what paths people's lives take.

We will continue to post in these last days.

Happy Father's Day to our dads!!

OOOOOOOOOO-klahoma!

We are just about to head out of the house for the beautiful Lake Tenkiller in NE Oklahoma. It's a Snider family tradition.

We have had a busy couple of days, getting things prepared for the big trip, the Peace Corps trip that is. When we get back, we'll only have 2 1/2 more weeks of the US. Crazy.

Last night we had a kickin' crawfish etouffee, made by Travis' dad. I did take a picture, to follow the pattern of what we've been doing on the site, but I have not the time to post it this morning.

For now, adios.

Here's the etoufee. Delish.

Travelling Fools

So we just got back from Houston. We drove there Monday night, brought Trav's brother to the airport for a 6 am flight, went to sleep, hung out in Houston all day, went to sleep, woke up at 12:45 am today to pick up his bro at the airport at 1:35 am, went to sleep, drove back to Lake Charles. We hit three different bouts of construction traffic on the way back and a 2.5 hour trip took us 4.5. Horrendous.

While in Houston we were able to do some shopping. We visited REI again, which is the most super outdoors store. We got a knife sharpener, another flashlight/lantern, sunglasses and a sneaky money pouch for hiding valuable things around my waist under my pants. We had Thai food for lunch, which is nice b/c Lake Charles does not have any Thai restaurants. We also visited a store called Kohl's (we don't have one of those either) which is a department store basically and there I used a gift card I've had since November to buy an outfit for the swearing-in ceremony. It was only $8!

We also sold some of Travis' CDs for a whopping $60 credit at Wherehouse music and acquired the new Coldplay album, among others. And, coincidentally, Coldplay is coming on VH1 Storytellers right now so I am signing off to go watch. Bon soir.

I found this in my beer.

What a tiny turtle!

Beignets, the photo.

As promised...

Beignets!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello from the Red Stick, Baton Rouge, LA, my beloved hometown. We drove here early this morning in able to get here for breakfast. Another Louisiana favorite...we had beignets at Coffee Call. This is a sister restaurant to Cafe du Monde in the French Quarter, and some of you may have been there. It's a bit more famous. The beignets were delicious!!!!!! Oh boy, were they good. I grew up eating them, so they're always a welcomed sight in my belly. And of course, we have pictures to share, but it will be tomorrow before we can post them.

Gotta go to Malibu!

Malibu Creek State Park, that is! This is where the outdoor scenes were filmed for M*A*S*H. I definitely want to camp there someday! Maybe the Big Fun Club (sorry, inside joke for my siblings) could gather there one day and do a M*A*S*H episode like we did The Princess Bride! I get to be Hot Lips!

The East Timor blog-card

This is the card we've been passing to friends and relatives to inform them of our award-winning blog.

Seven more days...

...of work! How exciting. How scary! One 35 more days until we leave, and we are beginning to get busy with preparations. I think it's slowly hitting me now that this is a BIG deal! Two years out of the country and we have so much to get ready! The Peace Corps checklist is helpful, and we have done most of it (except Power of Attorney, which is Travis' duty, ahem). We should receive our Staging Packet anyday now. Staging is our US orientation to Peace Corps. We will have our Staging Event in Los Angeles from July 7-9, and there we will meet all of our fellow PCTs (Peace Corps Trainees). In our Staging Packet there should be forms to fill out and instructions for last minute preparations.

Well the PCB is no more. For those of you have been reading, you know that means Peace Corps Beard. Travis has shaved his face. I liked the beard, but he is tres handsome without it!

Blogs are really great. I hope we are able to keep this one up while we're gone. I found the blog of another PCV who is actually a BR native and a graduate of St. Aloysius. She is serving in Senegal and her blog is here. It's a small world.

Technical difficulties...trouble with hyperlink...my post disappeared!

I'm trying this again. A friend from Centenary is in Iraq, working at a M*A*S*H-like unit as a Navy corpsman. He has a blog as well.

Anyway, we purchased the 8th season of M*A*S*H and will try to cram all of the episodes in before we leave!