Victory!

Woohoo!  That was a pain but it's done now.  My chest X ray came back negative for active TB so I now have 270 days of taking isoniazid...  I ended up having to get a more recent bitewing X ray from the dentist too, but the people at the UF dentistry school are awesome and when I went in they just did it for me under the counter, I was in and out with no fees!  

Bagels, Prodeals Dr.s Appoitments, and Tuberculosis

Bagels:
Over the course of the last month and half not too much has gone on.  I've been working at a convenience store on the University of Florida campus, which is where the bagels come in.  Overall it's a decent job!  It allows me to stay in Gainesville, spend money on things I'm justifying that I need for Kyrgyzstan and even save a little bit.  Essentially I brew coffee, wipe off counters, scoop cream cheese into little cups (the 2nd worst part of the job) and order bagels and other convenience store goods.  I technically am a supervisor also, but I only supervise myself...  By far the worst part of the job is having to be there at 7:30 am everyday which means leaving my apartment at 6:50 am every morning (the worst part of the job).  It stinks being surrounded by everyone else having fun at night but I'm always in bed by 10 pm at the latest!  I know it is more like the real world, but being half in the real world while still being surrounded by the college world is rough!  Overall it's a good job and it's giving me the luxury to afford things that I need and want.  I just finished reading a book titled Vagabonding:An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel.  While setting out for
 the Peace is not "Vagabonding" in its true sense I found a lot of the advice in the book to be very practical in setting out for the Peace Corps.  One section discusses working not in order to justify your travels but travel to justify your work.  So while I'm selling bagels at 8 am in the morning I just think of how all these early mornings have paid off with my time spent in Gainesville, with Allison and my friends, and how the early mornings will pay off with my future travels that the Peace Corps will allow me to take part in.

Prodeals:
I've always hated shopping unless it was for outdoorsy related things.  A lot of the big names in the outdoor industry offer prodeals (discounts for the 'Pros').  Fortunately as a Peace Corps volunteer I get the honor of being considered a Pro by many of these companies.  They tend to give about 40% off of suggested retail price!  While I haven't gone to crazy, I don't need that much stuff, I have been able to save some money on some new boots and dress shoes from Merrell, some shirts, shorts and pants from Columbia, and my biggest expense a GoPro.  I was able to save $120!!!  While I did not need this it is fun, and I know I will make great use of it overseas.  Along with spending my well earned money on things that I don't really need I've also been trying some new things at home just because I can!  I bought a flat of strawberries and made homemade Jam, it's delicious.  For valentines day instead of going out for some romantic dinner I bought the supplies and Allison and I made Sushi.  While it wasn't the best Sushi I've ever had it was a lot more fun than going out to eat!  At this point I've got most of everything that I'll be needing for Kyrgyzstan so I'm done spending money and starting to save for the future adventures.

SUSHI

Dr.s Appointments:
The Peace Corps medical process is a royal pain in the a**.  Fortunately I had an easy application process so I guess this is Karma catching back up with me.  So far I've been to three Dr.s offices, had blood work done twice, two tuberculosis (TB) tests, and an X-ray.  The good news is I'm healthy and everything is pretty much normal except for my positive TB tests... 

Tuberculosis:
No need to freak out I don't have active TB!!!  (I hope)  I had a positive ppd TB skin test so the Peace Corps nurse wanted me to get a second test that is more accurate, so I had to go get blood taken a second time for the quantiferon gold TB test.  No luck in getting a false positive on the ppd, the gold TB test was positive also.  I'm not coughing up blood or have any TB symptoms so chances are I don't have active TB.  I got a chest X-ray taken today so I'll found out for sure in the next day or so!  What this means is I more than likely have latent TB.  Essentially at some point in my life I was exposed to the  TB bacteria and it is inside of me.  I'm assuming my contact probably happened while I was studying abroad in Ethiopia, but there is no way to know for sure.  Normally nothing else would happen and you would continue living life normally since there is only a small chance of developing active TB.  However, not with the Peace Corps.  They require anyone with latent TB to receive treatment.  Treatment consists of either a 4 or 9 month long prescription of medication to be taken daily.  While this is not the end of the world it's a pain and delaying me from being medically cleared since I must prove to the Peace Corps that I have initiated treatment.  Hopefully this will have happened before the end of the week so I can check one more thing off the pre-departure list!

All in all I'm happy with the way everything has been going.  There are stressful days of dealing with Peace Corps paperwork, there are amazing days hanging out with friends and enjoying the nightlife of Gainesville, and bittersweet memories of Valentine's day an other memorable moments with Allison that I cherish, but know that all too soon those moments will turn into phone calls and emails.  Spring break is right around the corner and my whole family including my niece, my sister's BF and Allison are off to Colorado for a week of skiing in the Mountains!  I can't wait!

"That is the charm of a map.  It represents the other side of the horizon where everything is possible." -Rosita Forbes, From Red Sea to Blue Nile