>> For the Peace Corps, we are allowed to bring two checked bags and one carry-on. The two checked bags cannot total more than eighty pounds. As you might guess, this makes the packing process more difficult. The frustrating part of packing is knowing that upon arrival, there will be items I've packed that were a mistake and unnecessary and that there are items that remained at home that may be important and necessary. Previous Peace Corps volunteers have stated that it is often the little things that are most important, i.e. electrical tape, bobby pins, paper clips, a stapler, etc. So, in light of this, I've been trying to think of the little things which is why our living room is a pile of odds and ends. I'll be packing up the bags today and tomorrow; we'll see how much of it actually makes it onto the plane...
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Tape is a biggie. Medical, Electrical, Packing, Duct, Scotch, all useful. Also a leatherman or swiss army knife is invaluable (a huge plus if it has a Phillips head driver on it). Flashlight (that runs on AA batteries) is also a nice thing to bring.
ReplyDeleteI brought an external hard drive to use for backups and as a spare HDD in case mine died. Make sure you get the same size (2.5" for laptops)/connector(likely SATA) for your computer.
Paper notebooks, decks of cards, photos of where you're from (Chicago too). Oh, the people I was around didn't speak english but they damn well knew Akon, Usher, etc. Bring some popular US Top 40 stuff R&B and Hip Hop. An extra set of headphones and a splitter could be nice.
Movies and TV shows are nice to have on your HDD. Maybe bring a new thing that you can develop a skill for while you're there (camera, magic card trick book, yoyo? I don't know).
Ebooks on your laptop are nice, I read most of the Harry Potter series and several Grisham/da Vinci code guy books. You can get them on torrents but be sure you have software for them.
I don't know what your internet situation will be but having a wireless router will be nice. A modem card on your laptop might also be useful depending on the situation.
Also check and see if you need a different power plug. Wiki shows that they use type D and G sockets which run on 230V, not 120V. Most of your electrical equipment should run on 110-240V so you should be fine there but the plug won't fit. You'll need adapters. Best thing to do is have one adapter and bring a US power strip.
You probably already know all this but just watching out for you.