Adios to the familiar (and contact info for Paraguay!)

I leave tomorrow. I leave tomorrow. I leave tomorrow. No matter how many times I run it through my head it does not sink in. I have what I think my life over the next two years should consist of (in material terms) packed (or stuffed) into a roller duffel, a backpack, a small duffel and a shoulder bag. I am loading my iPod with the most up-to-date music that I actually like, knowing that in 2 months I will no longer have any concept of the US top 40. Granted, by then I will be able to make a mean cow's head soup, concoct a perfectly sweetened terere (cold mate), and hopefully have a handle on one of the only indigenous languages in the previously colonized world that is also the current countries official language. The emotions I experience now are nowhere near as complicated as the random thoughts I have, and the random fears, and specific excitements... as well as the sadness that I have no room for my own homemade zucchini bread...

I spend tomorrow night in Miami. Maybe a good place to practice spanish. So, for those of you who might want to talk to me before I go, the cellular will be with me and on until I ship it home via the USPS at around 3 pm eastern time on the 22nd. For those of you who do not want to talk to me tomorrow, or those others who have asked for my address time and time again, here it is:


Jessica Clayton PCT
Cuerpo de Paz
162 Chaco Boreal c/Mcal. Lopez
Asuncion 1580, Paraguay
South America

Airmail is suggested, as it takes like 8 days and has about an 85% success rate. I must admit that I would love anything that is sent to me. I love letters! And anyone that writes will receive a response. If you do want to start a letter chain, be sure to number your letters in the order you send them, that way I will know if I miss any. (this is Peace Corps advice, although I must admit that if I do find one is missing, I will have absolutely no way to claim it or find it, so I am not sure what good it does). but...
Packages will surely be welcome as well, as well as photos! But, if you send a package declare it to be worth like nothing, and don't send anything too valuable, as it will probably be opened by a customs officer and taken as compensation for their work. So, send them airmail via UPS, FedEx, or USPS with a declared value of no more than 100$, hide the valuables inside kangaroo pouches, and keep it in about a shoe-box size. Then we'll be all good, and I will be very very happy and send a beautiful postcard in return.

Now I must get back to pretending that I will remember everything, and that I will be able to sleep tonight... Keep in touch. I know my adventures may seem exciting, but I can promise that stories from home will keep me content for hours, days, and maybe even my whole time there if I can get them often enough!