The Mid-West Heads to the Mid-East

On Monday I leave for Iran. I'm so excited I can hardly stand it. I've got basically 24 hours of flying to get there, and in packing I have had the extra challenge of remembering to put a headscarf and jacket in my carry-on luggage so I can leave the plane when we finally arrive. I've packed my kaopectate and toilet paper (they don't use tp over there... more of a water hose to wash your butt and then dripping dry), finagled my wardrobe to accommodate both Islamic dress requirements and Amsterdam dress requirements, bought the perfect travel bag so I can carry my camera without looking too much like a tourist, thumbed through my travel books enough to know I don't think I'll ever be able to read their writing, and listened to Pimsler's Farsi cds up to lesson five. I can now say, I am American (or I am not American, whichever the situation calls for), I don't understand, Thank you (both formally and informally), Excuse me, Yes and No. Mack's dad let me use his Rosetta Stone CD (which I keep thinking is called Rosetta Parks, but click here to know why that is so wrong), and I was able to guess which words meant car, yellow, red, white, blue, ball, woman, girl, boy, man, plane, young and old, but I can't remember how to say those words so I don't think they count. Anyway, I am going to try to blog while I'm there but am not sure if I'll be able to add photos, so you might just have to wait for those. Also, if I can't access the blog from there, which Mack thinks shouldn't be a problem, but just in case, I'm going to email my travelogues through my gmail address, like I did last year.

Thanks to everyone who's watching our furry friends while we're gone. And to anyone who's worried, please don't be. I'm blessed with common sense and a healthy sense of mortality, and even if something awful were to happen and I died, well, at least I'd die seeing something I've never seen before and doing something I've never done before. I can't believe I'm literally going to the other side of the world. It makes me want to cry I'm so lucky. Who knew 12 Mile, Indiana, would be the starting point for a life of so many adventures!