Happy New Year!

Well, 2007 is here and I am under 3 months away. A few weeks ago I stopped at the public library to stock up on some books on Ukraine as well as proposal-writing and fundraising seeing how that will be a big chunk of my work there and my experience is limited. I just feel I need to get a head start and get a foundation set up. Aside from reading and researching, I've been receiving emails from Peace Corps Ukraine which included contact information for the 25 or so others that are heading out there. I also met a girl at the library whose sister and brother-in-law are also serving in Ukraine. She gave me her email address and we have been chatting over emails. It is good to have someone to seek advice from...especially someone from right here in Billings, MT. We are really hoping to get together when I arrive. The thing she (and several others) recommended most to me is to bring with me a laptop computer. Okay, I do not own a laptop because I have a home PC. I am already stressed about money and do not need this added to the mix, but it is something I really need to consider. I also started studying the Ukraine Welcome Book which was emailed to me. It is about 100 pages of things to know about Ukraine volunteers and the country itself such as how to pack, dress, safety procedures, geography and history, etc.
So really I have just been keeping busy reading, studying and taking the first steps at my language lessons via the internet. I have not heard anything about my Visa and passport. I don't know if that is good or bad. Since I screwed up the mailing, I am hoping everything got to the right place. I won't receive the documents until I report to staging so I am assuming they will only contact me if they did not receive something from me. I guess we'll find out.

On a side note, I have really been trying to focus on what I will miss when I am out of the states for 2 years. I am trying to get my share of good food in, I am condensing my favorite songs onto CDs which I plan on bringing and I am starting to watch all of my favorite movies so I will have my fill for a couple years. Leaving behind American cinema is truly going to be a huge challenge for me. Those of you who know me realize I am a huge movie buff. One of my bachelors degrees is in film and I have studied film criticism. I see a lot of movies...okay, pretty much all of them; every genre, every independent art film, every documentary. Between the theater and my Netflix subscription, there is little that gets by me. Every year about this time, Some old college friends and I compile a top ten list of our favorite films of the year (similar to what every newspaper and magazine does annually). To give you an example, here are my lists from the last 2 years:

2004
1. Sideways
2. Primer
3. Finding Neverland
4. Napoleon Dynamite
5. House of Flying Daggers
6. Before Sunset
7. Kill Bill: Vol. 2
8. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
9. Open Water
10. Super Size Me

2005
1. Grizzly Man
2. Nine Lives
3. Closer
4. March of the Penguins
5. The Jacket
6. My Summer of Love
7. Mr. and Mrs. Smith
8. Capote
9. Match Point
10. Elizabethtown

I have not seen a select few of the newer films (Children of Men, Letters From Iwo Jima, The Queen, Volver, etc.), but I now present my 10 choices for my favorite of 2006

1. United 93
2. The Departed
3. Little Miss Sunshine
4. Blood Diamond
5. Hard Candy
6. Babel
7. The Pursuit of Happyness
8. The Break-Up
9. Monster House
10. Borat

some others worth mentioning:
The Last Kiss
The Three Burials of Melquiadas Estrada
A Scanner Darkly
Winter Passing
The Devil Wears Prada
The Notorious Bettie Page
Fearless
Apocalypto
V For Vendetta
Friends With Money
Eight Below
An Inconvenient Truth
Hostel
Art School Confidential
Mimi's First Time
Miami Vice
The Descent

What does this have to do with the Peace Corps?? Absolutely nothing other than letting you guys know what a freak I am about cinema and how much I will miss it over the next couple years. Hopefully, I am able to turn some of you onto a few good films that you may not have heard of and this way I can kill 2 birds with one stone by not having to email it to the usual people. Blogs are our friend.

Happy 2007 to all of you!