Moving Once, Moving Twice and Surfing in Togo?

I'm down to two weeks until my departure for Staging, and subsequently Togo.  However, because I am spending my last 10 days with my parents, I have to be move ready in three days.  As I have been packing and repacking, I am most stressed out about what I'm going to forget and what I should be getting rid of.  Will it all fit in my car?  Thank god I've been able to sell most of my furniture.  As much as reading packing lists helps, how can I really know what I need and what I want until I am there?  So for now the boxes are piling up and I'll probably have to go through and thin them out if I don't want to have to drive back to Los Angeles next week. 

I have managed to avoid thinking of most things practical to bring up to this point.  I ordered a short wave radio, solar battery charger, and rechargeable batteries today.  I'm hoping that they arrive at my parents house before I fly out for staging.  I have, however, done a stellar job of thinking about frivolous purchases!  I sold both of my surfboards and bought a new one, which then meant I had to think of things like spare leashes, an extra set of fins, ding repair, and how long 8 bars of tropical wax will last me.  Let alone will I even get to surf? 

I went hemmed and hawed over the decision to bring a board and it was finally decided after asking the question "Would it be worse to have a board and not be able to surf, or to be able to surf and not have a board?"  When I surveyed my friends, the answer was unanimous that it would be far worse to be without a board. I also did some research into West African surf and found a surf shop in Ghana called the Black Star Surf Shop.  I contacted the owner (a RPCV from Bolivia) and he agreed that I should bring a board and maybe find a way to teach Togolese people how to surf and offered to help anyway he could.

So in my aspiration statement I discussed what surfing means to me and how I think it has been a powerful tool for the youth in Stoked Mentoring.  The Surf Mentor curriculum teaches a sense of community, trust, healthy risk taking, and fosters environmental stewardship.  With any luck this could land me in a beach community, but for all I know I could end up 20 hours away by bush taxi.  At the end of the day, I did not join the Peace Corps to surf, I joined to help make a difference in the lives of others.  If I can share surfing through this experience that will be amazing, but I am certain that my time in Togo will be life changing regardless.