I haven't been active in this thread in a month. Surgery is officially under two weeks away.
I emailed Marta last week to ask if I could pay for the apartment via wire transfer instead of carrying over $1000 cash with me to Belgrade. She gave me and my friend a discount for sharing an apartment together and for paying in advance, which was nice of her. The transfer went through last Friday, so that's all taken care of. No more big expenses left! The spreadsheet I use to track all these expenses is on my other computer, so I'll post a breakdown of what everything came out to at a later date.
I need to go to the bank sometime next week and take out some cash. I'm planning to use my travel credit card for meals during the layover in Frankfurt and groceries once we're in Belgrade. Cash would be just for taxis in/around Belgrade. I can't imagine spending more than $250 on taxis in 2 weeks, but you never know. I think that's what I'm planning to take out.
I've got a little calendar as my desktop background that has all the days between now and then, and 3 things in each block that I want to accomplish that day. It's been nice for keeping me focused and not letting me jump too far ahead. I just wake up each day, look at what I need to do, and do it. It also hasn't allowed me much time to worry about all the what ifs.
A big part of each day for the last two weeks has been a daily 5 mile hike. The rule for the hike is that I can't think about anything other than the hike I'm on while I'm out there. This is about as close to meditation as I get, and I think it's been really good for my stress levels.
The big task on the schedule this week is some hardcore meal planning and prepping. I'm planning to load my freezer up with meals that I can reheat in the microwave or bagged smoothies that just need to have water added. That way when I come home, there's no need to go shopping or stand around in the kitchen cooking. This weekend I'll be visiting each of my parents for the last time before surgery. Due to some work developments (vacations approved at the last minute, employees leaving the company), I think I need to move up some tasks into this week (packing, hair cut).
Like I mentioned in the last post, I started a private Facebook group to document my experience. As of right now, that is the only place where pictures will be posted. So if you would like to see pictures and follow that experience as it happens, add me on FB via the icon under my avatar and send me a message saying you'd like to be added to the group. I'll be posting a summary of the goings on after the fact on my blog and here. But probably no pictures on my blog and definitely no pictures here.
