Friday, June 27, 2008

Mbabane Swaziland

I'm in the Swaz. We arrived by charted bus to Mbabane this afternoon. It took an hour to cross the border from South Africa into Swaziland. As we approached the border, and continued to travel toward our destination, the scenery changed from brown, desolate vegetation to lush green trees and fields. The one really great thing i saw in SA was an irrigation system... i think it was a Valley. I thought about what my dad would think about the farming practices. And in J'burg we saw palm trees- they are huge! Oh the other really great thing....cattle roam free along the roadside. We had to slow down a few times to avoid hitting ones that wondered onto the highway. Oh speaking of the highways, it's the British system; everything is opposite.

I'm feeling a little off b/c of the malaria pills. Kinda dizzy since tuesday, and last night i started having really weird dreams....apparently both are normal. GREAT!

The current volunteers were over-eager to meet us. A little overwhelming for me after traveling 2 days on a plane and then 4 hours by bus. They launched into conversation as sooner as we got off the bus. YIKES! Maybe they just wanted fresh conversation w/ new people.

My group is growing on me. I really like my roomie...she's lived in Mpls the last 6 years, is a Med Tech, vegetarian, loves bike riding, and it very laid back. We've enjoyed sharing our sarcasm. The rest of the group is super out-going and mostly extroverts. Not a bad thing unless you're an extreme introvert like me! Nonetheless, we all seem to be getting along.

My adapters and converters don't work here...i bought the wrong ones, so i need to sign off for now and save some battery space for tomorrow. I get to walk around Mbabane tomorrow w/ my walk-around allowance of 360 Emalangeni...i believe the conversion is 6 to 1....and that has to last me 2 weeks! Hopefully i'll be able to find the right outlet adapter.

This is still a surreal trip. It hit me at border crossing this i was actually in Africa. One day at a time, right?! Hugs, Love and Namaste

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Staging, Day 2

I arrived in Philly yesterday and immediately started orientation. Allota information all at once but it was good. Mom, Dad, Sharon and Annette dropped me off at the airport yesterday morning around 5. Good to be sorta out of it, tired, groggy so i wasn't too emotional...making leaving harder. I hugged my dad first, and my mom last. I noticed later, as I was wiping tears away, that her perfume was on my shirt. Her scent, Skin Musk, got me to the Milwaukee airport feeling some semblence of home still with me. She told me to go with God's love; i go with her love, and dad's love, my family's love, my friends' love. More about my fellow trainees later....but so far so good.