Day #2

Day #2 (May 2, 2010)

The flight was really long. The longest flight I had ever been on previous to the one to Ghana was 6 hours. A basically 11 hour flight was hard on me. I did watch "Leap Year," a cute little movie that got me all excited to visit Ireland at the butt end of my trip, but the other movies they played I'd either already seen or I didn't find them interesting.

I tried to sleep on the flight, but I didn't sleep well. Maybe 45 minutes all together and rounding up. I was on the aisle so I did a lot of roaming on the flight. That did nothing to prevent my kankles however. :( We landed around 7:45 am and then had to go through customs and retrieve our bags. That took awhile.

Lindsay and me after picking up our bags

As we were making our way with our bags to the truck that would be following us to Abomosu where we'd be staying for the next month, all kinds of men surrounded us offering their assistance. It was much like my experience in Haiti. The men were friendly and nice and just want to help for a tip. I had been expecting it, so I knew what to do--just say no, look straight ahead, and hold on to your bag tight. Many of the others I was traveling with were quite taken aback. We made it to our 15 passenger van safely, however, and managed to get out of paying any tips although me did help us who were not of our party.

Next stop: the mall to exchange money and grocery shop for the week. Problem: money exchange place at the mall closed until 2 pm and it was currently 10 am. Solution: go to a hotel a few blocks away to exchange.

Once we'd all exchanged money it was back to the mall for groceries. The grocery store was cool. However, almost nothing was refrigerated--strange. I had a good time getting bread, fruit, water and some juice for the week. I think it was mostly fun just to see all of the different food choices and be shopping in a different country.

After that little adventure, we made the trek up to Abomosu, which is where we stayed in house, 3 hours north of Accra. It was a long, bumpy, partly paved road. All of us fell asleep at some point on the road. I know, hard to believe, but we were all THAT tired. About an hour out of Abomosu we stopped for a bathroom break. I didn't have to go so I just took a picture of this really cool lizard.

The girls who did go to the bathroom though had an adventure. First of all they had to pay for it. Second, they only got one square of toilet paper. Third, it was not at all private. And fourth, it was a hole in the ground. Lovely. Glad I didn't need to use it.

Abomosu is pretty much in the middle of nowhere in the jungle. I kinda loved it, except for the heat and humidity.

I lived in this!

We arrived at our house (the first house that an organization called World Joy has built and we were the first guests) around 3:30 pm and claimed all our rooms. All of us in my semester (8 of us) are in one room with 4 bunk beds. After claiming our beds we sat down to chat for a bit. Some of us unpacked while the rest of us, including me, just sat there with the fans on enjoying being in AFRICA.

The house I lived in for a month in Ghana.

It was pretty nice.

Then it started to rain. I mean RAIN. It was a downpour. Stephanie, Camille, Erica and I decided to play in it and make a rain dance. We were probably out there for a good hour laughing and acting like we were five. LOVED it. We got to experience the African rain.

Erica, Stephanie, me and Camille post rain dance

When we came inside due to being soaked through (it got a little chilly--imagine that!) and the bugs. The power had gone out while we were out in the rain so we changed in the dark. We could've showered, but we felt clean enough. After we were changed and dry, we played a game called "Spit" while we waited for dinner to be prepared by the light of a little flashlight that we hung from the ceiling. We had spaghetti and pineapple for dinner. It was delicious. Afterwards we talked, some people played games until the light Sister Terry (the wife of Elder Terry--elderly couple serving a mission here) died. Once that last light was gone we had no choice but to go to bed because it was pitch black. It was only 8, but we were exhausted.

Day #1

I've been gone for five weeks, so I thought I should probably walk you through my journey traveling the world. Okay, so maybe I didn't travel through the entire world, just five different countries. I'll go day by day. Unless one day was particularly boring. Then I might combine some days together.

Day #1 (May 1, 2010) = Day of Travel

We left SLC at 8:30 am. I had gone to bed at 12:30 pm the night before, so I was pretty much awake all day. Unlike most of the girls in my group. Most of them didn't get much sleep, Alison was packing the night before and only got 30 min of sleep. Crazy!

Post flight from SLC to JFK

Alison (nice hair) and Lindsay

When we walked off the plane at JFK, I wasn't expecting the heat and humidity. First thought in my head: Seriously? Have you never heard of air conditioning? One cool thing about the JFK airport is the moving walkways. They're bouncy! Woo! We probably all looked like 2 year olds playing on them. Anyways, because it was so hot, Alison, Stephanie, Lindsay and I decided that we wanted to smoothies. Our flight was delayed 45 minutes so we thought we would have plenty of time to walk to the other side of the airport to "Smoothie King" to get the smoothies we were dying for. The people who worked at the stand were super slow, I almost couldn't handle it. When we were just getting our last smoothie Stephanie got a text from a girl in our group informing us that they were calling for the final boarding for our flight to Accra, Ghana.

Needless to say, we BOOKED it to get back to our gate on the OTHER side of the airport, smoothies in hand, flip-flops slapping with each bound.

I've never run so fast in my life. Thought I might pass out once we got on the plane. Thank goodness we made it, I thought for sure we'd miss it. And then we proceeded to sit at the gate for another 45 minutes. Figures. But truth is I'd rather make the flight than miss it.

The plane left at 5:45 pm and we were due to arrive in Ghana at 7:40 am, May 2, 2010. It was a long flight. 10 hours 55 minutes.

3 Days!

Holy. Smokes. I leave the country in three days to go to Ghana, Africa.

See this map? Yep, that's where I'm going to be.

Half the world away from the people that I know and love.

These are some of the people that I'm looking forward to learning from.

And teaching them basic health behaviors that they seem so excited to learn.

And if Africa isn't enough, I'm also traveling elsewhere for about a week.

With some friends going to Africa with me.

{Who are probably going to make this extra trip memorable}

Spending a 9 hour layover in Egypt to see the pyramids.

Flying to London to see the city and it's sights. I'll be there for 2 nights.

Next it's off to Edinburgh, Scotland for 2 days.

Finally we'll end in Ireland for 2 days before home.

{Can you say jet lag?! But who cares?

You only get to do this kind of thing once in a lifetime!}

Simply put it'll be amazing. Can't wait!

The End Has Come

Finals are over, Ty and Marissa are married, and people are moving out. It's the strangest feeling to know that another school year is over. I don't feel any older, but I do feel like I have changed and things will forever be different. This year has offered many new friendships and strengthening of old ones. I'm getting ready to leave for Ghana in, count it (!) 7 days, and I'm ready for new adventures and whatever life brings me. Bring it on!

Last day!

Today was the LAST day of classes for the school year of 2009-2010! Yay!

To celebrate I had little caesar's pizza and rootbeer with Hayley, Camille, and Melissa while we watched Glee.

Couldn't have asked for a better way to end the semester.

[well...almost...*cough* finals *cough*]

Rain

Today it was raining as I was leaving campus. I absolutely L-O-V-E the rain. Why do you ask? It's pretty complex, but the only way I can kind of describe it is that rain can fit my every mood. It can be angry rain, sad rain, joyful rain, any kind of rain that I or you can imagine. I will make it fit my mood. It gives me the inspiration to do with every situation in my life. Make lemonade out of lemons, find that silver lining. It's there, I guarantee it, you just have to look for it. I echo Elder Wirthin's words and the theme of my blog, "Come what may and love it!"

Easter

Pretty much I had a blast on Easter. I just love family get togethers where we watch conference, feast on food, and laugh until you cry and can't laugh anymore. Seriously, I cried. Here are some pictures of the fam.

This is Brandon, poking me in the side as usual for all of the family pictures. Would have been a great picture otherwise.

This was probably the best picture we got all night. It's hard to get everyone's attention and make sure they're looking at the camera.

Can you tell what's happening here? Everyone looks completely oblivious to what is going on except for my siblings and me. What are we pointing at you ask? Oh just our cat, Bugsy, who is being a stinker. Literally. Maximo, our little cousin who is 2 years old, loves our kitties and attempts to play with them all the time. Most of the time he ends up pulling their tails if any of them let him get close enough. Let me explain something about Bugsy, when he gets made he rebels. If we go on vacation for a week, we come back to a pile of poop in the corner of our dining room and in some of our closets. Gross, I know. So he was so fed up with everything and was about to poop on the floor right in front of the whole family! That is why we are pointing, screaming, and laughing. Don't worry. We caught him and put him outside before he could do anything. Naughty kitty.