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Thank you to everyone who was praying for me. Traveling went well, save the goodbyes. I am sorry I do not have any pictures yet (we are close to the mountains and they look glorious), but what I experienced thus far has been more of the intangible sort. The Journey Corps group I will be traveling with consists of seven young ladies, 3 guys (including myself), and two leaders. For me it takes a little longer to fee comfortable with people and build a relationship, but I have praying for an… Continue

COOKING

I've learned some things about cooking here - a secret to share for those reading my blog. One is you need to use more flour here than normal. Probably because of the heat. Two, is you need to make up recipes. I just put somethings in a frozen ice cream canister, beat, stuck it in the freezer, and had the best slushie ever:

3T sugar, 1T milk powder, 3T water, 1 fresh squeezed orange, 1 fresh squeezed lime. Blend in frozen ice cream canister, pour into tupperware, put in… Continue

I guess I wasn't really prepared for the variety of food available here. Yes, you need to bleach your raw veggies before you eat them, or cook them for a while to kill whatever might be living in them or on them, freeze and sift flour, but when it comes down to it, one can make all the staples here - from scratch. The grocery store shelves look bare (just starting to come back now after the war), so if you take two of something, for example cocoa powder for chocolate cake, you might be…

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The bug was in my bathroom this morning, dead. Prayer works miracles, eh?

Today was a JC filled day! Meetings filled the majority of my time, and the rest of the day was spent greeting two young men from church, debriefing about stuff, learning more about P&K. Life

today wasn’t as glamorous; but it does mark my being in Africa for one…

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I’m really starting to feel life slide into place a bit. Though days don’t have set schedules (aside from being ready at 8a and eating lunch at 12:30p), I am starting to feel the rhythm. This morning I

got a chance to talk to Andrew, which made me really happy. Last night, Skype

was creating a 30 second delay between when he said something, I responded, and

he heard! At 7h00, it was a normal conversation. I perfected my…

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a few update notes:

Please pray for the political situation - a presidency divided cannot stand

my computer - died in our headquarters in the states. need wisdom of what to do

our team - I LOVE the journeyers! We have lots of work to do

If you want to send a care package, send it now to WorldVenture - a team will bring it for free - or wait until I know when they are leaving to make sure my friends doesn't come first.

Coffee, dark…

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Waking up in my own room and going into a bathroom, even without hot water, that I’ve set up was quite a luxury this morning. I got myself together, walked to P&K’s for a quick breakfast, then back to wash about

100 dishes (remember – this is boiling hot water on the stove!) and clean the

floors again. Between getting my apartment together and visiting with Brenda (a

travelling nurse who used to live here), I spent the morning happily working.

Lunch…

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Today seemed like the beginning of settling into life here. It was nice to meet and get better with people’s names. After warm coffee cake

breakfast, I helped K with some translating and business with Sarah and her

husband Benjamin (our chef). The rest of the morning and afternoon were

dedicated to moving into my place. The cabinets needed to be worm-wood proof,

the oven hooked up, fridge moved in, beds changed around, furniture moved, a

thorough…

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At the beginning of the day, I was anticipating Monday so much that I sort of forgot to be excited for the Sabbath of Sunday. The morning began with a quick breakfast with P&K and then I went to the Rags and their gang to church. The church is in the Muslim quartier and although the church building is small, it is quite open to the elements (there is a roof) and has a huge yard for greeting afterwards. The church was set up with a pulpit (complete with a microphone and piano enabled sound… Continue

Electricity. Running water. Filtered water. Working fans. Clean sheets. Yogurt. Wifi. As my low expectations were slowly

raised, I began to realize that Africa wasn’t that difficult a place to live

after all – just remember I am writing this on Day 3 of living at Village

Baptiste in Bouaké, Côte d’Ivoire.

My last few days in the States were wonderful, including goodbyes with the people…

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SATURDAY

Today started with a huge rainstorm that ended around 6:45a, so I thought when I left for Peter and Katrina’s 90 minutes later, the ground would still be wet, but bone dry earth greeted me as I walked the few meters to

their second floor apartment for breakfast. Yogurt (which I didn’t think

existed here!), bread and jam comprised breakfast and then after talking for a

bit, we set off for Bouaké. If you didn’t pick it up…

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Friday: Continue

Well, the grand adventure continues. Ted graciously dropped me off at the airport, which included much traffic and hard 5-minute parking, but then I was off to the races, or at least gate 1 where they told me my carry-on was too heavy! My bags were less than 23 kilos each, though, so I basically took everything except my laptop from my carry-on bags and put it in my suitcases, praying they wouldn't be lost or stolen. Together, my carry-on was supposed to weigh less than 9kg, but separately they… Continue

Why did I enjoy Bruges more than Belgium? Well, after the long, but relaxing train ride (which was a last-minute decision), I really had no sense of what to expect. The Winstons said it is a beautiful place, and they were right! In between Venise and Carcassone, there are canals everywhere and boat tours available. However, the ancient architecture, Roman lace, and tourists are plentiful, too. The mark was hopping with pharmacy and fish merchants, waffle and cheese vendors (chocolate vendors… Continue

How was your day today? I hope it was as interesting, delicious, and hopeful as mine. It being the day before I take the plane to Africa, I thought I would be more trepidatious, but instead I was quite serene all day long. I had an OK night's sleep (does Malarone make you twitch?) and awoke to my favorite - yogurt and very healthy cereal. After meandering my way through the morning, I walked down for the 10:48 train to Gare Centrale Bruxelles and arrived around 11:30. I wanted to hit the two… Continue

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In effort to sound hors du moment, my father said in the car before dropping me off at the airport (to read about that fiasco, read my previous blog) that in some ways my Africa journey started in December when the JourneyCorps concept was introduced to me by Jonathan Finley and in some ways it started with my arrival in Brussels (the first time, before going to Paris for a few days). I would argue that taking my first Malaria pills (HELLO SIDE EFFECTS!) was another beginning, and the… Continue