Hello blog-reading friends!
I have finally reached the point in the summer where I can turn my attention toward preparing for my journey to Liberia and taking care of all the details and tasks that come with that, including updating this blog a bit more frequently!
I am finally back home in Florida, and have spent the last day and a half doing absolutely nothing except sleep and sit in front of the TV using fewer brain waves than sleep requires :) So now it's time to get some things done, although I still plan on having a few days of excess sleep thrown in the mix!
The Liberia preparation is going well at this point, I would say. I am up to about $2250 on the fund raising front, which is AWESOME - almost enough for our $2400 plane ticket which we will be booking sometime this week (aaahhhh!!!). I sent off for my Visa last week (I can't tell you how nerve-wracking it is to have to stick my Passport in the mail...), have already had all my shots except one, have my Malaria meds on hand, and am constantly making lists and sending emails trying to make sure everything is taken care of before we make the trek across the Atlantic.
Over the next few weeks, I'll try to share with you some of the fascinating history of Liberia and the Ricks Institute so you know a little bit about where I will be going. A few books I am currently working on that I would highly recommend for you as well:
"The House at Sugar Beach" by Helene Cooper (story of a NY Times journalist growing up in Liberia, and what her life and family were like before and after the war)
"This Child Will be Great" by Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (autobiography of Liberia's president, who is the first female elected head of an African Nation and whom I heard speak at Furman back in April
"A Long Way Gone" by Ishmael Beah (story of a boy soldier... OK, so this one is about Sierra Leone, but that's next to Liberia, and I have a feeling I will meet some Sierra Leonians during my journey... and it's a fabulous book)
Those should keep you occupied until my next post :) I'm still working on getting through all of them myself!
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Saturday, July 4, 2009
[Re]mixing it Up!
Despite my best intentions to update this blog regularly from the beginning, it seems I have already missed a few weeks. So, apologies to any who were expecting a post :)
However, I do feel justified in my absence as I have been busy with Passport Camp in Macon, GA. I am the director here at our Mercer camp and have been loving working with an incredible and talented staff putting on our first three weeks of camp. This weekend marks the half-way point in the summer - 3 weeks down and 3 more to go! As you probably know, I tend to talk a lot about camp when given the opportunity, so I'll just say that camp has been great, and I'd love to tell you all about it sometime :)
The subject of this particular blog, however, is my journey leading up to and in and after my time at the Ricks Institute in Liberia. As it turns out, I already have a few updates about my time there to pass along!
Last week I had my first conversation with Olu Menjay, principle of the Ricks Institute. He is actually just outside of Atlanta right now with his wife who just gave birth to their second child! We were able to talk for a few minutes, mostly about some random details... but it was great to finally have a conversation with someone I will be working with throughout the next year.
I've also been able to have a conversation with a professor here at Mercer who just returned from a service learning trip to the Ricks Institute. It's interesting to me that every time I talk to someone about Ricks I am surprised by something I learn and it changes my idea of what life at Ricks will be like in a slightly different way each time. This most recent conversation was interesting because it was from the perspective of someone who took a group of students who were also entirely new to the situation (most had also never been to an African nation before).
I feel as if I should write here for you some of the expectations I have or some of the ideas I have in my head about what my life might be over the next year... but to be honest I am not sure I can, and also not sure I want to. It's impossible to prepare for a major life change without having some kind of expectation... but while mine are changing so rapidly and continually developing, I'm wary of writing them down. I like the change, and I'm sure the change will continue... so bring it on.
Anyway, I guess I'll wrap up for now... I'll try to write something more eloquent and informative soon. In the meantime, I'd love to hear if there's anything you want me to talk about that I'm not saying at this point! Hope all is well, and happy Fourth of July to you all!!
However, I do feel justified in my absence as I have been busy with Passport Camp in Macon, GA. I am the director here at our Mercer camp and have been loving working with an incredible and talented staff putting on our first three weeks of camp. This weekend marks the half-way point in the summer - 3 weeks down and 3 more to go! As you probably know, I tend to talk a lot about camp when given the opportunity, so I'll just say that camp has been great, and I'd love to tell you all about it sometime :)
The subject of this particular blog, however, is my journey leading up to and in and after my time at the Ricks Institute in Liberia. As it turns out, I already have a few updates about my time there to pass along!
Last week I had my first conversation with Olu Menjay, principle of the Ricks Institute. He is actually just outside of Atlanta right now with his wife who just gave birth to their second child! We were able to talk for a few minutes, mostly about some random details... but it was great to finally have a conversation with someone I will be working with throughout the next year.
I've also been able to have a conversation with a professor here at Mercer who just returned from a service learning trip to the Ricks Institute. It's interesting to me that every time I talk to someone about Ricks I am surprised by something I learn and it changes my idea of what life at Ricks will be like in a slightly different way each time. This most recent conversation was interesting because it was from the perspective of someone who took a group of students who were also entirely new to the situation (most had also never been to an African nation before).
I feel as if I should write here for you some of the expectations I have or some of the ideas I have in my head about what my life might be over the next year... but to be honest I am not sure I can, and also not sure I want to. It's impossible to prepare for a major life change without having some kind of expectation... but while mine are changing so rapidly and continually developing, I'm wary of writing them down. I like the change, and I'm sure the change will continue... so bring it on.
Anyway, I guess I'll wrap up for now... I'll try to write something more eloquent and informative soon. In the meantime, I'd love to hear if there's anything you want me to talk about that I'm not saying at this point! Hope all is well, and happy Fourth of July to you all!!
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