Orientation

Well tonight is the last night in Akron. Some people are starting to leave around 1:45am for the airport, and we all follow tomorrow. It's kind of weird that this is the last night here, but I am also really ready to get out of limbo and in to Bolivia. It's hard to describe the experience that I've had here in Akron. It is such a healthy environment, that I think it will be a hard adjustment to being alone. Luckily I've got the Bolivia Girls for another month with language training, and Maggie and Alyson in Santa Cruz after that. I feel like I have been a part of so many deep friendships, and I can tell that they will be lasting ones.

I'm in for a day of ridiculous traveling tomorrow. We drive to Philly for our flight to Miami at 7:53am (an odd time, yes?) and my flight to Santa Cruz doesn't take off until 10:35 pm... So we have a six hour layover in Miami, and then a 7 (ish) hour flight to Santa Cruz, with an hour long stop in La Paz. Or so I'm told.

I haven't updated for a couple days, but the past three days were full of sessions. We had a sexual harassment session, a financial overview, "The Danger of a Single Story" which is about stereotypes and one-view perspectives, how to communicate during our assignment, Cross cultural adjustments, SALT Policy, and how to nurture ourselves spiritually. Some sessions were more helpful than others, but I think that all of them were important. I enjoyed most the "Danger of a Single Story" seminar and the cultural adjustment seminar. The MCC Staff kept us pretty busy during the day, but as soon as it got dark, the night was ours.

We apparently, are the liveliest SALT group that the Staff as seen for quite some time. We spend our evenings playing Ultimate Frisbee, Soccer, and having a series of parties. Tuesday was a birthday/dance party, complete with a pinata and cake. We danced with all different cultures and types of music! Wednesday was the "Noodle Party", hosted by Asia House. Then last night there was a BBQ at the Middle East/Europe house. They had S'mores, but they were made with Reeses peanut butter cups! Needless to say, we like to party.

Another fun thing we have done this week is a series of practical jokes. There is a statue from the Africa House, that has been moving around the campus all week. It started just in our house as a way to scare the roommates, but attention was gathered, and it all escalated. From the Africa house, our African Man moved to the Middle East/Europe house, where Alain, a guy from France (serving in Denver!) promptly decided that our African Man's name is Bob. Obviously. So Bob has switched locations many times. From in people's beds, outside their doors, in their showers, even into the main meeting place, Bob is everywhere. And he also has acquired some western garb.

 Here is Bob in the Women's bathroom in Meeting Place.

 Bob is part of the MCC Staff. Kathryn, Andrea and Eva are happy to be with him!

This is Alain and me with Bob. Alain is in my prayer group and is also quite the jokester. But he's fun to hang around.

Overall, this week has been such a wonderful experience. There were definitely some hard times and adjustments I had to make. I'm not used to spending SO much time with people. I had to find some 'Grace time' somewhere. Also, it was a strange adjustment to go from eating small frequent meals or snacks, to three a day, and large ones. I think I gained about two lbs just because the meals were so big, and dessert was always there.

But I know that those adjustments are minuscule compared with what is about to be thrust upon me. Luckily I have such a good support group behind me. Here are some more picture of my week:

 This is the room where I stayed! It was pretty luxurious!

 This is on our bus ride to the Mennonite Resource Center

 Part  of the MRC. This isn't where I volunteered, but close. I was ripping apart books to be recycled. Don't worry, the books were all in terrible condition, so it didn't break my heart AS much.

 This is a map that represents where MCC has service workers, and where they support. Crazy that there are so many places alllll over the world that recieve some kind of aid from MCC.

 This is my wonderful prayer group. On this day in particular, we were all feeling kind of silly and not so solemn, so we did yoga and stretches as our prayer!

 These three girls are SO much fun. Marisol is on the left, then Karen, and then Clementine. Marisol is from Colombia, Karen is from Colombia as well (I think?) and Clementine is from France!

 This is Mike. He's in my prayer group and is a Bethel grad!

 Kelly Miller and I. She has been so wonderful. She just graduated from Goshen and is headed to Mexico. She's been telling me lots of things about Goshen, and I'm really excited to get there after SALT!

 Keyla from Nicaragua! She has been so helpful with my spanish!

 This is a group of boys doing 'Bye Bye' by N'SYNC during our Global Fair talent show

Another Talent! Diego and Karina were doing some brazillian dancing for the talent show!


All in all, this week has been AMAZING. I would not have traded it for the world. There are other things that I could write here, but I'm tired and my morning is pretty early tomorrow. Here is a little message for my fellow SALT and IVEPers..

An Old Irish Blessing...

May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back.
The sunshine warm upon your face,
The rainfall soft upon your fields,
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of his hand,
And give you peace.