The Interview is Traveling!

My Mom excitedly emailed me to let me know that she had woken up to my CHVN interview on our local station. So the word has spread back to Altona and Winkler and I was also able to connect it back to their website. I'm not sure how long their stories stay up, but check out "Altona Resident Having Experience of a Lifetime" on www.pembinavalleyonline.com (http://www.pembinavalleyonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12962&Itemid=311). Yikes, I may unknowingly be turning into a local celebrity!

Change

This week is a week of transition. Not always fun, but definitely needed. Life would be so boring without it. I'm trying to figure out how I've changed, grown, expanded my life bubble. And though I can't yet quite put my finger on it, I know my life has changed.

I was sitting outside this morning, enjoying the mountains and the cloud that surrounded them. When I looked up from my Bible 15 minutes later, the mountains were gone - totally enveloped in the cloud! I knew that they were still there and the fact that I couldn't see them didn't change their presence. Similarly, I know that there is change in my life, even though I may not be able to see it now. A different LaDawn from 6 months ago. A different LaDawn from yesterday.

Roadkill

Roadkill is common no matter where you travel. I'm sure that you're probably thinking that I've all but lost my mind talking about the subject, or figure that I really have nothing better to talk about. BUT, WHAT the roadkill actually is, changes where you are. Driving from the spa to Paarl, we enjoyed the scenic view of the Borland Mountains and baboon roadkill! O.k., so we saw a number of live ones yet too - baboons on the side of the road, just hanging. I guess I'm really in Africa!

Leaving Goudini Spa

Our week at Goudini Spa is quickly coming to an end. We have a final session tonight and then head out tomorrow for debrief in Paarl. I pulled out the good old camera (it had a holiday this week!) to catch both the sunrise (around 7 a.m., though I was ready at 5:45 a.m. - pictured below) and sunset (around 6 p.m.).

The next week will involve a lot of goodbyes and then we'll be formally starting the Track. I would really appreciate your thoughts and prayers in the next few weeks. It's been a hard summer with many good experiences, but still really tough. I am really missing home and all you wonderful family and friends! And I am really hoping for a strong start with the Track and the experiences of the next 3 months.

CHVN Interview #2

The internet connection is incredibly slow out here and I'm paying for the size of what I'm down- and uploading. I'm sorry if I was not able to connect with you early enough, but I had my 2nd interview with CHVN before leaving Panama and was notified that it aired Sept. 8, 4 p.m. and Sept. 9, 8 a.m. (Manitoba time). I will try my best to let you know ahead of time for my next interview, as they hope to track all my journeys. I did try to upload the MP3 file here so that you could listen to it, but I was not successful (if you have any suggestions, I would love to hear them).

Southern Hemisphere Math & Science

Today was a great day - at least for those of mathematically inclined! My math friend Cale and I celebrated 09-09-09 at 9:09 (and probably 9 seconds!). Yeah o.k., so we're totally math geeks - just let us enjoy it! Being in a new place, especially one in the southern hemisphere, has also brought out the scientist in me. As I walked back to my rondawel (a.k.a. the cement hut/building we're rooming in here) last night, I looked up and realized that for the first time in my life, there was no North Star! I need to do some research on the constellations from my now new southerly viewpoint. Gotta run and check out if the water actually does swirl down the drain opposite to what I'm used to!

Jetlag!!!!

Though sleep was interrupted on the flight over, I thought I did pretty good getting in a few hours. My 12 hour sleep into Sunday was obviously needed and I've been feeling pretty good. . .until this morning! I've been sleeping 8 or 9 hours at night this week, but at about 10:30 this morning, I hit the brick wall! A 7 hour time change is NOT very nice to one's system. I'm hoping that my short afternoon nap will help turn my internal clock over (and quickly!).

University of the Nations Conference

This week will be spent at a University of the Nations Conference. Today is registration and then we have various meetings and seminars throughout the week, until Saturday. We depart for final debrief on Sunday and have a few days together before people start returning home (other than the trackers and a few others who will stay on to work with Voice for the Voiceless here in South Africa). After "roughing it" (some may say that it was not quite that harsh, others will say it was much harsher) for 2 months, we are staying at the Goudini Spa this week! South Africa is coming out of winter, and with today's rain, it does feel down right chilly (I guess I was more acclimatized to Panama's humidity than I thought!!) - we are definitely waiting for the sun.

Welcome to South Africa

Just want to let you know that we've made it all safely to South Africa. It is wonderfully cold (who would have thought. . .Africa, cold?!?). I slept 12 hours and am feeling great after a shower. Talk to you soon!

South African Airways

Our 18 hour flight (including a fueling stop in Dakar, Africa) from Washington to Johannesburg across the Atlantic Ocean, plus the 2 hours from Johannesburg to Cape Town was proudly brought to us by South African Airways. They fed us meal after meal after meal (and they were pretty good) and we were welcomed with a little packet of socks, eye mask for sleeping and toothbrush & paste. We've traveled about 17,000 miles since leaving Kona and SAA has been one of the best! They brought me over the equator for the first time and to my 4th continent (N.A., Europe, Asia via Istanbul and now Africa).

Back to Western Society. . .if only for a few hours

We almost left Naomi behind in Panama (the ticket agent didn't want to let our New Zealand friend through), but we have all made it safe and sound to the U. S. of A. It is so funny what you get used to being in another country and culture, and you don't even realize it until you return. What, I can flush toilet paper down the toilet? What, there's hot water coming out of the hot water tap? What, the taxi has a meter and it works properly? What, I can speak directly to people in full sentences without a translator, si?

CHVN Interview

I did my second CHVN (95.1 FM out of Winnipeg) interview this morning regarding this grand journey of my life. I did not mention the first interview in my blog because I was waiting to hear when it would air, and was not notified in time. I hope to let you know this time around, but because of my travel, that may not happen in time (but I am receiving MP3 copies, if you want to hear them at some point). CHVN is online, so it does not matter where in the world you are, check them out at http://goldenweststreaming.com/chvn_player/index.html. Talk to you all from South Africa. . .adios!

Saying Goodbye to Central America

A few people have already left Panama, but the majority of our team is leaving Thursday and Friday. That means that there is a lot of laundry, packing and last minute shopping going on around here. I arrive in South Africa on Saturday and we are attending a week long conference for the first week of September. The second week will be debriefing and reconnecting with all of our teammates, most of who will be going home at that point. As with all of my travels, I'm not quite sure when I'll be able to reconnect, though I will try to be back as soon as possible. I am really hoping to touch base with you from South Africa more than I have from Panama and Costa Rica. A special shout out to all of you who are going back to school in the next few days, whether you are students or teachers - I'll be thinking of you!

Introducing Kamal

I had the distinct privilege of meeting the newest addition to Tulio & Norelia's family - they had a baby boy last week (August 26 - Tulio is my 4th friend to have a baby on this date, though all the other babies are girls) and named him Kamal Caleb. It was an adventure getting to and from the base where they are living (we paid 4 tolls on the way back and decided that we are going to try for The Amazing Race), but it was definitely worth it. I'm so glad that I was able to hold him for a bit and say our final goodbyes to Tulio.