June 18 - Byana Mary Hill Mud Fight

Today we arrived at the school and the children were emptying the fish pond so that EWB members could clean it out and create a more thriving fish pond. It was pretty much a process that lasted ALL DAY long! Here are some highlights of the day though…

- Having the older girls take me around the whole school yard to show me every type of beautiful flower imaginable

- Recording the kids singing and dancing to make a CD

- Reading with the kids

- Handing out Article of Faith cards to each one (Thanks mom)

AND… fishing with the boys in the pond. It was very nasty and slimy and gross but I got in the pond and caught fish with my bare hands! Whoa! Got into a mud fight, got COVERED with slimy clay all over my body, my pants came off they weighed so much and the kids & sisters loved every minute! It was a fun playful day! (Oh and Sister Rose let me use the nun’s shower afterwards because I was so nasty – that was an experience… After showering I didn’t have any spare clothes but I had taken some airplane blankets to donate and I made a dress for myself out of them. LOL. It look “artistic” as they told me.) I hauled corn with the kids and talked with the girls and boys… yet another – AMAZING DAY IN AFRICA!!!!!

June 11 - London, England

The flight to England was a good one. Carlie and I both had aisle seats which meant that we weren’t sitting by each other. Boo. There were two seats between us and we decided to ask the people in between to switch us. Who wouldn’t want an aisle instead of a middle right? Plus then they could sit by each other and then so could we… perfect. Well something even more perfect happened… the people that were supposed to sit between us never showed up for the flight!!! Yeah! The flight attendant said that the plane was sold out/booked so they would be coming but they never did. All the way to England they never showed up. LOL. (I figured when they weren’t there at take off that we were pretty safe.) It was nice for us to lay out and sleep and just to be able to stretch and have extra room. I wish that could happen on every flight!

We went around London today and boy it was expensive! Oii oii! We went on a double decker bus tour and although I wished that we could have gotten off and looked around much more (we were with a group and had limited time) my favorite part was when we got separated from our group (although I did feel bad about that because we had this guy named John’s train pass) we went on a boat ride and we went underneath the London Bridge. You know… the one we sing about… lol. It was really fun. We also had fish and chips for lunch, it was good but the fish was fried with the skin still on – so hard to eat. We looked very unfashionable heading to Africa while everyone else looked very nice and dressed up. However, here are some things you should not do:

1) Wear a thong when you are wearing low riding pants and a belly shirt. (It looks funny when it is just resting in the middle of your back visible to all.)

2) Wear a jacket and bra with your jacket hanging off one shoulder (and down to the elbow) making your bra very visible for all to see.

3) When you are 40 (or any age) don’t have your boyfriend give you a hickey on your neck that is as big as a fifty cent piece, it’s just ugly.

I'll add pictures from London when I get home (sorry Internet is TOO SLOW here)!

June 17 - Blessings of Joy (Day 2) with pictures!

This trip has been a lot different than the last trip. Last trip there were 10 of us, this trip there is 20. We have more people and more projects. It’s crazy but it is also nice. Today Carlie and I visited Blessings of Joy again to perform eyeglass tests. It was a hard experience. The villagers were waiting for us when we arrived at the school and as soon as we got there we began setting everything up. Blessings of Joy is a very very poor school and the villagers are very poor with their house very far apart. I am not sure how far they have to walk to go to the school but it has to be a nice distance because there were no homes close to it at all. We get to the school by driving over a small dirt walking path (there isn’t even a road). It is a very very very poor school and their name fits them perfectly.

None of these people speak fluent English so we had to get an interpreter to speak to them. We set up the eye tests and the villagers began coming in one by one, then ten by ten. One of the first men that we treated had been beaten up by a gang and was as far as we could tell blind. Through the interpreter I learned that he could only slight shadows. After asking questions for a while and trying some different tests I had to tell this man there was nothing I could do for him. I started to cry and cry. He was the sweetest old man and I was so devastated thinking about how he walked to the school without being able to see, the hope he must have felt, how he sat and waited for us to come, and then how he waited in the room until we could help him – knowing Americans were here to help him see, and then how in a few short minutes I burst all of his hope and told him there was nothing I could do and sent him right back out the door.

Last trip I really came to appreciate my freedoms and blessings of being born in America. As I cried I realized I hate that I have been given so much and that others have been given so little. I hated that I could do nothing for this man to see again and I hated turning him away. I tried to get back to testing eyes quickly because I knew that there were some I would be able to help.

Others came who I could not help, but there were some I know I did help. Those moments are what made it worthwhile. All the people that I saw were so sweet and gentle and sincere and loving. After helping someone and giving them a pair of glasses they would get down on their knees and grab my hand and bow their head and say thank you. What a humbling experience because I really feel like I should be thanking these people for what they are teaching me and for the love that they exemplify.

Although I didn’t get pictures of every happy and sad experience, here are a few:

This lady was finally able to see…

This man had an infected eye and it was swollen to his temple and forehead and infection was leaking out a hole in his eyebrow…

This 16 year old boy began to see spots and slowly lost his vision all together. One eye is deteriorating away, the other has no pupil.

This man caught some sort of disease and the skin was being eatin away from around his eye…
This one – is self explanatory right?

June 10 - My bags are packed...

This summer was going to be pretty chill, relax at home, work, try to save some money and find a new job now that I am graduated, and take one trip (yes only one) to Washington. However, about a month ago those plans changed and I am now on my way to Uganda, Africa; London, England; and Dublin, Ireland. I am in Atlanta now and am on my way!!! Whoop, whoop.

So, I will keep you updated the best I can. I'm gonna miss everyone and can't wait to come back home and catch up!

Wind Cave Hike

One reason why I love Cache Valley is because of all the awesome hiking trails! Here are some pics from the Wind Cave hike.

I think that the Wind Caves may be one of the easier hikes in Cache Valley. I would say it is a fun family-friendly hike. Not too hard and not too long. The view is amazing and it is just an all around pretty hike!

Salt Lake ReAl

Saturday night we went to the Salt Lake ReAl soccer game. I have never been to the Rio Tinto Stadium before and absolutely LOVED it! I think any seat in the stadium is a good seat to watch the soccer games. The team did well although they lost 0-2 which is disappointing. It's never fun to watch the team you are rooting for lose but it was still a good game. It was fun being with the family and seeing Annika (and Alisha & Brian) since we don't see them often. Annika woke up with a cough & runny nose that morning but was still cheerful and fun.

She actually started yelling at the players like everyone else in the crowd without us even coaxing her to do so. We got a good laugh out of it. My dad and Austin also won a contest and were able to go down on the ReAl field during half time and get their prize while being shown on the big screen. ;^) Good times, good times. Oh and this was the first sold out game since 1999!!!! While we were walking there we saw tons and tons of fans (in ReAl shirts) walking the other way. I had no idea the games were so big but I'm glad we got our tickets ahead of time. I would def go to another game!

Commencement (Graduation)

Special thanks to my family, who made it all possible! Even Alli who is M.I.A. It's true that part of the motivation in walking was having Alisha say that she would come up and watch. That meant Annika came up to visit. Who can say, "No" to that?

Alisha got her all decked out in a USU Aggie hair bow and shirt. She looked so cute for her favorite aunt's graduation.

Last weekend I went down to visit and I showed Annika how she can sit on my foot and I would take her for a ride. Now she always comes over and sits on my foot and wraps her arms around my leg ready for a ride. Graduation morning was no different.

Me with the other Professional & Technical Writers/Graduates that I went through my schooling with. WE ARE ALL DONE!!!! YAY!!!!!

(Carly Kropf & Mike Teagle are missing and were missed... they didn't walk.)

Just for a little blog fun where am I!? (No cheating Alisha cuz you took the picture...)

Starting my commencement walk... To which I did not trip. Receiving what looks like my diploma - but it's really just the case for my diploma. ;^)

Me with some of my friends Jenny & Celia.
Me & Mike

(Yes. He sat through graduation but did not walk.)

I did it!
And P.S. I ended school receiving a 4.0!!!!

Official Announcement

I am announcing my graduation. Officially. From Utah State University. YAY!!!!! I have finally reached the point where I have a Bachelor's Degree. I am graduating with a Bachelor of Science Degree in English with an emphasis in Professional & Technical Writing. The degree entails document type writing (grants, proposals, instructions sets, etc.), editing, design, website creation, etc. So not the typical English teaching major everyone thinks of when I say that I am an English major. We focus on computers and design just as much if not more than on writing & grammar.

I haven't wanted to walk for graduation but Alisha & my mom (and Marci Monson) have all encouraged me to do so saying that it is a great way to commemorate the end. So I will be walking. Since I just decided to walk there are no announcements or anything going out (hence the official announcement post). I just called and learned what I need to do and the following schedule is why I wasn't going to walk:

8:30 I line up on the quad
9:00 Graduates walk to the spectrum
9:30 USU Graduation Ceremony begins
11:30 line up in spectrum for HASS graduation
12:00 HASS Graduation Ceremony begins

Wish me luck and pray I don't trip! Wa-hoo! I'm so outta here!