Updates!

So it’s a lot easier for me to just update my blog in giant updates than it is to do each day. Today feels like a good day to blog. So here’s the recap of the last 3 days.

June 9, 2011

This was the start of my trip to Burkina Faso. It was staging in Philadelphia. I left Houston at 0600 and let me just say that the goodbye was terrible. I didn’t want to let go. It was a pretty tough day. I arrived in Philly at 10:40 am(ish) and met Marlow at the airport. We ate some stale ass pretzels and took a cab to the Crowne Plaza Philadelphia West. This just so happened to be my first cab ride. Most people had already arrived and my room wasn’t ready yet, so we jumped right into the staging process. We turned in all of our paperwork and did all kinds of activities for the rest of the day. I went to check into my room and it turns out that Marlow was my roommate. We were fairly excited about this. A bunch of us went out to California Pizza Kitchen for dinner and got to know each other a bit. The day ended with my talking to Andrew and trying to sleep, but that did not come easy.

June 10, 2011

This was the day that we went to the Federal Clinic so that we could all get yellow fever shots. We hopped on a bus at around 7 in the morning and drove through downtown Philly, which I realized is actually a pretty ghetto place to be. We had a good breakfast, filled out MORE paperwork, and got our shots. The shot burned like no other when I got it, but after she pulled out the needle it was ok. We then got on a 2+ hours bus ride to New York because we were flying out of JFK airport. New York is AWESOME. Even though I didn’t get to actually do anything in New York it was cool to see how fast paced the city is. It took about 2 hours to get checked in and go through security. Then we sat at the airport for like 4 hours because our place was like forever delayed.

June 11, 2011

12+ hours of flying from JFK to Brussels, Belgium…From Belgium to Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. We arrived around 15:30. We met our Country Director and got started on our Malaria pills. It rained when we got here which is a sign of good luck and welcome, so that was a good sign. Moved into a sort of hostel where we will be for “Week 0.” Lucky for me, I am in an apartment style room with a bathroom, shower, toilet, living room, 3 bedrooms, and it even has a kitchen with a freezer! So great lol. I found out that I get pretty good internet so that was a good thing, sent messages to some people. I have to admit that it took me a while to get used to the time difference.

June 12, 2011

On this day we went to our country director’s house and had a traditional African meal of Poulet Yassa which is chicken with olive and onion served over rice. It was delicious. We had eggs for breakfast, which from what I hear is pretty awesome to be able to have. We listened to real African drummers and had a dance party. It was really fun. We played some board games and pretty much just relaxed.

June 13, 2011

Today was a really exciting day. I did a lot of “firsts.” We woke up around 0540 and started our day. I’ve never been much of a morning person, but this isn’t so bad. Had another egg breakfast! Haha. Then we all gathered in the conference room to go over all kinds of technical stuff. I had a language interview (which was horrible), a meeting with the director of informal education, and a medical interview. I also got my African money and got my first cell phone here. It was busy. Then later we walked into the market place and had dinner. That was the first time that I walked outside of the compound. It was a little scary, but really fun. Dinner was amazing. It was fish in a peanut sauce served over rice (of course). It was sooo good; the only thing is that eating rice fills me up really quickly with just a little so I get hungry a lot faster than I normally would. Then I had an African beer called “Brakina” it’s actually not bad, but I don’t like beer too much. All in all I am in good spirits, even thought I am missing home they keep me so busy I don’t have time to realize it.

Well that’s all for now, but more updates and maybe some pictures soon!

So long America!

Heading out for my trip arcoss the world today! SCARY!

Yesterday I arrived in Philly and spent the entire day staging. Marlow and I met at the airport and took my first ever cab to get to the hotel (Crown Plaza West ;) ) We spent the entire day in staging doing paperwork, and learning about Burkina Faso and each other. Then when the day was over a bunch of us went out to dinner and had some drinks.

Today we start the day bright and early to head to head to the clinic to get yellow fever shots and whatnot and then off to NY where we will leave to Africa! First stop on the flight, Brussels Belgium. Yikes.

I think that I am ready, have said all of my goodbyes, wrote my family, Andrew and Lauren their second letters...now its time to go. I dont think all the ammount of preparation in the world could have prepared me for saying bye, because the feeling was absolutely terrible.

Well its time to get ready to go!

See you later blog, will update as soon as possible!

It's just about that time....

Well, it's almost time for me to head out. I leave tomorrow at 6am.

I'm scared.

I never thought that I would be this terrified. Don't get me wrong, I am so grateful and excited for this experience, but I would be lying if I didn't say that I was scared shitless as well.

I'm almost packed, have said most of my goodbyes, and I know in my heart that I am ready.

Tomorrow is the big day! EEK!

The Future Mrs. Andrew Montgomery!

Andrew and I are engaged!!!! Yup....engaged :) I'm sure that it's probably not such a wise idea to write about it on my blog for all of the world to see, but I wanted to get it all down so that I would never forget it. Engagement story goes like so....

There is now officially a week before Africa. It is 00:29 on June 2, 2011. On May 31st, I was spending one of the last times over at Andrew's house before Africa (the days are going to be so busy I may only be able to squeeze in one more visit.) We had just arrived home from Justin's house and we were laying on the bed watching "Fast and Furious." He pauses the movies and tells me how much he loves me and wants to marry me. This is not the first time that he says it, but I love hearing it, so I tell him that I love him and want to marry him as well. I wear this ring on my finger that says "Faith" on the outside, and "live by faith not by sight" on the inside. I wear it to remind me that a lot of times in my life all I need to do is have faith to get my through anything. The ring really means a lot to me. He takes the ring off my finger, hops off the bed and gets on one knee. He asks me to marry him :) I of course say yes! So now we are officially engaged, minus a "engagement ring."

We both decided that we want a fall wedding, so we are wanting to get married on November 1st, seeing as though that is our anniversary. So Saturday November 1, 2014 will hopefully be our wedding day. :)

The only person who knows about our engagement in my bff Lauren :) She asked us when we are going to be "facebook official." We decided not to tell our parents until he gets me a real ring, but in my eyes that is my fiance <3 So not only does my ring symbolize faith, but now love and future :) He even called me his fiance yesterday when we were filling my car up with gas, and it was amazing!

Mrs. Karina Montgomery...I like the sound of that <3