When sleep doesn't come easily...

It's 2:30 am on June 26th. I can't sleep mostly due to jet lag (it's around 8:30 in hawaii) and excitement/nervousness. In our ridiculously long meeting today, we discussed many important and crazy things and I can't express how incredibly excited I'm getting for what's to come! The only thing I wish I could bypass is the next 17 hours of flying and two days of travel (which isn't including the last 2 days of traveling I've had as well...) On the brighter side, I met all 37 of my fellow Swaziland Peace Corps Volunteers and they are fantastic! What surprised me most, was that we have 5 Returned Peace Corps Volunteers in our group! That means that 5 people have had such a valuable and life changing experience have decided to return. They all said that it was the absolute hardest thing they have ever done in their life, but also the most rewarding. I hope I walk away with that same experience. This gives me hope that I may come back one day to do this again :) What completed the night was eating sushi (for my last dinner in the U.S.) and getting a better understanding of African cultures. A fellow trainee is from Kenya and she gave me great insight into what to expect. Despite the "rural" living conditions we are most likely going to endure, I am SOOO excited to be apart of something bigger and better and I pray that God will use me to make some difference, however small it may actually be.

My love,

Shauna

Welcome to Georgia

It's official. There's no turning back now. :) After 9 hours of flying I finally made it to Atlanta. I have the whole day to catch up on sleep until my pre-orientation, which begins tomorrow. Our meetings will be from 12pm-7pm straight. Then on Saturday, we are checking out of the hotel at 11am and heading to the airport. My flight departs at 7:25 pm for Johannesburg. It's a straight 16 hour flight. whoohoo. From what I am told, we are spending the night in a hotel within the Johannesburg airport (which really sucks). I was hoping we would be able to check out some of the stadiums where the World Cup is playing. I guess I can't complain. I will be in the city at the time of the World Cup. That alone will be incredible! Then, I depart Johannesburg at 6:50 am for an hour long flight for Manzini, Swaziland!

According to the latest email I have received it says, "We recommend you help your family and friends in the U.S. to set low expectations about how often you'll be able to call or e-mail them, particularly during training, as you will not have access to a cell phone until mid-way and Ngonini Lutheran Farmer's Training Centre does not have Internet access". haha. YES! So, guys, I hope you like hand writing letters. You will be my new pen pals for the next few years. I'm not sure when my next opportunity will be to use the Internet, so until next time, A HUI HOU. God Bless you all and thank you for being such great and supportive friends and family.

Aloha,

Shauna