Sam's alarm woke me at 6 a.m. Don't know why it went off but it got me up and I am glad it did since I went outside onto our deck and the sun was just rising. It was so beautiful it does just make you stop in your tracks. I stayed out on the deck and admired it's beauty. I had gotten completely packed up the night before but as I was sitting on the couch I realized that I had left my Ensign, and LDS Church magazine, on the end table. I am so glad I hadn't left it. It was nice to sit there and read from it and be reminded of the things of a spiritual nature of why I am here, to show love to one another, to learn, to repent and move forward in my life, to give gratitude, to see the Lord's hand in all things... Things I needed to be reminded of to prepare myself for the next couple weeks and make the shift from vacationing, adventuring, to primary focus serving and really getting to know many of the people we will be working with from all over the world at Cross Cultural Solutions. All things are meant to be.
We said farewell to the wonderful staff who I honestly felt had become like friends at Raffles. Sam was treated to his last Nutella banana crepe for breakfast before we rallied, 'getting local", as Sam and I now call it back to the airport. Have to say driving a little stick shift on the left side of the road along windy hills roads is just really fun!
It's funny the island is so small that you feel like you get to know many of the people and we saw a couple that we had seen at dinner the other night. Visited with them for a bit when we got to Mahe Island after our small flight from Praslin to Mahe. No reason to take a helicopter ride when you fly these small low flying planes. It was spectacular to fly over these brilliant clear blue waters and see other tiny islands all over the ocean. It was so spectacular. Our flight was delayed 1 hr and 45 mins, the length of our layover in Nairobi. We were nervous because we were meeting Yvette in Kilimanjaro and thought if we aren't there, she is going to be wondering what has Karen signed me up for again--- Brazil revisited ;) Also not sure how Cross Cultural Solutions (CCS) would know when we would come again and the drive is about an hour from the airport. We got off the plane and ran and I mean ran for our flight probably 1 km, since we had 20 gates to run to and in a different terminal and through security. We got there 4 mins before our flight was to take off, sweating and hardly breathe and the flight had been delayed. Panting we were relieved, since our bags would never have made it. As we sat down we realized that the phone that was where our bags were, which we thought was Sam's phone was actually someone else's. Sam's was in his backpack. Anyhow we got that figured out and turned it into the gate and the guy was able to find it- a man we had scuba dived with. When the plan landed so hard, everyone's bags got jostled so things fell out of bags. Come to find out later, I lost by iPad on that flight too! Lots of issues yesterday!
We arrived after really only 4.5 hours of flying but 12 hours of traveling and delays at CCS home. Right as we walked through customs, there was Yvette!! Yay, we hadn't lost her this time and our flight being delayed lined up perfectly with hers. So impressed she literally had her carryon and was all good to go. Our bags made it and after sorting things out since we wanted to ride together in the van, we piled in and made our way down bumpy roads and through some villages which looked just like the movie Tanzania that we saw at the Santy, we made it to our home. There are two cute girls in our group too which have been backpacking for several months around Europe on a gap year and they are staying downstairs in the dorm house and the three of us are upstairs in our own room, there may be 2 more to join us not sure. We are in bunks and each with a mosquito net and we have our own bathroom and shower- which is really honestly living it on one of these trips. The place seems pretty clean and has a ceiling fan and screens on the windows- which is good. Tomorrow we get our training. Sam and I as of now are signed up to work in the nursery school.
We met some of the others that are here last night in the hallway, cooler station where we get water to brush our teeth and drink. There are a couple young men- doing gap semesters Valentine from Hungary and John, from NYC. There was an older asian woman- not sure where she is from that looks about my age and looks like it will be a good group from all over the planet really. The girls we arrived with, Sammy and Jenna are both from Sydney, Australia. After getting unpacked and settled into our room we tucked under our nets and crashed. Yvette has been traveling for 24 hours and we were also just so tired from our day. Looking forward to tomorrow!
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