Orientation

yayyyyy! i'm in Charlotte, NC for orientation. well, actually, we finished yesterday & i leave for africa tomorrow. the lodge where i'm staying has wireless internet, so i've been using that all week, & i couldn't connect to my blog. so today i thought i'd try it on the desktop computer at the lodge, & lo & behold! =]

i feel SO MUCH MORE prepared to live in africa after this week. i learned a lot about the kenyan culture & the differences between it & american culture. for example, it's okay to ask other people for their stuff: "i like your earrings, can i have them?" here, that might be kind of weird. but to a kenyan, it's a completely normal thing. it is, also, very acceptable to reply with a "no." haha. i like it that one person explained it to me this way: every culture thinks their's has the best ideas & ways of doing things. the canadians think so, the peruvians think so, the australians think so, the kenyans think so. i think it's great to have that perspective. my opinion regarding that perspective and how it relates to the FDA, ...now that i'm still working on.

orientation made me really excited to live in africa! before, i was excited about the journey with the LORD i've embarked upon, but now i'm really excited about discovering & experiencing all these new things! i'm looking forward to getting to use the gifts the LORD has given me by serving people in need. i get energized thinking about it.

north carolina is very pretty, i heard people say that, but i didn't know what they meant! the trees are different colors here (like the Fall you see on tv), & they're really tall. the houses are super cute, too. the nice man i sat by on the airplane pointed out that all the houses we flew over didn't have fences (he was from amarillo). once i started thinking about it, i realized, jon & kate gosselin don't have the privacy fence i'm used to, neither does a lot of georgia, & neither did the canadians whose houses i visited. hm.

overview of my past 3 days
my flight was smooth, exactly on time, & my bags were the first ones out. stuart from SIM picked me up & had calming piano music playing in his car. =) a blessing. he pointed out some places on the SIM campus, then gave me instructions & a little tour of my residence. it's really nice! there's a greatroom in the middle with 2 living areas, a computer, cable tv, & rocking chairs. there's 4 little bedrooms off of this greatroom, all with a kitchen, dining, area, bathroom, & then bedroom. it's so nice! the refrigerator is stocked with food, the freezer has frozen dinners that stuart's wife cooks, & there's fresh fruit on the tables. it makes me feel so taken care of! they have missionaries going in & out of this campus ALL the time, so they have anything you could possibly need. it's wonderful.

i arrived here around 3:30 wednesday, & then stuart left. there was nothing on the schedule for me that day, & i was all alone in the residence. i was lonely already. =/ i checked the place out, then prayed that i wouldn't feel so lonely because i had only been away from texas for 5 hours... i checked my email, & praise the LORD! - my friend janette who just moved to england sent me a google chat message! then amy, my old roommate did, & then michaela got online! i was so thankful! after i talked to them for awhile, i took a nap in my room. i woke up around 6:15 to 2 girls laughing in the greatroom. i walked in thinking, "yay, people!" haha. sheila was here for debriefing after a year stay in west africa, & rachel has been here for 3 weeks (she's a SIM videographer). we watched tv for the evening, they are funny people. it was very nice & an answer to prayer. =)

turns out.....the reason nothing was scheduled for me on wednesday is because they didn't expect me to get there so early. it ended up being great because i got a lot of rest. the last week in texas was so busy, so it was nice to not have anything to do.

sheesh....not all my posts will be this long.....i think....

i'm the only person here for orientation. some other people were supposed to come, but they didn't, i'm not sure why. anthony, one of the persons who trained me here, said it's only the 2nd time he's only had one STA (short term associate) for orientation in the 6 yrs that he's been here. we had chik-fil-a for lunch (blessing...it's my fave). that night anthony & his wife (and their 2 yr old) took me to an ethiopian restaurant in downtown charlotte, yummy! he said it was part of my "cultural experience training." =] then we went to target so i could get more lactaid.

....

at 10AM on thursday, anthony made me kenyan tea because i will most likely have this "tea time" everyday in kenya (maybe not since i'll be at an orphanage). i tasted it & went, "mm, is this made with milk?" it is. i thought i only needed 40 lactaid tablets for the whole 5 months because i knew i wouldn't be drinking milk or eating dairy (no refrigeration at Tumaini). at least now i know i'll be getting my daily calcium! i might have the option to have tea without milk, but i'll have to find out when i get there!

last night, rachel & i watched an old black & white 40's movie called "i know where i'm going." it was cute, a romantic comedy. today i've been packing & resting again! stuart brought me a bbq sandwich for lunch. =) not quite like texas...but it was still bbq.

SUPER LONG THANKS FOR READING!

kt