On My Way

Thanks to my dear friend and neighbor Gita, I got to the airport on time this am and had uneventful flights to Atlanta and Dulles in DC. I had a little trouble finding my luggage because my flight was listed at carousel #14 but the bags were at #13.  They finally announced the change but when I went to #13, it was not turning and there were no visible bags there so I went to the Delta baggage office.  The agent looked my numbers up and it showed the bags were there so he went looking for them.  Turns out they were on the back side of the carousel which I never looked at.

One of my bags was a box which was pretty well battered up on just the 2 flights today so I was rather worried that it would never make it all the way to Tanzania.  So I began searching for a better box.  However, I decided to first see if I could check in on the Ethiopian Airlines (EA) website.  I couldn't but I did see that my flights were confirmed and that was reassuring.  Just by chance I clicked on the baggage requirements and lo and behold, EA does not accept boxes on their flights.  So I go over to the front desk at the Best Western where I'm staying and ask if there are any shopping areas nearby.  Thank goodness, the Holiday Inn across the street has a free shuttle to the mall and Wallmart.  I was able to purchase a bag which I believe will be fine for at least 1 or 2 trips but the airlines don't take long to beat up any kind of bag.

You may be asking why I was using a box in the first place.  The answer is that my bags other than the duffel I have with me were packed with my winter and fall clothes and stashed in the attic so my neighbor, Meshon could move in and have a place for her clothes and belongings.  What a blessing to have someone who I know in the house while I'm gone.  At any rate, I'm so thankful that I checked that website before I went to the airport in the AM.

So I'm on my way but I really should back up and let you know about my wonderful "send-offs".  On Sun. June 19th, Gita hosted our Spiritual Friendship Circle for a potluck dinner.  It was the first time all 6 of us had been together in several months due to various travel and time conflicts.  The food was superb and they all had lots of questions for me about Tanzania and the work I'll be doing there.  And Gita surprised me with a world globe as a parting gift!  (See the picture below)  A good time was had by all!

Than on Tues. June 21, Gita again hosted a goodbye snack hour for our neighbors to bid me "bon voyage".  Grant and Emma (2 of our youngest neighbors) came too.  It's such fun to have children around as they have so much energy and delight in the smallest pleasures.  And I'm delighted to be living in a community where so many spontaneous activities can occur without much effort. I'll miss all my friends and my new home but I'm so excited to finally be going on a global health project that I've wanted to do for so many years.

Spiritual Friendship Circle: L to R Margaret Normile, Nancy Kuykendall, Pat J., Katherine Kowal & Gita Larson.  Photo by Susan Carlyle

World Globe Gift

 Finally, I'll share some pics of the gifts I'm bringing to my host family.  According to the material, Global Service Corps sent, the families will prize anything that has your home town written on it.  So I picked several items with Asheville on it as well as books, a collage and a black bear toy.  And I made the hand bag for my Tanzanian mama. 

 

Must stop for now and get some sleep.  I have a long flight tomorrow.  Take care all.



Preparing to Go

As many of you know, I will leave Asheville on Tuesday, June 28th for my trip to Tanzania.  Since I can't get to DC early enough for my Ethiopian Airline flight, I will need to spend the night near the Dulles Airport.  Then on Wed. June 29th I take off for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia at 12:00pm arriving at 7:45am on Thurs. June 30th.  I leave Addis Ababa at 10:20am and arrive in Mombasa, Kenya at 12:45pm.  Finally, I leave Mombasa at 1:30pm and arrive at Kilimanjaro, Tanzania at 2:30pm.  Global Service Corp will have a representative there to meet me and take me to Arusha where I will be for the first part of the project.

I'm reading lots of background material and listening to my Swahili tapes in addition to thinking about what items, clothing and gifts to take with me.  I'm very excited but feeling like I should have started the preparation much sooner.  I have just over 2 weeks to finish my preparation and will do my best to be ready.