Haynie Sisters' Summer Adventures

My summer has almost begun...

2007-04-24T12:33:00.000-07:00

I just finished with the last final of my college career, my last final ever! That is exciting news. And now I am sitting on my couch procrastinating all the packing I need to do before I leave for Africa in 5 days!! Crazy, I can't believe I'm really going. I don't think I'll believe it until I get there. This blog has been created so that all of you who care can stay update on my adventures in Mozambique and Brianna's adventures in Hawaii. And then our adventures together as EFY counselors. It's going to be a great summer!!

hello!

2007-05-04T21:42:00.000-07:00

Hello everybody! So I have been in Hawaii for about 4 days now and it is pretty much fantastic! I love the heat and the people here. There are seriously so many different people is crazy! My house is pretty sweet...its not the nicest place ever, but I haven't seen too many bugs yet so that is good! My body is finally getting used to the time change and the increase in humidity. I know its real hot and humid in Utah, but for some reason it was a little different when I came to Hawaii! ;) haha Basically the past few days have been super chill...we have just been hanging out going to a few classes here and there...hitting the beach you know the usual. Also we are finally finding our way around Laie...we were kind of confused at first, but I think I've got it figured out. We walk everywhere so its good to know where we are going.
With school I am going to have to work pretty hard I have a Pacific Literature class, which is very interesting, but is going to be quite a bit of work...especially the papers and then my History of Civilization class is also going to be kind of hard, but no worries cause I have a Hula dancing class that is SWEET!! We have already learned a few dance moves and it is a great workout! haha Well anyway I think thats enough for now Krista and I are headed to a party Luau thing on campus tonight and then we are going on the Circle Island Tour all day tomorrow that takes us all the way around the island. I am pretty excited! I'll keep you posted!

Random Pictures!

2007-05-04T22:01:00.000-07:00

The view from our backyard!

The gorgeous Laie Temple

From Sea to Shining Sea.....

2007-05-15T16:42:00.000-07:00

The Summer of '07 (also nicknamed "What would a 5-year-old do?") has started off just about perfect. My friend Greg came into town two weeks ago for a little SF fun and then I headed off to NYC to play with MBA friends for a few days. Doesn't get much better than that....

For those you who haven't taken the opportunity to visit the Bay area, you might be surprised to learn that there is a "haunted" lodge in the Santa Cruz mountains. With Greg in town, we figured it was the perfect opportunity to visit such a place and we were not disappointed. Live rock bands, random birds in cages, a stream running through the restaurant, and a server who talked about "hearing" voices....what more could you ask for?

I had never walked the Brooklyn Bridge before and it was AMAZING! One of the best views of the city. I have decided that bridges are one of my favorite architectual structures and chances are you might see a few more pictures of bridges on this blog this summer.

Stacey, Kimberly, me, and Ivy in Times Square before seeing a new show on Broadway "The Pirate Queen". After the first couple acts, I thought I might have just purchased a very expensive nap, but then the riverdancing started and it was fabulous.

2007-05-16T07:01:00.000-07:00

I feel like being here in Africa is worse than my mission in that there is so much going on everyday that it's difficult to even know where to start when I'm telling all of you about my adventures. Since I last wrote we have have done so many more things. I'll start with the most fun. Last Saturday we had an activity to teach the students line dancing. WOW! I have never seen a group of young adults get so excited about line dancing. We would teach them a few steps and then do them with them and as soon as they had done them they would burst into cheers and clapping and jumping up and down...after every single time we did a new step! It was hilarious! And then their excitement when we turned on the music to do the whole thing was possibly greater than mine, and you all know how much I love to dance, especially to country music! We did Boot Scootin Boogie first and then we did Fishin in the Dark (Lisa I totally thought of our Ricks days when this was on). And we did the whole song from start to finish a few times, and they didn't want to stop. We had been going for over an hour, dancing on this porch outside in the humidity and we were all sweating like crazy. But after we turned off our music they put on theirs and they taught us one of their dances. They are all such incredible dancers...its just amazing to me the way they move effortlessly. So we dance for another hour at least before we had to get to bed so we could get up for church the next day. But we are going to do it again before we leave. SO FUN!! I actually gave a talk in church on Sunday. That was interesting. I speak Portuguese all the time here but I hadn't given a talk in over 2 years...so it was a little more difficult than I thought it would be. Everyone said it went well though...It must have been the spirit talking.

We also went to a museum last Saturday and went down to a different beach. Actually, first we went to visit the nicest hotel in Maputo...it's really nice. And then we decided to eat lunch at the Holiday Inn which is also right on the beach. Now get any image you have of a Holiday Inn in the USA out of your mind, because this was one really nice hotel. And we ate lunch out on the patio over looking the pool and the beach...then we went and played on the beach. It was wonderful...and although I felt like a rich, spoiled child, the lunch was farely cheap by our standards, but living where I'm living and knowing how the majority of the people in this country live, I felt guilty...there is so much poverty. It's hard to justify living like that. But that's why I'm here teaching English and Budgeting, so I can help this country in some small way to get rid of the widespread poverty.

Yesterday we actually went out to the really rural part of the country, it was about an hour away, to hear the President of Mozambique speak. It was pretty cool to be there and see him and all the people in that region out doing their traditional dances and singing. He gave a great speech about how poverty needs to become a thing of the past just as the colonialism that ruled them for 500 years is now a thing of the past. I have learned so much about the history of this country through reading their poetry. That is one of classes that I am taking while I am here. I wasn't excited about it at first because I don't really love poetry. But the poets of Mozambique also happen to be the political leaders. We visited a famous artist and poet at his home in Maputo last week. His name is Malangatana. He is close to 80 years old and he has a gallery of his work at his home. It's not really stuff I would hang in my own home, but it is very expressive of what he has lived through. He is a jolly old soul inspite of the horrible things he has seen. Two of his poems we studied he actually read for us and then explained them. One was about his brother who was a farmer and on his way home from the fields one evening he was brutally murdered by the members of the opposing political party. Another was about his sister-in-law who was at home sleeping when she was dragged out of her hut and raped, also by members of the opposing political party. These are just a few of the things that touched his life and the lives of so many others. Their civil war just ended about 15 years ago. And Malangatana was actually one of the leaders who was at the signing of the peace treaty in 1992. Wow. I am continually amazed by these people and their fight for freedom.

Sorry about the depressing aspect of this, but it makes the culture and the experience so much more real for me. And I want you all to understand what it's like here. Now on to a lighter subject...we are just having a great time. All the other folks who are here with me are great! We were just talking today about the fact that we have all only really known eachother for about 2 weeks now but we feel like family. We have gone through so much in that short time...it just brings you right together!! And Professor Williams has become one of my heroes. He has taught me so much already and shared so many stories about his life and experiences. I hope to be able to do to even a part of what he has done to help people. This is just the start for me!

Well that is about all for right now. My time is almost up and we are actually going to teach the Youth in our branch country dancing tonight. We're going to teach them the cowboy cha-cha...I love it.

not too exciting!

2007-05-21T00:31:00.001-07:00

sorry i haven't posted anything in awhile...I feel like I am not really doing anything too exciting and probably nobody wants to hear about it! haha all well anyway life is great here in Hawaii...we finally met some ppl and had a bonfire on the beach the other day. It was pretty much amazing...also Krista and I rode the bus into the swap meet this last week. Wow was that an adventure! I felt like I was back in NY/DC only WAY more confusing. Luckily the bus drivers are very helpful so we found our way there and back and didn't even get on a wrong bus haha good thing since its a 2 hr bus ride and I had to get back to work. Also speaking of work this last week was the World Championship Fireknife Competition at the Polynesian Cultural Center and oh my gosh it was amazing! I worked a couple of the nights helping out with concessions so I got to watch the show from the side, but i actually bought tickets to the Friday night show, which was the boys ages 6-11, 12-17, and then the semi-finalists in the 18 and older category. Now I don't know if you guys know what a fireknife competition is, but let me just tell you each contestant has 2 turns. The first one they just have one stick with a knife on one end and then both ends on fire and the 2nd round they have 2 sticks with a knife on one end of each stick and then all 4 ends on fire. They basically do all sorts of tricks with the sticks, spinning, putting the fire on their tongues, throwing them up in the air. anyway it is pretty much amazing. I will try and put a few pictures on that I took, but they are kind of hard to see. anyway so that is basically what is happening in my life I am hoping that this week will lead to some fun and exciting adventures seeings how its Memorial Day on Monday, but I have 3 papers due that I have to get done before any play so we'll see......oh also my hula class is pretty much amazing! haha my teacher finished making me my hula skirt and it is awesome! I will have to take a picture and post it later. Also that website has a lot of different pictures we have taken and I update every once in awhile so feel free to check back...if you want! :) Oh also this last week at enrichment we learned how to make like 6 different kinds of leis and this is one of the ones I made. So cool!

Photos...

2007-05-21T06:23:00.001-07:00

Here are a few photos of what has been going on around here...hope you like them.

Marriage is what brings us together today.....

2007-05-21T10:53:00.000-07:00

This weekend was a blast from the past as friends from all over (ok, really only California, Las Vegas, and Utah) reunited in SLC for our friend Erin's wedding. We had a little reunion BBQ on Friday night and Saturday was full of all the wedding festivities. Erin looked beautiful and the whole day was pretty amazing. So fun to be with old friends, laughing about "remember that one time...", and catching up on life.
To top off an almost perfect weekend, I spent Sunday in P-town visiting the fam. I can't believe how fast all the kiddies grow up. They're not babies anymore. It's hard to put into words, but there's nothing quite like spending time with family to help me remember what really matters.

One of the best surprises of the weekend, my sister and brother-in-law happened to be driving through Salt Lake on Friday on their way to Colorado for their summer internship. We met up at Cafe Rio (of course) for dinner and I got to see my cute little niece and nephew. Unfortunately Tyler wasn't really cooperating to take a picture, so you all miss out on seeing his ginormous double chin. He's only 2 months old and so chubby.

"Memory"al Day!

2007-05-29T13:25:00.000-07:00

Well we just thought everyone would like to be a part
of our excitement from yesterday. We started out trying to sleep in being
that we had no where to go. Well, Tyler woke up at 5:45am. I kept him happy
until I realized that he had peed through his clothes and all over the bed. I got him all changed and we stayed in bed watching TV(still wishing we
were sleeping in). I was holding Tyler and went to set him on the bed when
I realized that I had poop all over me and on my pillow. So I was
getting in the shower at 6:30am. So much for sleeping in. Luckily Allie slept
until almost 9am. We had quite a few other crazy events before we finally left
to go on our picnic/hike at 1pm but we will just skip those or this will be
a novel. Except I am just remembering one that happened right before we
left. I was nursing Tyler and Brandon was getting ready to make the picnic
sandwiches. We had just been to the store and I bought Allie
a bucket(I can't think of a better word) of raisins. Brandon had given
them to Allie because she was starving, as it was lunchtime. Brandon came back around the corner to find that Allie had spilled the whole bucket of raisins on the living room floor. We cleaned those up and were on our way. Tyler and Allie both slept all the way to Pearl Lake. That was nice because it took about 40min. We hiked this trail that went around the lake and stopped to eat lunch. It was SO pretty but a little cold. I had brought us all jackets in case it was cold but Tyler was already dressed pretty warm and Brandon and I decided that we didn't need ours. So Allie was the only with a jacket. As soon as we got sat down I hear Tyler start pooping. He is still in the carrier so I am trying to hurry and get him out so that it does not squish out everywhere. I pulled off his pants looking at his back to make sure it didn't leak not realizing that it had already squished out the front and I wiped it all down his leg when I pulled off his pants. Brandon was trying to help and keep Allie away from the water. As you can see in the pictures we were pretty close. I was lucky enough to
have an extra change of clothes for him except it was from the other day and it was shorts. Tyler was still really cold so we stole Allie's jacket and put it on him. We only lasted a few more minutes before we started
getting attacked by mosquito's. We gave up and went back to the truck. We still
had a lot of fun though! We grilled hamburgers that night and had to go
back to the store because we forgot to buy charcoal and we were going to have
homemade ice cream only we bought half and half and forgot the whipping cream.
We got Allie in bed and I fell asleep watching the Jazz game while Brandon was
trying to watch the game and deal with a grouchy Tyler that did not want to
go to sleep. This day will have some fun memories.

Sweet Times!

2007-06-01T12:39:00.000-07:00

Hey! So we have had some pretty fun adventures in the last little while...I had my first set of papers due last week so that was fun! I can't believe it is already midterms and I come home in like 3 1/2 weeks! Crazy! anyway my first set of papers is overwith, but don't get too excited cause I have like 6 more to write that are due this next week...yay! So last Thursday we went and hiked Waimea Falls it was way sweet. The hike/walk is so pretty and then there is a little waterfall and swimming area at the top, it was awesome. Also after the hike we went and got Acai bowls, which are this Brazilian fruit and its made into a smoothie and they put granola, bananas, and honey on top! Wow it is SO GOOD! Friday Krista and I went in to Haleiwa, which is like a couple towns over, it takes about 45 min on the bus. Anyway it is like the cutest town ever it is so small, but very touristy. This is where they have Matsumoto's which is like the best snow cone place ever and they have this homemade ice cream place that is like to die for! haha basically all I ever hear about is all these good places to eat and all the different food I need to try! Saturday we went kayaking all day and it was so sweet. We drove to Kailua beach and then kayaked out to these 2 islands, hiked around and cliff jumped and then kayaked back. It was awesome. Also that night they had a thing called Food Fest on campus. It was so cool, it was outside in the flag circle and pretty much the whole town is invited haha it kind of reminded me of the July Jamboree in Cedar except way smaller. Anyway all of the different clubs at BYUH prepare some sort of food and then they sell plates of it with tickets that you buy at the front. anyway it is really cool and they had ALL kinds of food. Monday we rode the bus to one of the beaches along the North Shore. It was great, there are so many gorgeous beaches it is out of control. We also went and ate at this Thai place called Haleiwa Eats, wow it is so good I didn't think I would like it, but pretty much amazing! We also had a bonfire again the other night on the beach so that was fun. Basically we don't have very much time left so every day is going to be action packed! Stay tuned for more exciting adventures! Oh also I had my first hula test and here is a picture of our awesome hula skirts that our teacher made for us that we have to wear!

Aruba, Jamaica....oooo I wanna take ya.....

2007-06-05T10:08:00.000-07:00

I found this past week another piece of Heaven on earth. It's a small island about 15 miles off the coast of Venezuela and it is AMAZING. Contrary to most islands I've been to, Aruba is mostly desert, but the water and weather are fabulous. And what more do you need when you want to lie on a beach for a week.

And lie on the beach is pretty much what we did....well, with a few other activities in the mix including sea kayaking, pushing our car through the Marriott parking lot b/c the battery died, slides at the water park, eating at a few fabulous restaurants, and snorkeling. Food highlight of the trip, sugar waffles (Liege waffles) from a Dutch deli. Similar to churros in texture and flavor, they are to die for. If there is a Dutch restaurant in your neighborhood, I highly recommend a visit.

For those looking for a good place to vacation (i.e. sit on the beach, read, and get a tan), Aruba is in the top five on my list. The food and service were great, weather comfortably warm (except when in a car with no air conditioning), fairly inexpensive as far as islands go, and the water temperature just about perfect. The only real painful part.....coming back to reality.

Here are some photos!

2007-06-07T06:19:00.000-07:00

This was seriously the coolest thing ever! Giraffes, elephants and monkeys just hanging out a few feet from our car. Amazing!!

Well folks, I finally have my camera and am on a computer at the same time...with the camera cord as well. So here are some photos from the last week in Swaziland and Kruger park. As you can probably guess, the ones with animals are from Kruger and the others are the village and waterfall in Swazi. The pictures just really don't do it justice.

Allie and Tyler

2007-06-10T20:09:00.000-07:00

Just a video of Allie and Tyler playing.

The blog you have all been waiting for...mine! ;)

2007-06-20T10:58:00.001-07:00

Look at Cali's Face! haha Love her!

Grad Night! It was the bomb!
Below is John and I...what a stud!

Well, all I know is that a picture is worth a thousand words... so instead of boring you all to death with my extremely monotonous life, I will just post pictures! Yeah! haha and believe me I do have a lot of pictures! Goodness the last time I talked to all of you I was still in high school...

how embarrassing! shhh But now I have graduated and moved on, went to Mexico, found a new love, AND got asked out by this guys on campus I did not even know! I was quite proud.. not! More like scared out of my mind. It is a real funny story that I would love to tell all of you when we are together and it is not over email, I mean, blog. Well I had such a fantastic time at Graduation.. I spoke... none of you were here to hear it... thanks... family sure does mean a lot these days...;) j/k It's ok you guys just all get to hear it when you get home anyway! well I do not even know how to do this, where to i put pictures... hmm Well after graduation I went to grad night and that was fantastic! The decorations were absolutely amazing! I had such a good time and was extremely wasted by the time I went home! Then Monday morning came and my friends and I headed to Mexico! Since you guys have all been there I do not really need to tell you how fantastic it was, it was great!!! I loved it and got some nice sun while I was there. Well amidst all the commotion I fell in love with John Grimshaw! He actually went to CV, but what does that matter anymore, it doesn't! We are meant to be and are so alike that is sometimes creepy. Just for example, speaking at graduation; he spoke last, moved the tassle, and said the closing prayer all just like me! It is crazy. So I have some way fun storied about john...;)... that I would love to tell on a more personal basis with everyone! haha Well I want to just post some pictures now, but don't know how. I am now living in Pleasant Grove trying to find a job on campus for the summer. It is now Strawberry Days and I love it! I am going to the rodeo tonight!!!! The carnival starts today and I REALLY just want someone to be here.. so they can kiss me at the top of the Ferris Wheel! I will just have to wait! Well I love you all and can't wait when we are all together for a minute again! Love, Kendra Sorry about the array of pictures all at the top... I dont know how to fix it! Enjoy! Oh, John is the one in Green! Isn't he just a doll! And he is taller than me! Don't you guys fret, on our way to Mexico we definitely DID take a picture in the rock! All the girls were so amazed! haha I guess that is what happens when you have not taken a picture there every time you pass! Sorry for the randomness of this, and there are SO many more pictures I would like to show all of you, so be excited! I love you and good bye!

I'm Proud to be an American!

2007-07-06T21:47:00.000-07:00

I am proud to be an American and celebrating our nation's birth this last month was just one more reminder of how lucky I am to be here. After being in Africa for 2 months I don't know that I have ever been more grateful on the 4th. And what a 4th it was...but first I need to back up and finish up the rest of my African adventure.

We were in Mozambique until June 18th...I think. The weeks I spent there were incredible and I learned a lot. I feel like it is similar to the mission in that when people ask me how it was, the one sentence response of "It was great" just doesn't do it justice. But most people don't have the time or they don't really care to hear just how great it was. My students were all sad to see us go and they gave us a parting gift of a capulana and hair scarf. So great. The highlight of the last week there would have to be getting my hair braided. Yep, I actually put braids in my hair, and not just my hair, I had extensions, so I had about 4 times my original amount of hair. It was quite a painful process...I don't know how they do that all the time. The girl's in my class each redid their hair at least twice while I was there. We decided we wanted to join in the fun so me, maggie and Ellen all got it done. It took 3 girls about 4 hours to get mine done. Wow! I can't say I would ever do it again but I'm glad I did it just for the experience. Here are some pictures of us getting our hair done, the finished product, and then what it looked like when I took them out. Hello I look like a lion! I decided that since I had the amazing hair, I needed the makeup to match. But that was after I returned from Africa. I kept them in until I got home so the fam could see.

As for our last week in South Africa, it was a dream come true. We started out on Monday morning, taking a bus from Maputo to Johannesburg where we were blessed to stay with some friends of Maggie's who were just as nice as could be. Then we headed out early the next morning for Jeffrey's Bay. Those of you who are surfers should recognize the name, it's apparently one of the best spots in the world. Well Brian is a surfer so that was one of his dreams. We drove all day and arrived at our amazing hostel called Cristal Cove. If you ever make it to J bay you should definitely stay there. A stones throw from the water, great rooms, nicest people ever, and they arranged for us all to have surfing lessons the next day. You can't be in J bay and not go surfing. It was my first time and it was great. I'm not that good, but I loved it. It was tempting to drop out of life for a year and just become a surf bum. But we all decided that probably wouldn't be fulfilling enough for us. The whole experience was great. The other best part of J bay was the billabong factory store where I purchased a garbage bag full of clothing and could have gotten more if I would have had room in my suitcase. Loved it!

We headed out Thursday morning to get to Cape Town by that night. We drove along the coast which is called the Garden Route and it is beautiful. But nothing was as great as Cape Town. We crossed the peak of a mountain and we were all of a sudden looking at the lights of Cape Town with the sun setting perfectly behind Table Mountain. It was an amazing sight. We ended up staying at a hostel called The Backpack right at the base of table mountain and so close to downtown. It couldn't have been more perfect. The first day there everyone else wanted to go sandboarding but Mags and I wanted to tour the city. It is a booming metropolis, which I wasn't expecting. I think in my mind Cape Town was still just this little historic city like the one I have read about in my history books. But it was a perfect outing. There were beautiful gardens, a great outdoor market, and we ate lunch outside at the Sundance Cafe. In the afternoon we all met up to go up Table Mountain. I don't even know where to start to describe that experience. It felt like we were on top of the world. And as such, Maggie and I sat on a rock and listened to the Carpenters sing "On top of the World" on my ipod. It was one of my Africa highlights, no questions asked. We were up there for several hours, it's huge park up on top, and then we watched the sun set over the Atlantic ocean. :) It was a perfect day. But it didn't end there.

Saturday we drove around the entire cape. The pictures say more than my words ever could. It was raining and cold but the clouds did amazing things with the light on the ocean. It couldn't have been better. Standing at the tip of the cape, I had to ask myself "am I really here? standing at a place that has so much historical significance? Incredible!!" We discovered that there is a perfect open beach for horseback riding, if only I would have known sooner. Next time, that is number one priority. But we did get to see the African Penguins. You can actually swim with them but the weather was not ideal for that kind of activity. So we just stopped and stared for a bit. It was a long but great day.

Sunday we went to church in a random ward and the weather was still pretty stormy so we decided to drive out to the other point of False Bay called Hangklip. My reason was that I wanted to see the light house...I have a thing for light houses. And I had seen a picture of the one there. The problem was that it wasn't actually street accessible...the road was closed off. So we started hiking around this little point, not sure exactly where we were going to end up. Rain was threatening to pour any minute, but it was all worth it when we came around that corner and saw that beautiful light house. :) I was one happy camper. Even when it started raining on us before we got back to the car. It was a great adventure.

The last stop before heading home was Kimberly where the first diamonds were discovered. There is a big hole there that was dug entirely by hand with picks and shovels by men who were hoping to find their fortunes. They have a great museum that is brand new that gives the history not only of the big hole but of the diamond world. And it tells a little about the cruelty that was used in the diamond mines as well. My favorite part was a timeline on the wall that said things like "such and such diamond purchased by Joe Dimaggio and given to Marilyn Monroe for her birthday" and things like that. Liz Taylor apparently has quite the collection. I can't even imagine...but as they say "diamonds are a girl's best friend"!!

Well this is quite the long winded post and I'll be surprised if any of you even read all the way through it. But for those who did, I'm glad. And if you have any questions or comments, you know that I am always willing to talk more about it!

Kingdoms and the Animal Kingdom...

2007-06-04T05:01:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodness I don't even know where to start!! We spent this last week traveling with Professor Williams and his wife and daughters and 2 daughters-in-law to South Africa. And Swaziland, which is a small Kingdom inside of South Africa, and then Kruger Park, which is a wildlife reserve, where we got to see many creatures from the animal kingdom, up close and personal.

First of all, Swaziland was beautiful. It really looks like southern California but there are only black people. We rode a Greyhound bus to Nelspruit, South Africa and then we rented vans (like the one we rented in Portugal) and drove to Swaziland. We had some unfortunate events including long lines at the Mozambican border (we were in three countries in one day!! talk about stamps in the passport!!) and 2 flat tires at the same time on the same van. That was due to the awesome potholes on the road to Swaziland. Great experience. But we were riding in comfort. Because the vans we were in are the same size as the ones they use as mini buses here that could fit 15 people, but they cram in 25...not joking. It is a sight to behold. And we only had 8 in ours, so we felt like royalty. That feeling only increased when we arrived at our destination which was a lodge with little cabins. Each room slept 2 people and had a bathroom with a shower and flushing toilet!!! Need I say more? But the luxury doesn't end there. Walking out behind our cabins reminded us of the movie dirty dancing except that there was just a pool instead of the lake. But there was the side walk with the lodge at the top all lit up with little white lights. And when we got there (after more than 12 hours of traveling) we went straight to the restaurant where the proceeded to serve us the most delicious 3 course meal...my mouth is watering just thinking about it. I slept better that night than I have since I got to Africa. It's amazing what a comfortable bed and bathroom can do for a girl!

The next day we got up early and continued with the royalty treatment with breakfast...so scrumptious. We spent that day in a little cultural village learning about the Swaziland traditions and swimming in a waterfall and then buying souvenirs. There is so much more I want to include but I just don't have time! I love the culture here and our group is just so much fun. Everything we do is great. That night when we got back we played the IPOD game, which is stinkin hilarious and we must play it when I get back with our whole family. We were all falling off of our chairs with laughter. But the next day we headed out for Kruger park. Which was everything you ever imagined Africa to be and more. We camped in these little tents and we went out on an African Safari at night and early in the morning to see all the animals. I felt like I was on the Indian Jones ride at Disneyland!! We saw giraffes, rhinos, monkeys galore, hippos, lions, zebras....and the list goes on. I now understand what inspires people to make those National Geographic documentaries, I could have sat and watched those animals forever.

Well, my time is almost up and I'm sorry I don't have pictures to post. Maybe next week. I hope everyone is doing great.

picture web page

2007-05-06T21:37:00.000-07:00

Hey so I was thinking that it will probably be easier to just post all of my pictures on a web page and then you can all get on there and look at them if you want to. So here is the link and I will try to update every once in awhile! Peace out!
Brianna

http://picasaweb.google.com/briannahaynie/Hawaii02?authkey=eD3nld9DyQM

My first week

2007-05-08T07:06:00.001-07:00

Well I decided that I will write an email to you all and then I will just post it to the blog when Im done. Just because its easier to save it in gmail than anywhere else. Soooo many things have happened I dont even know where to start. Im sorry its taken me so long to write but internet access is a little difficult. There are some computers out where we are but they are really slow and they are for the students and I feel bad taking up their time.

So here goes nothing. The flight over here was actually not bad. I met up with two of the girls in Chicago and we were in London together. That was a great time...we had 8 hours to see the city so we just ran like crazy from place to place. The best part were the parks. We had lunch by a lake in Hyde park and then walked through the St.James park (I think that was the name) to get over to where Big Ben is. It was beautiful. The day was great. I actually didnt sleep at all on that plane ride so I was REALLY tired by the time I got on the flight to South AFrica. So I slept most of the way. We met up with the rest of the group at the airport in South Africa and all caught the flight to Mozambique together.

The first week has been absolutely crazy. Its not very organized, and we didnt really know what we were doing at first. Its more organized now. Elyssa and I are teaching English classes at a school called One World University. I am also teaching a class on Budgets (Mariah Iºm totally using the stuff I learned in your relief society lesson!!) Their knowledge is so basic. Its actually a university, they are studying to get their bachelors degrees, but their learning level is just at a completely different place.

I dont have a lot of time so I just want to tell you some of my favorite things so far. The people are beautiful!! ANd they are so nice. I love it. And the singing and the drum playing. Its just amazing. And the artwork and everything that is going on. Its just amazing and Iºm so happy to be here. Iºll try to write more later and send pictures but I have to run. We are at an internet cafe and my time is running out. We went to the beach today...good times. Very different from what I thought it would be, but good

Love you all,
Becca

I made it to Africa

2007-05-03T01:21:00.000-07:00

So I am sitting in a room with cement walls and floors and a tin roof, and yet Im using the internet. This is going to be quick because other people need to use the internet and its REALLY SLOW. But I wanted to let you all know that I have arrived safely and I am loving it. Except for the lack of running water and having to pour water into the toilets...but that is a whole different story that I will go into on a different day. This country is beautiful as are the people here. I love speaking Portuguese and being the minority...its impossible to blend in here. I will try to post pictures sometime soon but I dont know when I will be able to. I love you all and will write again soon.

Love ya tons!!

Becca (the Mozambiquan)