"Memory"al Day!

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.

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

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.

Photos...

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

not too exciting!

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!

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.

From Sea to Shining Sea.....

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.

My first week

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

picture web page

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

Random Pictures!

The view from our backyard!

The gorgeous Laie Temple

hello!

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!

I made it to Africa

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)