Wednesday, August 4, 2010

i made it!

that's right...after departing at 7:00 p.m. on monday, i'm officially finally in afghanistan! {well, technically, i've been here for almost 15 hours but am just now getting to post an update.} the trip over was very smooth and the flights were pretty much a breeze. in fact, on my long flight from atlanta to dubai, there was a family sitting about 3 rows in front of me that were on their way to pick up their 7 month old son from ethiopia!! we got to chat briefly about it, and my heart leaped a little to think that we will be in their shoes in a few months :)

the hardest part of the trip is an 8 hour layover in dubai, but even that passed pretty quickly. thankfully we found mcdonalds for a late dinner/early breakfast and also some comfy lounge chairs where we could stretch out and sleep. the cultural diversity in dubai never ceases to amaze me though! you literally see all kinds of people there and i could people watch all day!

when we arrived in afghanistan, it was crazy to see that it was raining and very cool for august {not that i'm complaining!}. i have been bracing myself now for weeks expecting temperatures of the upper 90's but to me delight, it was around 75 degrees today! i guess God decided to answer my desperate pleas for a cold front :) we got settled into the guesthouse around 8:00 a.m. on wednesday but our bodies felt more like was midnight on tuesday...very confusing! so, at the advice of our seasoned guesthouse team, we decided to take a mandatory nap until lunch at 1:00 p.m. and i was seriously out like a light!! i slept very hard and was not even bothered one bit by a bunch of loud banging and hammering being done on a building right next to ours.

after our naps, we had lunch and then spent some time as a team talking about our expectations for our trip and cultural differences. our team is small {there's only 4 of us total} but mighty :) everyone is super sweet and flexible, which is key here!! we also have a variety of giftednesses but all seem to be focused on children and education primarily. it was also good because we got to spend time this afternoon with friends who are working here long term. what a blessing they are to us and to our afghan staff! we chatted most of the afternoon away, which i'm thankful for because i was growing increasingly sleepy and was trying to avoid the temptation of laying back down! around 6:00 p.m., we headed out for a fabulous dinner at a lebanese restaurant. i'm not usually a very adventurous eater, but the food was awesome and the atmosphere was even better! the restaurant is set in the heart of the city but you would never know it. we ate outside in the gardens and the cooler weather was a nice break from the hot summer we've been having in kentucky!! it actually felt more like october than august.

overall, it was a great first day and i can't wait to see what the rest of the trip holds. we are headed to B.A. community tomorrow where hundreds of afghan refugees have relocated, and our organization has been actively working for a few years. if you've been lifting us up in prayer, thank you!! so far so good so please keep praying :)

1 comments:

Katie said...

Glad to hear you made it. I seriously want to go on a trip to A-stan. Whenever you get back or if you have time, let me know if it's even possible to get in on one of those trips!!