Dumelang (Sotho for Hello All) from Pretoria
<3 After a month of traveling around the US, I finally made it to Africa. I have limited internet access right now but just wanted to let you know I made it here safely! God is good!
Sunday, January 26, 2014
Friday, January 17, 2014
One week til take off
A week from today I fly to Johannesburg, South Africa. I leave on Friday, but I wont get there until Sunday! That's two days of FLYING! OY! I think I am still in denial that this is real life. Like I am going to wake up in a few hours and realize I dreamed this whole thing up!
Until Then
I'm currently sitting in the SL, UT (do you see what I did there? Salt Lake, Utah haha! I know I'm a weirdo) International Airport with 2 hours til take off! I'm headed to Hawaii to visit my sister Zuri. She has been teaching there with Teach For America for the last two years. Our youngest sister, Jasmine is meeting us there tomorrow. I am super excited! I've never been to Hawaii before and this trip will bring my count to 28 states out of 50! One of my 30 before 30 goals is to hit all 50 states! I have a lot of traveling to do in the next 4 years!
Nomad Diaries ( NY-DC-NC-SC-FL-NC-UT-HI)
It has been a month since I moved out of New York and started on my nomadic tour of the US. I started out my tour in DC to visit grandparents, friends and sorority sisters. I took the megabus for a dollar! (www.megabus.com) Then I made my way by amtrak to Durham, NC to visit my mom, sisters, and high school friends. After three days, my family hopped in an SUV and we drove down to Columbia, SC for Christmas with my mom's boyfriend's family. The day after Christmas, I boarded a 12 hour amtrak train to Tampa, FL to spend the New Year with my boyfriend and his family. Two weeks later, I took a 15 hour train ride back to NC to meet up with a friend from grad school (GO FSU) , go through my storage unit, pack for South Africa, celebrate my mom's birthday, and have a reunion with my best friends from undergrad (UNCG!).
Packing
Tired yet? I was! Thank God for Jasmine. The night before I left for Utah, she helped me pack for 4 days in Utah, a week in Hawaii, and 9 months in South Africa. Let me tell you, she is a packing nazi! Every time I picked up a cute shirt, scarf, or skirt...
Her: "How many times are you going to wear that?"
Me: "Hmmm (counting in my head)..."
Her: "Nope, you don't even know. It stays."
This went on until the wee hours of the morning! But thanks to her, I had one carry on with all of my hawaii and utah stuff, two checked bags weighing under 40 lb. each for South Africa, and a magic purse (that's what I call oversized purses that seem to have no bottom)! What???? Thanks again Jazzy!
Utah
Ok, so where were we? Oh yeah, Utah! The last few days have been amazing! I got to reconnect with my maternal grandparents, aunts, uncles and my awesome cousins! As the oldest cousin, it's pretty incredible to come back and see all of the great things they are doing with their lives. My cousin Spencer just celebrated his birthday and his first week at college. My cousin Brigham just got back from his mission in Argentina. And my cousin Ian is balancing a research assistantship, teaching assistantship, an internship, 18 hours of graduate level classwork, and his honors thesis. Oh, did I mention he is an undergraduate? What!?! Lol needless to say I am super proud of all of them! Special shout out to my cousin, Taylor, who is serving his mission in Mexico! I definitely missed him this trip.
One week til take off
Last month my checklist had about 50 things on the list. Now it's down to 3! I'm all packed, tickets have been purchased, housing has been secured (http://www.ayumu.co.za/pages/gallary.html), international phone has been purchased, and blog is finally up an running (thanks for reading)! The last few things are: 1. VISA (OY!) but don't worry, I talked to the consulate on Wednesday. It will be in Hawaii by Monday. 2. Take lots of photographs in Hawaii 3. Do Yoga on the Beach! Hehe, I know my life is super stressful right now!
Time to Board
That's all I got for now! I will post more once I'm in Hawaii! I promise to upload pictures in the future! Until then check out my most recent FB photo album Goodbye 2013, Hello 2014
Peace and Love,
Esty
(P.S. Please excuse the grammar errors! I will do my best to edit in the future!)
Until Then
I'm currently sitting in the SL, UT (do you see what I did there? Salt Lake, Utah haha! I know I'm a weirdo) International Airport with 2 hours til take off! I'm headed to Hawaii to visit my sister Zuri. She has been teaching there with Teach For America for the last two years. Our youngest sister, Jasmine is meeting us there tomorrow. I am super excited! I've never been to Hawaii before and this trip will bring my count to 28 states out of 50! One of my 30 before 30 goals is to hit all 50 states! I have a lot of traveling to do in the next 4 years!
Nomad Diaries ( NY-DC-NC-SC-FL-NC-UT-HI)
It has been a month since I moved out of New York and started on my nomadic tour of the US. I started out my tour in DC to visit grandparents, friends and sorority sisters. I took the megabus for a dollar! (www.megabus.com) Then I made my way by amtrak to Durham, NC to visit my mom, sisters, and high school friends. After three days, my family hopped in an SUV and we drove down to Columbia, SC for Christmas with my mom's boyfriend's family. The day after Christmas, I boarded a 12 hour amtrak train to Tampa, FL to spend the New Year with my boyfriend and his family. Two weeks later, I took a 15 hour train ride back to NC to meet up with a friend from grad school (GO FSU) , go through my storage unit, pack for South Africa, celebrate my mom's birthday, and have a reunion with my best friends from undergrad (UNCG!).
Packing
Tired yet? I was! Thank God for Jasmine. The night before I left for Utah, she helped me pack for 4 days in Utah, a week in Hawaii, and 9 months in South Africa. Let me tell you, she is a packing nazi! Every time I picked up a cute shirt, scarf, or skirt...
Her: "How many times are you going to wear that?"
Me: "Hmmm (counting in my head)..."
Her: "Nope, you don't even know. It stays."
This went on until the wee hours of the morning! But thanks to her, I had one carry on with all of my hawaii and utah stuff, two checked bags weighing under 40 lb. each for South Africa, and a magic purse (that's what I call oversized purses that seem to have no bottom)! What???? Thanks again Jazzy!
Utah
Ok, so where were we? Oh yeah, Utah! The last few days have been amazing! I got to reconnect with my maternal grandparents, aunts, uncles and my awesome cousins! As the oldest cousin, it's pretty incredible to come back and see all of the great things they are doing with their lives. My cousin Spencer just celebrated his birthday and his first week at college. My cousin Brigham just got back from his mission in Argentina. And my cousin Ian is balancing a research assistantship, teaching assistantship, an internship, 18 hours of graduate level classwork, and his honors thesis. Oh, did I mention he is an undergraduate? What!?! Lol needless to say I am super proud of all of them! Special shout out to my cousin, Taylor, who is serving his mission in Mexico! I definitely missed him this trip.
One week til take off
Last month my checklist had about 50 things on the list. Now it's down to 3! I'm all packed, tickets have been purchased, housing has been secured (http://www.ayumu.co.za/pages/gallary.html), international phone has been purchased, and blog is finally up an running (thanks for reading)! The last few things are: 1. VISA (OY!) but don't worry, I talked to the consulate on Wednesday. It will be in Hawaii by Monday. 2. Take lots of photographs in Hawaii 3. Do Yoga on the Beach! Hehe, I know my life is super stressful right now!
Time to Board
That's all I got for now! I will post more once I'm in Hawaii! I promise to upload pictures in the future! Until then check out my most recent FB photo album Goodbye 2013, Hello 2014
Peace and Love,
Esty
(P.S. Please excuse the grammar errors! I will do my best to edit in the future!)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)