One week away!

Ok, so I officially leave for Honudras in one week....  Well, in about an hour or so... :)  I am so nervous you have no idea!  I'm in that stage where you remember all of the things that you should have done about a week ago-EEK.  Of course, I am not even in Missouri right now to handle these  to-do items, sooooo all I can do at this point is just plug away the best I can and trust that no matter what I will do something good while I am there.  It may not be exactly what I planned....but, eh....this is a learning experience remember????

For those who really know me, you can attest to my feelings of nervousness and homesickness.  After all, you've been listening to me talk about these feelings for a while now.  For those who don't know me well, you're probably thinking "wait...she hasn't even left and she's already homesick?"  I wish it were that simple.  You see, for the past couple of months I've been bouncing around from city to city, state to state and even country to country....At the current moment I am at a camp in Colorado Springs with my teen leadership council...two weeks ago I was with the same group, only we were roughing our way through the Ozarks on a wilderness adventure trip...two weeks prior to that I was in Jamaica.... Next up-HONDURAS!  Oh my goodness I can't believe it is already here....

So, things I've done over the past couple of weeks to prepare.....
1) Finished my vaccinations.....First let me tell you about this experience.  My round of vaccinations were simple...I had a typhoid shot.  I felt feverish for about a day after that and then just moved on.  Second round-Hep A, Hep B, Yellow Fever and Tdap.........  The travel nurse (in her sweet patient nurse voice) said "Ok...so, the Hep vaccines are more medicine, but don't hurt as bad as tetanus, so I am going to put those in one arm and the tdap in the other....You will have some sore muscles, but nothing too bad".  YAH RIGHT.  Both of my arms have serious bruises on them still and they hurt down to the bone.  Word to the wise....spread your vaccinations out over a period of several weeks.  Don't wait until the absolute LAST day to get them and do them all.
2) Malaria meds.......Ok folks, lets talk Malaria medication here.  This stuff is seriously crazy.  Ok, so yah it protects me from getting malaria an all but it has some crazy side effects-bad dreams.  This will most likely leave me sleep deprived before my trip and well, that isn't good.  I have had the craziest dreams anyone could imagine.  Most of them being nightmares.... WHAT THE HECK!?!?!?  So, word to the wise on this....don't plan a camp with 19 teenagers the week you start your malaria meds.....you become cranky and tired and they really don't have any sympathy for you.  Even if you show them the bruises on your arms from your vaccinations.
3) Ordered cameras.... I know what you are thinking, and yes, I know that waiting until 10 days prior to departure to order your equipment is a little gutsy, but bare with me here.  I have been a little busy here.  I contacted some folks in the MPH department to assist me with ordering my cameras and she mentioned that they didn't have enough in the certain kind I needed.  Let me back up a little bit....the didn't have enough re-furb cameras on Amazon.com for me to buy at a seriously discounted rate, thus, I will likely have to pay more for brand new cameras that could possibly turn up missing anyways.  Not good....  But, I have faith that they will all arrive ON TIME!!!  If they don't, have no fear...you'll hear about it.
4) Learned the very sad news that one of the students (and a dear friend of mine) will no longer attend the trip....Here is the deal with this, there is really nothing good I can pull from this because I'm super sad they aren't going anymore.  Being that this person was going to be my spanish speaker, I am going to have to have crash course on basic conversational spanish before I go because lets be honest....my spanish is no es bueno (NOT GOOD).

Out of all of these things I can honestly sit here and say that at this very moment I still feel comfortable and confident.  Want to know why?  Because I know that no matter what happens, I'm going to go down there and make a difference in someones life.  Even better, I am going to learn so much while I'm there.  I am going to come back a very humble person because of my experiences.  This is what it is all about folks.....making a DIFFERENCE. :)

To do for next week:
1) Figure out how I am going to get to and from Chicago (departing airport and arrival airport)
2) Pack
3) Print translated release forms and english release forms
4) Develop a training/script because lets be honest....I'm going to need to practice my spanish.  What better way than in a script!?!?
5) Oh.......go to Honduras for two weeks and learn some of the most valuable lessons I'll ever learn.

I CAN DO THIS...I CAN DO THIS....I CAN DO THIS....

I'll bring you along...if and only if you promise to follow this blog while I am away!  I'll update as much as I can.  Feel free to post words of encouragement on the comments section of this blog. :)  I'll need it!

Oh, if you're still wanting to financially support this project, please do so....any fund raised after the trip will go towards my return trip in January for video diary sessions with the locals! :)  Info on how to donate is posted in my initial blog post... I NEED YOUR HELP! :)

Thanks for all who reads this....we are almost to 400 hits! :)

Adios,

SheWhoTravelsForJustice.... :)