Good Goodbyes.

Today we learned how to say proper goodbyes. Many tears were involved. Read more here.

Open hands and an open heart. 

Crossing Bridges.

Nerd camp. What an adventure it has been!

The past three weeks of training have more than adequately prepared me for life abroad. Last week (no stitches in the photo!) we talked about transition, and to give a visual what it might be like to move to another culture, I got to get in front of the class and cross the "culture bridge." 

Trying to get over the "chaos" phase.

 We talked about how sometimes you need help with transition. Sometimes you need support from people who are on solid ground- either because they have been through the process before (other Ex-patriates), or from those who have not ventured across the culture bridge (people back home).  

Crossing the bridge with ease...with help. 

The only problem is that sometimes I don't like to ask for help. I want to be able to do it on my own. Oh pride. 

I was encouraged to ask for help, and although I was reluctant to ask for assistance, my friends were glad to give it! Crossing the bridge became so much easier once I laid down my pride and allowed people to help me. 

All of this is to say that when I get to Nepal and am going through culture stress, I might "forget" to ask for help. So feel free to ask me if I need a hand crossing the culture bridge. :)

The real deal.

This week was exhausting. Because the fires were too close (we could see the glow of the fire on Tuesday night!), we got evacuated. Talk about preparing us for potential real life situations... this really presented some teachable moments. 

The smoke coming in.

Smoke in the mountains as we were driving out of town. 

Our shelter for a couple of nights. 

Click here to read more. 

Language Training.

We made it to Colorado! Click the link to read a bit about language training.  E-mail me for the password. :)

The view from the walking path near our training center.