First post whoo!

I’m sitting in the Miami airport right now killing a couple of hours until my 8-hour flight to Salvador. I’m so excited to be going! I’m really excited for my volunteer placement – I’m going to be teaching English to children, teenagers, and adults at the Comunidade Coração de Jesus (the Jesus Holy Heart Community Center). I can’t wait to see what sort of impact I’ll be able to make in these people’s lives… when I went to Morocco last summer to do similar work, I wasn’t really sure what to expect (meaning I had NO clue what to expect) and right when I felt like I had finally gotten the hang of things, it was time for me to leave. This will be a completely different situation and location, etc, but I feel more prepared for my work. I’m just kind of anxious to see what Brazil will be like because in my head right now, I keep imagining that I am returning to the CCS home base in Rabat. I can’t wait to get to the home base and see what Salvador is like. I’m also ready to meet everyone, since I know no one else going!

I’m also really excited to have four weeks to just… stop. I can’t wait to get out of the rush of school, and have time to really think and figure out what I want to do with my life – where I want to go, what I aspire to do, what my goals are. I’ll have a good amount of free time in Brazil, as I will be volunteering for four to five hours every morning, and then will have most afternoons and weekends free. I can’t wait to be able to just sit down and read for fun, and draw, and write in my journal, and think. I already have finished one of the books I brought along to read (just now, here in the airport… haha oops?) but I have my Bible with me so I’m really excited to have time to read it and really focus on it. Did I mention that I plan on doing a large majority of this reflecting and contemplating on life, ideas, etc on the beach?! Haha.

Anyways I’m going to be updating more often but my battery is draining so I don’t think my comp is going to last much longer here… I had my computer plugged into one of the four outlets provided in this concourse (quality… haha) and there are these two girls sitting in the area who have had their phones plugged in for so long – they had them plugged in for a while before I even got a chance to plug my computer in! – and anyways so just now this older man who has been sitting here waiting for a while finally asked one of them if they were almost done, and the girl just kind of looked at him and did this attitude tongue click thing, and he said, “well you’ve had it plugged in for a really long time now….” and she kept being all attitudey with him (teenagers these days!) so I offered him my plug.
So until my next update, send me an email! Or (perhaps even better) if you are wildly intrigued by my ramblings, and you didn’t get a chance to read my blog that I kept while in Africa this past summer, you can go back and read some of my adventures while in Morocco and South Africa! I would recommend reading the earlier stuff though because a) there are only two or three posts from South Africa since we only had internet twice a week there and b) I had more energy and time to write in Morocco and c) I had some funny experiences in Morocco…. Being hit on in the airport by Yasmine (my long lost love…), almost being sold off for camels (package deal with Natalie! haha), my experience in the hammam (still prob one of my fav things about morocco… also the hazelnut ice cream… and my IBNY kids!!!! Oh my goshhhhh I miss them so much… ah ok Miami airport is not the place to get all sentimental though. I need to get a grip. Also, sleep.), my wedding, etc etc. The link to that blog is: http://meganinafricasummer08.blogspot.com/.

Ok I think that’s about it. Peace out girl scout.