Judit, Me, Erica, Jacki
Chad attacking Shaun during Ultimate Frisbee
HDC olympics -- Shaun won Gold in this race!!
Round robin ping-pong -- I won the Silver!!
We won team Gold!!! GO TEAM HONDURAS!

Well, a lot has happened since we last updated. We met our team members, competed in the HDC olympics, participated in the Amazing Race, Harrisburg Edition, Walked around downtown looking like freaks trying to hide from our team members. All in all it's been a great week. I'll try to post some pics but our computers here are really slow and so I'm not sure how many I'll actually post!

We're learning so much about leadership and cultural sensitivity. We're also getting to know our teammates which has been pretty fun so far. There are 4 of us. Shaun, me, Leo, and Gina. Gina is from Mechanicsburg and Leo is from the Bronx. We're all pretty exhausted because they keep us really busy here. Feel free to comment and ask questions on the blog so I know what you all want to hear about.

Well, we have finally arrived in Harrisburg and we are beginning to learn our way around the city. We have a "room" that includes a small living area, a VERY small bathroom, and a bedroom; but it is starting to feel like home! At this point there are only about 15 of us at the training center, about 6 staff members and the rest of us are team leaders for missions trips going all over the world. The rest of our team members arrive this Sunday (September 14th).

Most of our sessions thus far have centered around team leadership training and exploring characteristics of a good leader. They have been very informative for both of us. Most of our time is spent in or at the training facility, which is fenced in and locked up at night. However, we have not had any "disturbances" thus far and we are starting to feel comfortable in this new setting. On Wednesday, a few of us took a run around the city. We ran down to the Susquehanna River and then to the Capitol building. The streets of Harrisburg are a little different than the streets of Mont Alto!

Yesterday, seven of us jumped in a minivan and ventured out to find Wal-Mart. It was nice to leave the facility for a while. We got some snackfood, laundry detergent and flower pots to make our room feel a little more "homey". Needless to say we are having a blast and we'll keep you posted on future adventures as they come!

Tomorrow

Well, we leave tomorrow for Harrisburg. I just wanted to post some of the pics from TN.

Getting ready

Well, we're packing up all of our things for Harrisburg where we'll be living for the next 3 months starting this Sun. It's crazy to think that its here already. We can remember last year when we were still talking about doing this and trying to figure out how we were going to raise all of our support money. Well, now it's all raised, we're moved out of our house and we're all packed and ready to start our trip.

We had a great time in TN visiting with Hylton, Kara, Hayden, Nick and Elana. Hopefully later today I'll have a chance to upload some photos from the trip.

Last night was our last night in our house. We're moving out all the big stuff today (including our bed) and tomorrow will be spent clearing out all the small stuff and cleaning for the next person renting. We're kinda sad to be leaving but since we were renting, it never really felt like our house. We'll be staying at the Kipe's until the 7th when we go to Harrisburg. We are going to visit Hylton and Kara in TN on Thurs. and we'll be there til Tues. That should be a lot of fun. We always have fun with them and we haven't seen them for a while!!

Well, here are a few pictures of our house and us on our last night in it!

Yesterday at Shaun's work they had a cookout and also brought him a "going away" cake. It's soo cute! I'm only sad that I didn't get to taste any because chocolate cake with peanut butter icing is not only Shaun's favorite cake but my favorite too. The cake was so cute that I thought I should put it here so everyone could see it too.!!!

Packing Maddness

So right now we're packing up our house/apartment and getting ready for our training to begin in Harrisburg. We have accumulated so much stuff for only being married a little over a year. I've already packed up 3, 35 gallon size plastic tubs with kitchen stuff alone. And there is so much more to do! We need to be out 0f our house by next Thursday and so you can imagine what our house looks like right now! It's hard to decide what to take along with us and what to pack and what to throw out. After we move out of this house, we're moving in with Shaun's parents for a week before we go to Harrisburg.

For those of you who don't know, the training we're doing is for the STEP team. It's a group of (hopefully) 6 that will go to Honduras for 5 months and do whatever needs doing there. We might teach, we might build things, we might help out at children's/nursing homes.......whatever they need. The entire program is from Sept. 7th 2008- May 23 2009 so it's a big commitment. We're so excited to get started!!!

Our lovely kitchen and living room...
Another shot of the living room...

Hallway into the bedroom...