January 21, 2010—5:45pm

Wow.  Where to begin?  Beautiful, overwhelming, loud, surreal, hot, exciting, and again breathtakingly beautiful.

Getting here was quite the experience.  My parents met me in NY and thank goodness for that because I’m not sure how the 4 girls I traveled with and myself would have made our way to the hotel!  It was great to spend time with them.  I expected it to be harder but knowing they will soon be here with me made it easier.  We had a lot of fun and I was glad to have one last night where I could snuggle in bed with Mom as Dad tried to go to sleep! J

Then we had our 15 hour flight, I was dreading this but it was better than I expected.  I was able to overcome a big challenge upon sitting in the airport for a mere half hour.  I am so grateful to already feel myself growing! We got two meals!  Dinner was great and was chicken and mashed potatoes and some great chocolate mouse dessert that had a banana flavor!!  Oh and no pop only soft drinks in tiny little cans with names likes grapetizer and peartizer, how fun!? 

Once we finally arrived in PE we were met by our directors Sister MJ and Dottie along with Steve the guy who owns Langerry Flatts (where I live).  When I got out of the car I seriously needed someone to pinch me.  Words cannot describe how unreal this is.  As if that wasn’t enough walking into my room with the windows allowing a cool ocean breeze to come into the room and seeing a view of the ocean was almost more than I could handle.  I was overcome with joy and gratitude along with fear and homesickness because I wanted my family to be there with me right that moment to understand all that I am seeing.  I think it’s a good thing I couldn’t call my mom at that moment because I would have lost it!...  In a situation like this it’s really hard to know how I even feel!

Since arriving yesterday I’ve gotten to spend time on the beach, go to the boardwalk, eat some great meals, go to the grocery, run on the beach, go dancing, and just love life!  While things our fabulous adjusting to a new culture is tough, especially the whole money thing.  It’s 7R (rand) to 1 US dollar.  It sounds simple, but it’s not.  Not to mention the fact that the rand looks so beautiful it doesn’t seem possible that I’m actually using money!! (don’t worry too much dad!)  But thanks to my dad I’m able to keep close track of what I’ve spent and where and what I’ve eaten so I can remember all the great stuff I’ve done!  So as you can see I’m having the time of my life but still in shock, we keep asking one another when the shock will go away and I don’t think it will!  I’m in South Africa, I don’t think that thought will ever get old and I pray I stay grounded and don’t forget how blessed I am.  We try to remind eachother to be grateful, especially before meals and to think of all the people who live here just 15min beyond our Flats who don’t get to enjoy the beach and great meals as they are living in townships with next to nothing.  Going to see the townships next week will be a very humbling experience to us all.

Tonight is our first night here with everyone, and tomorrow we leave to go camping so lots of fun things to look forward too.  I think of all of you at home more than you know and despite having such a wonderful time I miss home so much!  I’ll post pictures soon!!!

ps... I don't take the time to proof read so ignore the errors and randomness!