Pasadena, California

Hello all! Greetings from Pasadena, California! I arrived yesterday around 4 in the afternoon to the sweltering southern California heat. After getting registered and getting my room key, I went to my room. Talk about stepping back in time. It was probably built in the late 70's/early 80's and NO air conditioning! It was sweltering. My roommates first comment to me as I walked in the door was, "You're not Che!" I said no I was not and then we introduced ourselves (her name is Reba) and talked about the fact that for our five weeks of training they specifically did not pair us up with people on our own team. We are close in age and have a similar dry/sarcastic sense of humor. I think it will be a fun, if hot, five weeks. After meeting Reba, we went to the main room and made names tags and hung out until dinner time. I had not found any of the other people on my Slovakia team and was beginning to get a little nervous. Their are only five people (including me) on my team. Finally, on the way out the door, I met my first teammate!!!! Yeah! Her name is Karin and she hails from just outside Dallas, Texas. She is very fun and sweet and we immediately liked each other. We had a yummy BBQ dinner outside and finally met the rest of our team.

Me, Darla, Becky, Vic & Karin


Becky is from Filmore, New York (an hour from Buffalo) and just graduated from college. Vic and Darla both have taught high school in Ohio. They have two great, well-behaved children named Ana (pronounced with a short o) and Domonique. After dinner it was back to the main room for a short meeting and then the first of many break-out sessions. Breakout sessions are when the different regions separate into their own groups (China/Vietnam, CIS - formerly Russia, Central Europe - my group, and Morocco). This was where the fun began. We played umpteen name games. By the end, I was tired of name games, but I also had memorized almost all thirty names. Yeah! Now, to get to know everyone better. By 10:30, I was exhausted and ready to hit the hay. Which is exactly what I did. The second day started with a wonderful time of worship and teaching. More name games - since everyone had changed clothes and hairdo's. Then on to a pool party with the rest of the Central Europe team. The people on the team are great. About 20 are going to the Czech Republic, 12 to Hungary and our team of 5 to Slovakia. The pool party was held at the home of the man who started my whole adventure - Henry Eu. Henry was the man who was at the World Impact health clinic with his wife and handed my sister, Kacie, the business card that started this whole process. It was very cool getting to talk to him and thank him for the role he played. We also had our first Slovakia team meeting at the edge of the pool. Ahhh... if only all are meetings could be poolside.
How we spend our evenings!