a wild time

These photos speak for themselves. We saw over one million wildebeest, lions, lions mating, elephants, baby elephants, giraffes, thousands of zebras, hundreds of warthogs, cheetahs, vultures, crocodiles, hippos- if its in the Lion King, we saw it. We hung out with it over the weekend.

Some moments in your life pass by slowly and you think, "it's never going to get any sweeter than this." This was one of those moments. A truly once-in-a-lifetime, all the cheesy phrases you can think of - that is a safari in Africa during the Great Migration. It was beyond spectacular.

the wildebeests fording the river for their life

hyena pup

tanzania/kenya serengeti/masai mara border

Check them all out here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10200648457430135.1073741835.1121340352&type=1&l=544e993826

until God sends us somewhere else

One of the most popular posts on this blog from when I was living in Madrid, Spain was a series I did on my favorite people. And so, a few snippets of the amazing people that I have met in my six weeks in Rwanda. Meeting people is absolutely one of my top three favorite things about traveling. And this summer a few people I've had limited interactions with have had a BIG impact on me.

• Akagera Couple - a woman who developed curriculum for USAID and her husband, who have been living in Rwanda for one year but have been living in Africa or the Middle East for 27 years. When I asked them if when they got married they had any idea they would live overseas for most of their marriage, he responded, "We didn't know at the altar, but God made it pretty clear shortly after." And I just love that. When asked how much longer they would be in Rwanda, he chirped immediately, "Well, we'll be here until God sends us somewhere else." I just loved that. Aren't we all just somewhere until God sends us somewhere else?
• Mimi - Mimi lived in the DRC as a missionary kid for the first 15 years of her life. Then she went to boarding school in the US and didn't see her parents for many years. It could take a year for a letter to get to DRC from the US in the 50's, if it even got there at all. She told us some incredible stories and I could have listened to her talk for hours. I said to a friend of hers how impressed I was and that she should write a book! She responded plainly, "She has!" Click here for her story and devotional books. Her husband, a doctor and professor of medicine for the University of Colorado is in Rwanda working for the Clinton Foundation to help educate doctors in Rwanda to promote better family health practices. 
• Two high schoolers with such maturity and wisdom far beyond their years in Rwanda for several weeks to help Mimi with her projects and around the house. They have such bright futures ahead! 
• A girl who is here in Rwanda designing the sowing projects for a women's cooperative with her fashion design degree. SO COOL!!
• Missionary Family #1 - Gary has been here in Rwanda for 27 years. It goes without saying that he has an incredible story about coming here on a short term mission trip, and never leaving. Read on HERE.
• Missionary Family #2- A couple who have lived in Southern California and Oxford, UK and now have their two children in Rwanda. When they first met, they had no idea that he would chase a Masters in Divinity in Oxford, that would lead them to WorldVenture, that would lead them to Rwanda. These missionaries host a school for preachers. Since Rwanda's education system is built on memorization, the average Rwandan doesn't know how to use the critical thinking portion of his or her brain. This blows my mind, because as a law student, the ONLY part of your brain you use is critical thinking. So the preachers here start preaching to churches, only on what they have memorized or feel "called" to talk about, but have no formal biblical education. Very interesting the work they do, and how it can have such a huge impact on Rwandans whose faith is stronger than most faith, but whose biblical knowledge and spiritual foundation is lacking.
  Read MORE here. Really cool work, interesting people and this organization is the one who provided us a house to live in while in Rwanda.
• Devin - fluent in Kinyarwanda (I cannot overemphasize the impressive nature of this statement because this language is so impossible) from living in rural Rwanda for two years with the PeaceCorp. She is now in law school at Tulane, and is a delight to spend time with. 
• Mary Ann - a student working on her Masters in Counseling, in Rwanda for a few weeks to host a training session with our IJM counselors. Mary Ann is awesome. She came to Rwanda with open eyes, an open heart and dived right in. She asked some hard-hitting questions, and got us each thinking about God's plan and our futures as she was contemplating her own. Interested in using her gifts for counseling victims of trauma, I am confident that wherever God sends her, she will be a great asset to that community. We were so sad she wasn't here for the whole summer. She also boldly drank an entire glass of fermented milk. You may be thinking, "that's not so impressive," but I couldn't stand within 20 feet of the milk for more than 30 seconds until I got gagged and had to run out of the room. And she drank it! Then survived a three hour drive on bumpy, uneven, dirt roads in the back of the car. She is a champion. We miss you Mary Ann! 
• A girl who works for WorldVision, about my age. She is on a tour of East Africa, spending a few days in each country visiting WorldVision sites. After three sentences, I was green with envy for her job.

The people I have REALLY gotten to know this summer I will "teach you" (as you would say in Spanish) about in my next post.

"When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, 'The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."
-Matthew 9:36-38

Like Barack Obama said, 'Yeah, It's time for a change"

It was a whirlwind of a weekend. I ate and drank great Hungarian food but didn’t get a chance to really see the city during the day or do anything touristy so I simply must return. I liked Budapest from what I saw, but I prefer Vienna. I didn’t like how there was no one on the streets after about 5:30 pm and that it got dark so early. I imagine it would be odd for me to live in a large city without the liveliness of nightlife filling the streets. It was wonderful to be with great family friends and to get out of Madrid for a few days.

Melania and I nailed down our plans for our break from school the first week of December- we are going to Portugal! I am SO excited. We will fly into Port and fly home from Lisbon, so we will really have an awesome time. I cannot wait already.

Of course, I am missing Dad and really upset I am not in NYC like I usually am this time of year. Especially since we didn’t go for Thanksgiving last year, it seems like it’s been forever since I had a traditional according to the Brown’s thanksgiving. BUT I have super exciting news! Dad is in Europe and I will get to see him on Thursday! Again, I asked off for work (I am the worst part-time employee ever) and was told it was fine so I will fly to Paris on Thursday and have Thanksgiving dinner with my Daddy. I. Am. So. Excited. I have been thinking for about two weeks now that I wouldn’t be able to go, so this is truly spectacular news and I am thrilled.

The first change is the melancholic/weird feeling is gone! I think it was getting out of Madrid for some fresh Hungarian air, reminding myself that I don’t need to be stressed because God is in control of this law school ordeal and knowing that I will see Dad in just a few days. There are other HUGE plans and really, really exciting things to look forward to. Paris. 4 days in PORTUGAL. Susan is coming. I am going home! Alabama football. #ROADTO14 thennn Ansley is coming in February! I was starting to second guess a few tough decisions I had made these last weeks and those doubts have totally gone, which is awesome.

When I landed, braved the rain in Madrid and made it up to my apartment door, I put in the key and it wouldn’t go in all the way. Super confused and feeling crazy, I had to ring the doorbell to get a roommate to let me in. This guy, one of the two new people from Panama that just moved in last week, informed me that over the weekend the locks were changed and the Italian that I really hated was KICKED OUT. I heard the rest of the story from the new guy and shared with him all the reasons why I disliked him and my excitement over this news. Totally overjoyed, I texted Cande (the Argentinian that I love) and our old roommate who moved out because he disliked the Italian so much. I am more happy than ever that I decided to stay here and stick it out. I have a WONDERFUL sofa, a new bookshelf and my ideal room (minus a white board, coffee table and art on the walls but hey, I am making progress!). I am seriously SO EXCITED that he is gone.

Yesterday, I came home to a NEW roommate in the Italian’s old room. A guy from France who is working here for a software company or something. He seems pretty cool. We will all be here til July so I hope that as I get to know him and the other two Panama people better, I like them more and continue to feel actually at home and safe here.

I am finally use to my crazy schedule and most importantly, the levels these kids are at. I can tell that my lessons are almost at the exact right level- there are words/phrases students don’t know, but there are also enough words that they do know for them to understand the reading or worksheet.

THIS IS PROGRESS, my friends!

For you readers over the age of 25 or for those who didn’t catch it, the title is from “Lolli, Lolli,” a rap song I listened to this morning walking to school.

I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date

Determined to catch up on blogging, expect several long posts to come. First of all, about my weekend. I took off Thursday from work and went with Melania to Budapest, Hungary to help with a conference for Biolase. We were running super late on the way to the airport and totally relieved when we got there and checked in with no problems. So relieved actually, that we overestimated how long we had to grab something to eat and again ended up running toward the gate as the plane was already boarding. Running late was a theme of the entire weekend as you are about to read. Melania blames it on being Italian, I blame it on my mother who was never on time anywhere. We ended up getting on one of those moving sidewalks and having to run in the opposite direction to catch the flight. It was quite a sight.

On the plane, I was fortunate enough to sit dead center in a group of about 30 Spainards going to Hungary for a ballroom dancing competition. It was like a scene out of Home Alone. They wanted to be my best friends and share their life story and I was dying to catch some ZzZ’s. Obviously, that didn’t happen at all. They switched seats, talked, told stories, laughed, made fun of each other and screamed while I journaled with my ipod on loud yet still learning Spanish. What a flight.

            Thursday night, we checked into the hotel and Melania took me to one of her favorite restaurants with traditional Hungarian food. Wow, it was delicious. The red wine we had was very distinct and really great. We met up with some of Melania’s friends from when she studied in Budapest for two years. There was a blur of Italian, Hungarian, English and Spanish, which was really incredible. The girls were awesome and we had a really good time. We were the last people to leave the bar and by the time we said goodbye, I thought they were my long-lost friends too. It was a really nice night and the first time since I have been here I really relaxed and enjoyed myself.

            Going off very little sleep, it was time to get up and get to the University where the congress was being held. At breakfast, I found friends from Biolase and we headed off to get everything set up. Once the banner, lasers, registration table etc organized, people started appearing to register. Registration went pretty smoothly, mostly because Melania speaks Hungarian and also because the four hands doing it really helped quite a bit. The first speaker was a good family friend from Rome, so we sat in on his presentation and the next course also.

Next thing we knew, it was time to break for dinner. There was a gala that night and my boots had broken earlier in the day. Deciding that we had just enough time to run to the mall to buy me new boots and to get a necklace for Melania’s dress, we sprinted to the mall. Because I cannot read my watch, we ended up thinking that we were a complete hour ahead. As we are about to pull up to the hotel thinking we have 15 minutes to change and get to the gala at the hotel, Pedro calls wondering where we are. We were a complete hour late!!! HORRIBLE. We made up for it though by being the last people to leave. As we finally decided to go to bed around 4 am, they were setting the room up for breakfast.

Again, the next morning came way too soon. Weary and exhausted, we had another full day of laser courses ahead. The day flew by though. Interesting courses, wonderful speakers, awesome snacks and coffee for survival on breaks. With our break after the certification presentation and cleaning up, we went to get a suitcase and some other things that Melania left with a friend two years ago. Opening that thing up was like finding some hidden treasure! Again, barely making it in time to the hotel in time to change and head to dinner, we were rushed and running late. But we did it. All the speakers, several of the attendees and all the staff headed to another recommendation by Melania to have a traditional Hungarian meal. The food was wonderful and the company even better. We had a great time and weren’t yet willing to say goodbye. More drinks at the attendee’s hotel and a nice night stroll across the river to see the infamous bridges and city skyline. Walking through the city watching our breath in front of our faces, we were reflecting on what a greet weekend it had been. Melania said she’s like the rabbit from Alice And Wonderland. Exactly how rushed the whole weekend was! Just 6 hours after getting back to the hotel, we headed back to Madrid.