ETHIOPIA!

Heres the airport on the farm! Seeing the expedition group and my friends leave was so sad, i've missed them being around.

This is the little baby I talked about. any suggestions?

My welcoming sign!

This is the best part.. in the local language it says:"No, you cannot marry my sister." in hopes it would it keep some of the eager suitors away for awhile. Thanks Alyssa! They weren't so easily discouraged, after being there only a few hours i got my first marriage proposal!

Just doing the morning ironing...

I bought my beautiful necklace from the women next to me in the teal scarf, who made it.

Bath time!

I traded one of my bracelets for one of her bright colored beaded ones. A great trade if you ask me!

These monkeys were so cool, they weren't afraid at all!

I hang out with monkeys in my spare time, sort of.

One of the yummiest fruit drinks! it even has avocado on the bottom.

This was visiting one of the schools. I loved spending time with all the kids.

Our crew with Teddy's( our driver) awesome bus!

So after a great trip in europe it was off to africa. You wouldn't believe the surroundings here. it is out of this world. my first day i spent in Addis( the capital of Ethiopia). I went to a school, the market, i met a 100 yr old women, saw things that truly made my heart hurt but yet i can still love it here. Though everyone is so poor and there is a lot of sad things there is also good happy things. the people are a happy, helpful, and loving people. i often have people holding my hands. in the culture here the women hold each others hands and the men hold one anothers hands wherever they go. It's crazy being a white person here. they call and chant at us and say "Faringee Faringee" it means foreigner. i've gotten oodles of attention from all the people. especially being a white girl. don't worry i haven't been scared or felt threatened though i have to take precautions. Kids come and crowd around us and beg or try to sell us things. i hate that i can't help them all. with my group i've got to go to several different schools and take them school kits and desks. My favorite thing is interacting with the people and the kids. i'm learning some of there language. it's hard since there is so many different ones depending where you are at. For the past 2 weeks i've been with the expedition group and 9 boys who were rescued from the streets and grown so close to them all. Each day brings another exciting and new adventure. i've been able to be with some of the native villagers and the bush people and it's unbelievable how they live. the people here are so beautiful too. i got to go to a native marriage celebration. the women dress so pretty in bright clothing. us Faringees were the honored guests. They fed us injara ( a nasty sour sponge crepe thingy) weird barley stuff and curltled camels milk. Nothing that is easy to eat and yet they were expecting us to down all of it. i'm very lucky that i haven't been at all sick despite things i've eaten and been around. At the celebration the groom was pretty old. it was awful to see the bride who was only 15 maybe. she was going to be his 3rd wife. she looked so sad. i'm glad we have the right to marry who we want. The things i have experienced and seen has opened my eyes and humbled me. i have a greater appreciation for simple things i've taken for granted. like running water, a hot shower, dish towels, paved roads, a working toilet. the list could go on and on. i'm now on the farm with Alyssa and her family. it was the best thing meeting all my new nephews and niece and seeing her again. the kids are amazing! i love them so much. Today the street boys and other expedition people left. it was so sad to see them go. i've grown so attached to them all. i wish they could stay with me too. i get to help with all sorts of medical cases that come in. it's unreal the variety that comes to us for help. lots of burns, injuries, delivering babies, it goes on and on. it's hard to always know what to do. i just got done caring for a 2 week old baby whos skin broke out in sores and blisters. she's one of the cutest babys ever. i hope she can get better soon. hopefully this has all made sense and you get a small idea of what has gone on. Hope your all doing well. No doubt the adventures will be continuing. i'll try to keep you all updated. I love it here!

i left on a jet plane and found rome.

My time building up to this trip was perfect. i couldn't have had a better summer. As leaving time approached i never expected it to be as hard as it was to say goodbye to everyone. I'm grateful to have the best friends and family in the world! All my flights went great and I met some interesting people. Ironically, i sat by the same man on two of my flights. My first impressions of him were based on his appearance. He was huge, tattooed, lots of piercings, chain smoker, had a mullet, and didn't say a word. basically i thought he was freaky. I couldn't believe after i transfered flights to find myself next to the same guy! who would have thought. He ended up being super cool. He shared his Rome pictures with me, as he'd been there previous. after saying goodbye to him and one more flight change i was flying out of the country. Though the flight was long and i was freezing the whole time, the time went by fairly quick. i sat by a boy who was my age. He was going over with a mayors youth group. Anyways, after a long day and night i finally made it. Rome was amazing and the sights were spectacular. I was suppose to meet my group, who i had never met, at the Rome airport an hour after my plane landed. unbeknown to me their airplane had mechanical problems and they ended up getting put on different flights and super delayed. it was terrifying being in a a huge place not knowing what was going on, alone, unsure, and not being able to speak the language. i told myself to be real brave! i exchanged my money, got a cab, and made it to the hotel where i thought my group would be waiting but they weren't. i checked myself in, showered, and fell asleep. it has been so hard getting myself adjusted to all these time changes. last night was the first night i've slept all night! anyways, that night they finally all got there and found me. they are such fun and good people. i instantly felt comfortable and loved them all. i traveled with Juile and mike rhodes who were the expedition leaders. this trip for them was more of a family humanitarian trip so they had two of their kids jaymee (16) and Jaden (16) their family friends Kent and Teressa, another family friend Rob and his two boys Jordan (15) and Josh (18). They couldn't have been better to me. i got to see most of the main sights the short time we spent there. sadly though, we missed out on the Vatican. We did lots and lots of walking which was almost miserable since it was so hot. it was in the 90s and was humid on top of that. We ate lots of gelato ( A super yummy ice cream) to cool us down. i enjoyed seeing the different culture and lifestyle. Rome was a blast! hope you enjoy a few pictures-

No questions asked, this guy must be cool.

One thing that was so refreshing in Rome was the large amount of style. There was a better and bigger variety then just your local Walmart style. Not that this women is really demonstrating it..

The beautifully lit coliseum at night.

The coliseum is massive! Going inside and having a tour was incredible.

Good looking people with naked statues right there. sadly, i forgot to throw a coin in!

I thought this girl was so cute and way cool sitting on the spanish steps painting.

The architecture and churches were super intricate and beautiful.

No matter where you were there was always something cool. like this painting on the building.

All over there was people dressed up and posed perfectly sill like a statue. They looked so fake. People would drop money in their can. This is something i definitely want to try in Rexburg :)

They drive crazy here! always zipping around. They drive smart cars and scooters and basically nothing else. This is some of their tight and up close parking.
Heres some of the gang. left to right: Josh, me, Jaymee, Rob, Jordan, and Jaden.

I'M IN ROME!

Definitely bigger then Rexburg :)

There was all sorts of people doing different tricks and talents on the street of money.

Lyd Jo is hard core, silly, cool and beautiful.

My Beautiful Soul Sister.