Traveling

So the trip over was fairly uneventful, I just figured I'd put up a few pictures from there and catch up from there.  All of my planes were delayed, which works out fine.  The cooler of medicines sent to me from Mercy Ships made it as well, though turning over a few times (which they'd said to try to keep upright due to cultures in petri dishes).

It was nice to have one last glimpse of some "snowy" mountains...

My 2 layovers were in DC and Brussels.  I was super thrilled to get to see Kara in DC for a few hours and catch up (as well as break up the monotony of traveling!).  Got back in through security in plenty of time, and then my plane actually got delayed due to something being wrong with the engine - so we got a new plane.  I actually did one of those 15 minute manicures in the airport (it really wasn't that  expensive I thought...of course, I've only had 1 manicure before) because my hands seemed really torn up.  So then I made it across the ocean, sitting next to a couple who were traveling to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to adopt a son who was about 1 year old.  So cool! 

Then I arrived in Brussels about dawn, which I thought was kinda pretty.



I had my obligatory "Belgian" waffle - it seemed like there were granules of sugar inside of it, no wonder they're so tasty!  ;) 

So then I went to the Africa terminal (I spent most of my time in the main terminal after a good tip from a prior Mercy Shipper) and waited on my 2nd late flight.  I ended up standing in line behind another Mercy Shipper, Steven, and our seats were actually next to each other, so we were able to talk during the flight.  I had a window seat, so it was very neat to be able to see the random buildings in France and Spain (well, actually most of the time clouds covered it up, who am I fooling), but it cleared up some over Africa, so we could see very mountainous areas (probably over Morocco) and we pretty much hugged the coast most of the way to Guinea.  Once we got to the airport, we got to customs fairly quickly (it was not like Kenya's massive line), Steven went first and appeared to have no problem, so then I went and apparently was not giving them the correct 'visa waiver' sheet - and they were calling it a visa, so I was a little perturbed that something was wrong, and then I looked through my stuff and still couldn't find the right paper...  The insides got a little shaky about 5-10 minutes into this, because I didn't want to be deported when I had just arrived!!!  ;)  Thankfully the correct form was just stapled onto an English version and I just didn't see it at first.  Shew.
Proceeded onto the luggage...took a while for my stuff, but there was no going through customs with your luggage, looking at stuff, so that was nice (all my lovely snacks made it ;) )  We arrived with 7 total MS people on that flight, so 2 MS Land Rovers picked us up.  (Saturday 40 some people arrive, so they're going to have to take a ridiculous amount of vehicles to get all that luggage and people!!)   We had a small little inservice that night with some cookies, and I was able to unpack most of my stuff.  I am in a 6 woman berth with the bottom middle bunk, which I'm glad for.  It's a little hard adjusting to try to keep everything as quiet and as dark as I can in the night/morning...I feel like it makes me take 2x as long to get ready!  :)  But I'm sure it will improve as I get a little more organized!!!

Thanks for all your support!

Made it!

Greetings from Guinea!
I have arrived safely aboard the m/v (motor vessel) Africa Mercy as of last night about 9:30 pm or so (I can't really remember what time...)
All of my plane departures were late, but that worked out fine!  The scariest part was going through customs, for some reason I could not find my French letter to the customs police granting a visa waiver.  They made me look through all my stuff and I still couldn't find it.  Finally, I found it stapled to a couple of other papers.  I had gotten a little shaky thinking this was going to end up badly, but thankfully it did not!  Of course my luggage was the last of our groups to be found, but the cooler of meds I transported arrived safely!! 
Our ship's security is handled by Gurkhas - highly trained Nepalese soldiers - so that's pretty awesome.  Apparently they go on long fast runs in the mornings...of which we can join...I just don't think I would be able to keep up, so maybe there will be other routes where people run slower!!
I am hopefully going into town a little this afternoon, and tomorrow, get to take a boat ride out to the nice islands about 14 minutes away that have a nice beach.  The ship is on 'holiday' for the New Year, so I will not have my rehab orientation until Wednesday.
I am in a 6 person berth, and there will be another newbie arriving next week!  I was able to successfully take my 2 minute shower (I think...didn't actually time the amount of time the water was running, but I'm pretty sure I was under time...  wet down, soap up, shave, rinse off.  Try not to drip water out into the bathroom floor.  Our bunks are right next to the men's locker rooms, and on the other side of that are the operating theatres, labs, Xray, etc.  (I am on the 3rd deck...so technically about 3 feet underwater)   On the starboard side of the 3rd deck are the patient wards (4).  I attended church there this morning - African led and the patients and some staff attend.  The drumming was awesome, and the dancing to accompany it at the end of the service, well, let's just say it would make some Zumba instructors jealous...  :)  The patients were fairly calm - there are not many here right now because surgeries stopped 2 weeks before Christmas.  Things will probably pick up later this week.

I'll put pictures and such up later!!

Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement!!

Getting Ready!

 

 

So I suppose I should preface this by saying I'm a recovering procrastinator and there will be a few things that won't be done until Friday morning as I'm getting ready to walk out the door...

But I have started packing!!!  :)  Mama says the room looks a bit like a 'war torn country'...  I don't think it's quite that bad.  But I got a humongous, cheap, rolling duffle bag at Walmart, and my goal is to fit everything in it and a backpack carry on.  (I will receive a package of medicine with it's own duffle bag and cooler tomorrow, so if I can keep down to 1 bag for myself, Mercy Ships (and myself!) will save money because you get 2 bags to check when going overseas.

So what do you pack for 3.5 months in Africa?  Of course, my standard, go-to Tshirts, a few pairs of pants and shorts, a couple skirts/dresses that cover my knees, a bathing suit and beach towel, a couple random ridiculous looking hats (hopefully they will be used and seen in future blog posts...Nick, my boss, says there are lots of random things on the ship where a wig, hat, crazy looking clothes might just come in handy.  So I've also packed my striped green and white basketball warm up pants from high school...  :)  I got some tasty gummy vitamins from Daddy for Christmas...AND a harmonica with instructional book (I had been contemplating taking my harmonica that has been in the house for as long as I can remember...no I don't know how to play)...but what better time to learn than in Africa.  Oh my bunkmates will love this ;)  hahaha.

 

Here's the debut of my harmonica playing skills at Christmas...try not to laugh too hard.  The actually good instrumentalists would be my dad on guitar and my grandmother on autoharp.
Not so Silent Night
Here's a brief reminder of roughly where I'm going - I definitely appreciate your prayers in the upcoming days (traveling 12/28-12/29) and then over the next few months as I am so excited to see what God has in store in Guinea!!

Thank you from your Sponsored Child!

I am so amazed, humbled, and blessed by the support of my time with Mercy Ships - the things people say to encourage me have been VERY encouraging, the financial gifts have been so generous, and the excitement seems like an overflow of my own.

Because of you, 60% of my $4000 goal is raised, and those of you that have given financial gifts just amaze me - I know so many of you have gone through big transitions recently - babies, moving, marriage, new jobs - and so many of you are either on fixed income or have student loan payments you're working on.  It really just humbles me so much to know how much you want to give to support what I get to be a part of, of God's ongoing work through Mercy Ships and in west Africa.  I feel like it also makes me want to be the best PT I can, the best Courtney I can, because you've put your trust in me in a very tangible way.  So THANK YOU!  I will do my best!!!  I know I'll mess up sometimes, but I'll trust that God is able to work though my mistakes for His glory.

I tend to have a very independent, I can "take care of it myself" mentality, and I know that this can sometimes be detrimental in community - after all, God said it 'wasn't good for man to be alone'.  I think that is one reason it is so humbling for me to be able to see all of your support, both verbal/written and financial, I have asked for your help and you have been SO generous that it's somewhat overwhelming to receive all this goodness at once!!  :)  So again, thank you!!

And a funny story - one of my friends received my prayer letter, and as I had mentioned in the letter, put it in a place (on the fridge) where she would see it often to remember to pray for me.  Her husband came home and glanced at it, then asked her - 'Did you sponsor a kid in Africa?' (or something like that).  She was in a different room and didn't know what he was talking about until she realized he was referring to my letter.  Hehehe.

So in one way ya'll are actually sponsoring lots and lots of children and adults in Africa, just a very specific physical therapy sponsorship!!  :)  To see of bit of the Guinea Screening Day and therefore some of the people I will actually be seeing, here's a video!  Thank you so much from your sponsored children (me and more!)!!!

Where I've been working...

Falling Springs waterfall on the side of the road on 220N

So this is my first taste of home health, and I'm out in the beauty that western VA provides, driving around through farms, next to waterfalls, turkeys, deer, horses :), and lakes.  Pretty awesome scenery if you ask me!  Plus, it's been fall, so I've gotten to enjoy all the lovely leaves that I missed last year out west!  So here's just a sampling of my scenery, and a story...

Lake Moomaw where I saw a pt in a campground





My trusty steed admiring the view





Charles Ingalls overlook for my "shortcut" from Monterey to Lexington



Heading thru Goshen Pass



Sunrise on my way to see a Lexington pt

I was visiting a patient for the last time, sitting talking with her and her husband, when something catches my eye behind her husband.  A mouse jumps down from the wood pile onto a shelf.  I say, "there's a mouse!" (no, I did not scream, just was really confused as to why this mouse was so slow moving), and the hubby puts on his leather work glove that just happened to be next to his chair, reaches out and picks up the mouse (again, why didn't the mouse run away?!)  He stands up and talks with us a little more, lets me look to see the mouse's tail is atleast moving, and then takes it outside.  This is the same family who the week before had been awakened by a noise, turned on the light, didn't see anything, then went back to bed.  Upon hearing something near the window, hubby shines his flashlight right out the window near his face and a bear snout is looking in at him.  He pounded the window sill and the bear ran away.  They showed me the window, and it's about 5-6 feet off the ground.



Driving down a pt's driveway...the sheep paid me no mind





Humpback Bridge is just off the road where some of my eastern pts are!



A little more about Mercy Ships

So I've learned a lot the last couple weeks since being able to email with Nick, the rehab team leader from Mercy Ships.  He is also a PT, so I will not actually be the only PT (YAY!!!), and he will help orient me with learning how to do the Ponseti club foot casting, learning how to read Xrays (there's also a MD that works with us, Dr. Frank, to help make those decisions as well...I don't know if he's always with us, but I think he plays a large part in things), and just generally helping me understand what to do! 

One thing that's different than I thought is we actually see our outpatients OFF the ship - in a big white tent called the Dockside Rehab Unit, that has parallel bars, theraband, plinths, casting supplies, and all those little things that make a PT's heart smile.  :)  And it's air conditioned!  :)  So this has the added bonus of I probably won't feel quite so clausterphobic because I will be going off the ship everyday for work!  We do a lot of club foot serial casting, and we will see a LOT of outpatients who had their ortho surgeries done in the months of Nov and Dec (right now!!) as that's when the ortho surgeons are there.  So 2nd praise, not only will I be working off the ship some, I will also be seeing a lot of outpatient ortho (which is my 1st love when it comes to PT).

I was able to look through the current PT's blog whose spot I will be replacing, and she also had some photos of a group excursion or two to the beach and upcountry where they did some hiking.  So 3rd praise, I might get to do some hiking!!!  :)  (obviously it's a coastal country, so mountains (high point = Mt. Nimba at 5, 700 ft) aren't that high, but still!)  I look forward to getting to explore a little bit on the weekends!

I'm working on the details of my airplane tickets currently, and hope to have that finalized this week!  I am so excited!!! If you'd like to see my official Mercy Ships webpage, and my basic prayer letter, go here!

Dolly Sods Wilderness

So for the last couple years I've really been wanting to explore the Dolly Sods Wilderness, WV and the Art Loeb trail in NC.  Beverly was kind enough to be my hiking companion for a weekend in Dolly Sods a few weeks ago.  They say the scenery is more like Canada than West Virginia (never been to Canada, so I'll trust everyone else).  We were past blueberry season, and a little past peak leaf viewing season, but it was pretty awesome.  I love being up on ridgelines and high meadows, and we did indeed find a little of that!  As well as plenty of bogs...so thankful for waterproof boots (although after you've already made it to the campsite 7 miles in...and misjudge a rock in the stream, you'll still end up wet! ;) ).

On the drive up we stopped by Seneca Rocks (and got a map of Dolly Sods because I oh so smoothly forgot it at home...)

Ready to go (yeah my sock cap is kinda covering up my eyes...)

Heading down the trail - although the sky looks ominous, we didn't have any hard core rain, but did have some off & on

one of many stream crossings...

or beaver dam crossings...

 We had such diverse scenery - the open bogs and pine trees, hardwood forests, streams, rocky highland meadows (but who can resist a little rock scrambling...

our fall-side "glamour shots"

The sky turns a little pink at sunset...

a little water "feature" near our campsite!

Sundown...

Home sweet home for the night...

Probably my favorite thing about camping is eating...and finally getting to get up in the morning because I didn't really sleep all night (but that's what I expect at this point)  Since it was pretty chilly (didn't freeze the water though, so I'm thinking upper 30's, 2 nice fellas who let us share their campfire since our attempts with wet wood (that's why we brought a stove...) were unsuccessful gave us a couple hand warmers, and I brought one of those thermal heat wraps you stick on from the Dollar Store and stuck it on my backside.  Totally helped.  New strategy for sleeping - hand warmers in the socks, thermal thing on the back, ear plugs, and tylenol pm (which I got, but forgot in the car...)

Breakfast!!!

Hot chocolate! (old school boyscout wear & new age squishy bowl)

whoops...

a couple miles into the 10 miles on day 2

If we'd been there a week early, the place would have all red!

Looks like an unexploded missile to me!

a little bit of ridgeline...

gotta admire the view!

 Hiking and getting away from it all is usually where I feel closest to God - look at what an imaginative, creative Creator we have.  It's like every breath you breathe out there is an act of worship.

ahhh nature!

Bev demos how the wind blows & tree limbs point in 1 direction

holly berry?

The hills are alive!

Taking it all in...

on top of the mountain!

Gourmet lunch, ala Dottie

Delivery?  not even close...about 3-4 miles left!

beautiful day!

one last stream crossing!

I definitely would recommend some Dolly Sods hiking...if you're doing the northern section, waterproof boots would be advantageous as well...or something you don't mind getting wet in warmer weather.  I think another trip when the blueberries are in season is in order!  :)  Art Loeb...you'll have to wait til I get back from Guinea and I can figure out when to do about 30 of the prettiest miles in NC...  :)