Ready to Go -Dave

Hi Everyone,

Well, we are a few hours away from leaving the Fort Wayne airport, my suitcases are packed full and I know the team is packing and re-packing....oh what fun and excitement. We are looking forward to a life changing experience and sharing our culture and life in Northern Indiana with our Rotarian friends in District #2430 in Turkey. I am humbled and thankful to have a very talented and diverse team to share with the families in Turkey. We are grateful for the prayers and interest that many of our friends and family have for us during our trip. We know that we will experience many different aspects of another culture and hopefully, it will make us better citizens upon our return and repectful of the many blessings we have here. We look forward to the reponsibility of being ambassadors, both cultural and vocational for all the citizens of Indiana and Rotarians around the world. We thank all Rotarians around the world for supporting this program.

Countdown is on.... - Sarah

It's 11:30am the day before we leave--- yipes! How did it get from October until here?!?

As we've all mentioned-- the lists, oh the lists. Even before this trip I was a list-maker. The only problem is I have a tendency to start a list, get distracted by something more pressing (and/or shiny) and then: oops! a whole day has gone by and the list did not get as much attention as it should have in a better world...

I've also discovered random things seem important to accomplish (washing and changing my bed sheets that will stay empty for six weeks) and objectively important things (buying a travel alarm and power converter) get continually shoved to the back-burner.

Today is the day I find my zen about the trip. Today is the day that if it doesn't get done, well- it just may not get done. For someone so prone to taking on so much- this so-called zen place will be a hard one to travel to-- much harder than Turkey!

Thanks for everyone's support and for taking the time to read our musings!

Until next time. . .

I'm an official blogger - Erin

This my first time to Turkey and my first crack at the art of blogging. I've been spending my evenings wondering what I should be doing, then doing, and then wondering if I should be doing something else. It seems most minutes of my day have been assigned a task, i.e. clean out car, clean out refrigerator so nothing spoils, tell neighbors I am leaving, pay XYZ bill early, and so on. I am actually eager for the extended travel arrangements to go to Turkey. I'm hoping my body gets out of overdrive mode during those 24 hours. Am I excited? Yes. Am I ready? Survey says no - but I'm getting close.

Thoughts from Vivian

So Friday is creeping up faster than I want it to. It feels like I have packed too much, but that i've packed too little. My list oh that list. If only I had a fireplace it would be consigned to an ashy grave.

Gifts what gifts? I’m still getting and packing those. I promised myself I would be packed no later than Wednesday night; we’ll see. For the past 3 days I have shopped for at least 2 hours a day. Did I mention I am not that fond of shopping? There is still more to get. I just keep thinking of small Turkish cars so that my suitcase isn’t too large.

They say pack everything and take half out. What happens when the half includes the required clothes and gifts? Come Friday I’ll either be underweight or carrying the equivalent of a 5-6 year old child.

Please wish us all luck. At this point I think we are more nervous about packing than we are about what will happen once we get there.