La Sonya

To talk French again. . . I didn’t expect to speak it so soon or to a native French speaker in America really. But I’ve found myself talking out lour in French to no one but me just so I could hear it and keep it fresh in my mind. Then last week Jean-Jacques was here. He’s the camper who last summer taught me to count to 10 in French. When his mom camp to pick him up I talked to her in French. It’s so nice to be able to communicate in French. It’s still a little hard to believe that I can communicate by making those sounds :o) The bets part yet though has been yesterday. I knew that some people from the European Union were coming. I only knew that one of them spoke French and it was French from France. So when Jeff radioed and asked me if I wanted to meet the visitors and practice French I was ecstatic. I was even more excited when I found out it was four people who speak french not just one! They are all from France. One lives in Georgia and works at a sister camp, Camp Cohutta, but t...

Camping! I went camping! We packed up stuff for an overnight- me, my log sleeve t-shirt, hoodie, blanket, nalgine, sleeping bag, and I was wearing a tank top, swimsuit and shorts. Who needs more it’s only 1 night. We packed up some food from the kitchen as well purposely forgetting plastic wear :o). It added to the adventure of it all. We canoed out to the gold mine, about 1 mile away. The water was so nice and smooth, I loved it! I am a canoeing girl to the core. We get out there and gather wood for our fire then I get started building it. I only used 1 match :o) Matt Heartman helped me (but I did the main work he just gave me some twigs to burn). So we built it from team work BUT I did the initial start up. I then went swimming – it was beautiful out, clear sky, big moon. Amazing. I brought microwaveable popcorn with us and a big pot to cook it in. While we were on shore eating supper our camp ranger doubted the ability to cook it, simply didn’t think it could be done. Well you know ...

Well I am definitely back at camp and I’m sure it’s going to be a great summer! Adapting to western life hasn’t been too bad. There’s times when it’s harder like yesterday getting re-certified for CPR. The dummies were laying out on the table right next to me and memories came flooding back. Like the memory of the first woman I felt medically involved in helping to heal. I remember just standing there holding her IV Dextrose bottle so it could drain in to her veins. All the while watching James, Dr Bond, and others fight for her life with CPR. I watched them stand on the stepping stool so they could do the 30 chest compressions to every 3 bag breaths. I remember praying because I couldn’t help do the CPR and I remember helping to prepare her body after she died. I remember the fist time I personally had to help bag a patient, a small child and being so scared and not really knowing what to do. I remember Dr Bond telling me I could stop because there was nothing more we could do and w...

Here’s what happened on my first Saturday after arriving in the United States of America. I was waiting for Andrea or Stan to arrive at Sabbath School as I sat out in the hallway of Collegedale Seventh-Day Adventist Church. Just getting ready for Church that morning had been a bit of an ordeal, I had tried on a favorite dress of mine from when I came back from Honduras. But I didn’t know where the shoes for it were and I looked good in it, which is what I was hoping for. The only problem was I didn’t feel comfortable in it. It was a bit different than what I was used to wearing in Tchad. So I changed at the last min to a skirt and shirt. As I was sitting in the hall thinking the blue prints for the new middle school that the church is building in Collegedale is big and silly, Kristi and Joel camp up. I knew Kristi and Joel before Tchad but Liz had been much better friends. I had spent the last nine months looking at pictures of their wedding on Liz’ screen saver along with lots of oth...