Meet and Greet

Last night I went to a meeting with the group I am travelling to The Gambia with. It was so nerve wracking as I'd only met 1 lady before and I'd only met her once. However there were 17 of us there, and there are 23 people going in total on the trip so I have now met most of the group. And it feels so much better now that I can put names to faces. It has made me sooooo much more excited about just getting out there! 

Some of the group have been before and a couple people have never been. So it's a rather mixed group. They are not all from the same church either, so they don't all know each other well, which makes me feel much more at ease because everyone is making new friends, it is not just me joining with a group of friends being the odd one out. 

We were given our flexible itinerary:

We discussed this and then people who have been on this trip before shared why they are going back and what they got involved in last time they were there. Everyone agreed that being there is life changing and impacting in a huge way. 

We will be in the schools every morning we are there. Then over lunch we have spare time to do what we want to do and then into the local villages and schools in the evening for activities there. So it's not all work which is good, hard work and time to play. Sounds great!

I shared about being on a photography degree course but being scared to take my own camera with me, and straight away 3 or 4 people offered me the use of their cameras. It was amazing! However when I came home and thought about it, I think I will kick myself if I don't take my own camera. I am hoping to buy a video camera because I really am determined to make a film over there so ill definitely be buying a video camera for the trip. 

We have been told the hotel has free wifi in it so we can take phones, iPads and laptops. This means we can contact home for free using Skype and FaceTime, which is great. It also means I will be able to write my blog still while I'm there! Keeping you all up to date each day. 

So, if I'm taking my video camera and my iPad is taking my camera as well just too much ?? But if I don't take it I will literally kick myself for not taking it. And really I won't be carrying much else so it's not like taking a full bag plus these things. It's just these things. Ahhhh hard choice !!! 

Also in the meeting we talked about what we might want to get involved in while we're in the schools ie, teaching songs, playing games, teaching a class, decorating etc etc. I think I would really like to be involved in the painting and decorating. This I think would be a lot of fun... And I do enjoy a bit of painting and messy play! 

I also met the lady I will be sharing a room with over there which was nice. Now we can contact each other and decide who's taking the kettle and who's taking the coffee ( getting our priorities right of course!) and we worked out travel too and from gatwick airport. Our flight is at 9am from gatwick so we have to meet at check-in at 6AM!!!! Which means leaving my house around 3/4am ! So sad! Hehe not excited for that part! 

But I am so excited and just absolutely can't wait to get going! :)