They're 'Going to the Chapel!'

My little brother, Andy, popped the big question on Friday night to his girlfriend, Richelle!! And she said yes! We were all at the lake for the weekend and he took her out on a sunset boat ride (which is something we do often, so not suspicious) - after the sun went down, he drove to an island where he had hung a large banner that read, "Will you marry me?" Quite creative. When they got back to the lake house, both of my grandparents had arrived as well as Richelle's parents. I was glad we could all be there to celebrate with them. The tentative date as of today is May 29, 2010.

I'm in Charleston!

I made it to Charleston today. 6 hours exactly with a 15 minute stop in Augusta - not too bad... I'm sitting at a Chick-fil-a eating dinner and using their wi-fi since my internet will not be hooked up until Wednesday! Can't believe it's time to start my Residency! I feel like I have no idea what my life is about to be like, but that's okay. The Lord knows and He is in control. I sure hope I will have some visitors soon - after all, I only live a few minutes from the beach! :-)

Pictures from Greece!

The "Best-Of" collection! Just click the picture below and it will take you to the slideshow.

Greece Adventures

Home Sweet Home

I made it home safely last night. My plane was delayed about 2 hours leaving Athens because the air traffic controllers were on strike - (go figure this would happen to me as it did last year in Africa). I landed in Atlanta about 7pm EST but it took forever to finally get to my parents and head home. The tram system in the ATL airport was down because of a medical emergency so I had to walk all the way from Terminal E to Baggage Claim which is a little over a mile! Arrived in Auburn at 10pm which was 6am Athens time... quite tired, but glad to be home.
I think Amy got stuck in Canada last night on her trip home - surely she has made it back to Nashville by now? We organized our pictures and narrowed them down to about 200 to share - she has that on a jump drive and will probably load them later today so I can share them with you! My camera is acting funny and about 150 of my 400 pictures are messed up! Once they are on the computer they have colored spots on them as if they were underdeveloped/overdeveloped - like old film would look!! I am a little concerned and headed down to Cameragraphics in a few minutes to get their help. I sure hope I don't loose all those pictures... :-(

Exclusive Posiedon Landfill and Yacht Club

Let's just say... you were riding the tram on the coast of Greece and wanted to spend a few hours at the public beach but were not prepared for the activities. Not a problem at the Exclusive Posiedon Landfill and Yacht Club. Walk right up, secure a lounge chair and get ready for the parade of peddlers. No bathing suit? No problem. The refugee salesman is walking up right now. Sunscreen? A native of Nigeria will help you pick your SPF. Beach mat and towel? Snorkel and mask? raft? Someone will soon be at your chair to harass you to make a purchase. Sunglasses, floaties, soccer balls, African drum, sandwich, water, watches, belly button rings and henna tattoo artists will all be at your disposal if you so please.
How about a flock of pigeons and stray dogs? Cigarette butts and week-old apples are there in the sand for your enjoyment. But if you can see past all of that, there is a beautiful, crystal blue ocean with yachts and cruise ships floating by for your viewing pleasures.

This was a taste of our experience today at the beaches in front of The Posiedon Hotel. We were planning to go to the upscale beaches of Glafada where we would have to pay 12 euros each ($18) to get on the beach. But Amy spotted this public beach spot from the tram and saved us 30 minutes of lost sunshine. Me, being the practical one, thought this would be a way to save money, so we went. Even though it wasn't the pristine beaches of Destin, we still enjoyed ourselves, had a few good laughs and hours of relaxing on the beach.
We finished the day in Glafada eating dinner at a Mexican Restaraunt. It was recommended in our travel book and it was really good!

This morning was a little sad leaving the AGM conference - we felt like we weren't there that long but hope we still made an impact on the medical team. We had a great ride into town with a missionary family that is returning to the states after 18 years on the field. The wife grew up going to Kanakuk Kamps in Missouri and we enjoyed chatting about that!
We are about to head to bed at our hotel back in Athens. Amy's flight leaves at 6:45 am tomorrow and my flight leaves at 12:30pm. It has been a wonderful trip and we have so many great memories. We can't wait to share our pictures with you - hopefully we'll get them on Picassa soon. So long Greece! Time for new jobs, new towns and reality!

Dollars and Cents (or Euros in this case)

We have learned some of the cost figures associated with our medical team and how much money we are saving by being here. For example, each TB test we give would normally cost $75 but we are providing them free. Multiply that times 800 people and that is big savings. Today alone I did 30 cholesterol screenings and Chem7 panels on portable machines that have been donated. These tests would be very expensive to get in some of the countries. Dr. Rick estimates we will save the IMB about $100,000 on this trip. So thankful to be apart of this and the missionaries have really been appreciative.

Connections

Amy and I have had several connections with people here at the conference. First off, one of her sisters bridesmaids is working in this region as a journeyman so she is here for the conference. Amy has enjoyed chatting with her. Also, Amy has a good friend in Chapel Hill, NC and her co-Sunday school teacher is here.
We met a nice couple who now lives in Augusta,GA but lived in Auburn for 15 years in the 80's and 90's. They went to Opelika first baptist and he worked at the pharmacy school in the IT departMent. He knew all of our teachers, etc. It was fun to talk with them. They are here volunteering. I just met a missionary today who is in Poland but used to live in Auburn and went to Lakeview! He and his family will be talking furlow soon and will live in auburn.
It is a small world...

Eretria, Greece

We made it safely to the conference center yesterday on Evia Island in Greece. We met a group of IMB Missionaries at the aiport Sunday afternoon and rode on a bus with them here - we arrived about 6pm, just in time for dinner. After dinner we went straight to the medical clinic and helped there until about 10:00pm - there were already so many patients to see!

This morning, Amy and I set up a table outside of breakfast where I gave TB skin tests and she tested blood glucose. We each saw about 75 people. Then we helped in the clinic with cholesterol screenings, Chem-8 screenings and about 300 more TB skin tests. We have also been able to help the other pharmacist in the pharmacy. We have a very diverse medical team - 2 doctors from Mississippi, 1 from North Carolina, a hospital administrator from California, Nurse from NC, Nurse from Hungary, Helper/Hygeinist from Mississippi and the other pharmacist is from Miss too. It has been a fun group but often too many chiefs - but things are running smoother this afternoon! It is nice to be here working and not worrying about every little step of our trip. Our meals are planned and we have a great place to rest at night. It is going to be a quick stay, but I'm glad we can help. The conference center is located on the beach (which I haven't had time to see yet). It is a very nice place - has a huge swimming pool - that all the M kids are really enjoying. The church in California that is sponsoring the trip has everything planned out well.

AND... I woke up this morning with strep throat!! Fun, Fun. Good thing I'm working in the pharmacy.

I didn't get to finish writing about the last part of our time in Athens. Saturday night we went to a very traditional greek restaraunt, with live music and dancing. The place was packed when we got there, so we figured it must be good. Turns out there was a huge tour group from Australia and another one from England. There was also a large family from Maryland there. Everyone got up and danced and had a great time. The pictures are hilarious! The lady that sang with the band was really nice and we got to talk to her a good bit. At the end of the night, she told us she was our "Greek mama!" I'm so glad we were able to have that experience.

Sunday morning we had a nice breakfast at our hotel (included) and then went exploring. We saw the Parliment, toured the National gardens and wandered through the Sunday Flea market. We hurried back to the hotel, showered and checked out by 12. Our hotel was really nice - the best place we have stayed so far. We couldn't decide where to eat lunch and weren't really wanting traditional greek food, so we made our way to McDonalds!! I never eat there at home, but of course it hit the spot and we were very thankful for a little comfort food.

The difference between you and me...

Amy and I have come to realize how different we are when it comes to traveling... and we appreciate the differences because we always need a little of both sides. For example, yesterday we were wondering the streets of Athens and Amy's idea of figuring where to go is to stop the nearest greek person, act like a dumb blond, speak with an accent, look confused and show them the map for help. I, on the other hand, like to be completely self-sufficient and figure the map out for myself. I would be that idiot walking down the street with the book in front of me, trying to read it while running into somebody or something. Both ways end up getting us where we want to go and for that, we are thankful. We continue to laugh at our differences and thank the Lord that we are all unique individuals!!
Our top 5 list of things we are glad we brought:
Amy
1. Extra tote-bag
2. Chi Straightener
3. Fake wedding ring
4. Gold bangles and pearls
5. Eyemask
Jessica
1. Map & Intinerary
2. Chapstick
3. Earplugs
4. Rainbow flip-flops
5. plastic bags (ziplock)
Next post, we will tell you the 5 things we wish we had left at home! We did overpack just a little bit! Off to the conference!

Happy Father's Day Dad!

Hey Dad - hope you are having a wonderful day - sorry I can't be there to celebrate with you! Love you, Jess
(mom - show this to dad) :-)

Saturday in Athens

The ferry ride back to Athens was a little different from our ride over. First, it was a different boat company and therefore was set up a little differently. We knew it would be dark outside with no view, so we were looking forward to sleeping until we got there. We raced onto the boat to try and find the best seat for sleeping, but were told by some of the staff that we could sit, but not lay down anywhere. Weird. We found a area with a long bench and chairs in front of it and the local guy sitting near us told us that we were forbidden to go to sleep - and if we did, the crew members would walk around and wake us up!!! We could not believe that and thought it quite ridiculous. I thought to my self - If I take an Ambien, they won't be able to wake me up!? Anyway, after about 30 minutes, we see many other people starting to fall asleep in their chairs. So, Amy and I split an Ambien - she put on her eye mask and I put in my ear plugs and we laid across the benches. Three hours later we were woken up by the crew members telling us we would be arriving to the port in 1 hour... seriously? Could they not have let us sleep a little while longer? Despite the little sleep, we still managed to make it an adventuresome ferry ride.
Our boat docked in Athens around 6am and we took the metro back to the hostel where we stayed the first night to retrieve our other backpack. It was right where we left it, securely locked up. We made the trek back to the metro with all of our gear and headed to our next hotel for tonight - Central Hotel Athens. We managed to find a super nice Starbucks on our way and took a little break from the heavy bags. We got to our hotel around 9 am and thankfully they let us go ahead and check in!!
After showering, we headed to see the famous Parthenon at the Acropolis. We managed to find a great little sandwich shop on the way where we bought gyro's for only 1.80 euro. The waiter was impressed with our southern accents and blue eyes. Everyone here has been so friendly and not the least bit intimidating.
All of the ruins were really neat and we'll have plenty of pictures to share soon.
This afternoon we found the great roof-top terrace that had lounge chairs and a hot-tub. You can even see the acropolis from the hot-tub!!
While we were walking around town today, we found a great authentic greek restaraunt close to the acropolis that will have music and greek dancing tonight - we made a reservation to go back - should be fun!
Tomorrow morning we plan to go to the Flea Market and the National Gardens before catching our bus to the conference.
Hope everyone is enjoying their Saturday!

Santorini Day 2

I don't know where to start - today has been amazing!!! I don't have long to write because we are about to catch a bus back to the port so we can get on the ferry back to Athens.
We had a great night of sleep (after 2 nights of very little) and woke up to beautiful blue skies outside our balcony. We got our bathing suits and headed to Red Beach - first we had to walk down to the town square to hop on a quick bus ride. We met this really nice couple there from Switzerland and enjoyed hearing and sharing about each others travel adventures. The bus came and we though it was just stopping to let this car by, well, then it took off and we realized that we missed it!! We were sad, but the beach was about a 1.5km walk, so we started walking. We had to climb around this cliff top to get to the beach, but it was a really neat area. Crystal blue water. It was only a small area of dark sand/rocks with big, red cliffs going up from there. We spent about 2 hours there just relaxing. We felt so out of place because we felt like we were the only Americans there. The water was quite chilly, so we didn't get in too far.
After the beach we caught the bus back up to our hotel. We met another nice couple from Connecticut that was traveling for their 30th anniversary. We had a lot to talk about. He was a dentist and is involved with some mission work in Haiti. She was a professor at the University of Connecticut.
We quickly showered and left our cute, little room to head to the main town of Fira. Once we got here, we secured our ferry tickets for tonight and found a hotel where we could store our big backpack for the day. We walked around the cute shops and alley ways. The Fira port is down this steep, steep cliff and the only way down or up is a cable car or donkeys. So, we took the cable car down and the donkeys back up - it was an adventure!! The donkeys certainly had a mind of their own - at times they would just pause for a few minutes as if they wanted you to take a picture and at other times they seemed to be racing the other donkeys up the steep hill. Amy's donkey was especially ornery... I have a video to confirm that.
We ate a late lunch at this great restaraunt the Smith family recommended. Next, we hopped on a bus to Oia at the north end of the island. It is known for its awesome sunsets. We meandored the narrow cobblestone streets and simply followed the crowd to the end of the island. Amy spotted this great roof-top seat where two other girls were sitting, so we climbed over the railing and joined them. Turns out they were from Florida and we had a lot of fun talking to them. The sunset was beautiful and the views were amazing. Both of our camera batteries died right after the sun went down!
We just got back to Fira and had a great belgium waffle at this little bakery and now we are headed back to the port...
One funny story - at the bus stop today in Fira, I spotted this guy with an Auburn hat on, so of course I yelled out "War Eagle" and he said something like "what?" I said, "I like your Auburn hat" He thought it was quite funny and went on to tell us that he was from Spain and when he was in Washington DC in 1996, he saw the hat on somebody and thought it was "the most beautiful hat in America" and had to have it - so someone gave it to him and I think he has been wearing it ever since! (And honestly is was probably the ugliest Auburn hat I have seen, if there can be such a thing) We made sure to get our picture with him!
Better run - more funny stories to p0st tomorrow from Athens.
Santorini is amazing and I highly recommend it!!

White walls and blue doors

Isn't that what you think of when you think of Greece? Santorini is just that! White plaster buildings with blue doors and windows; a few white churches in the countryside with blue, round steeples. It is absolutely beautiful. I wish I could post the pictures now, but we'll have to save that for later.
We have had an adventuresome day! We left our hostel at 5:30am to catch the metro to the ferry port. Luckily, the hostel had a very safe, secure way we could leave one of our backpacks, so we combined our stuff and made our load lighter for our trip to Santorini. We made it to the port just in time to claim our tickets and get on the boat. Funny thing - our tickets were all in greek, so we didn't notice they had a seat number assigned to you - so when we got on the boat, we chose the best table we could find, only to be kicked out and laughed at by these greek ladies. The boat ride took about 6 hours and we stopped at 3 other islands on the way to Santorini. It was a beautiful ride - we sat inside most of the time but would go out on the deck periodically for the view. Once at the port in Santorini, we caught 2 buses to the area of Akrotiri. The bus dropped us off at what we thought was close to our hotel, only to get lost walking around. This area is not the main touristy area of Santorini, so there wasn't much around. We found a little convience store where the lady called the hotel for us and they came and picked us up for free! It turns out we were probably about 2 miles from the hotel and would have never found it.
We had a nice relaxing afternoon sitting by the pool. From this area of Santorini we can see the water on both sides of the island which is a rarity. We made our way down to the "town center" of Akrotiri where there is about 3 restaraunts. We passed so many cute houses, terraces with beautiful flowers and tons of blue doors. We found a quaint little restaraunt that is letting us use their internet until they begin serving dinner in a little while.
We plan on spending tomorrow morning at the Red Beach area not far from our hotel and then in the afternoon we will go to the 2 main cities of the island before we catch our midnight ferry ride back to Athens.
It's been a great day!

hello from greece!!

I didn't have time to post before I left yesterday, so hello from Athens, Greece!! I left Auburn at 1:30pm Tuesday afternoon with a 32 lb. backpack and another small bag. Amy and I flew separately, which was weird traveling internationally by myself. I flew AirFrance out here and I was certainly lost with all the french speaking going on. Anyway, Amy and I finally found each other in the Athens airport after about 15 minutes - she had me paged over the intercom b/c there was no other way... We successfully found the right bus to get us to the town center (1 hr. long ride, very crowded with the 32lb backpack on my leg the whole way) and then navigated the metro system to find our hostel for the night. I'm glad I can finally say that I have stayed in a hostel, but I won't miss it the rest of our trip!
We made our way back to the Monastiraki part of town and found a quaint and cozy outside restaurant to relax, eat and watch the sunset. It was great! Now we are back at the hostel, preparing for our early morning ferry ride to the island of Santorini.

The rest of our trip will be something like this:
Thursday - ferry to Santorini, beach, etc
Friday - beach at Santorini and overnight ferry back to Athens
Sat - Athens sight-seeing
Sun - more Athens sight-seeing in the am and then catch an afternoon bus to the conference center where the IMB annual general meeting is taking place
Mon & Tues - help out in the medical clinic for 800-900 missionaries - will probably be giving a lot of immunizations, TB skin tests and helping out in the pharmacy.
Wed - Tenatively plan to go to Corinth for the day and back in Athens that night
Thurs - fly out!

IT's going to be a quick trip, but we're going to try and see as much as we can...
I will hopefully try to update my blog again from Santorini - not sure if I can figure out how to put pictures on here though...

Yeah for vacation and traveling!

Top 10 place to live...

AUBURN, AL. US News and World Report just released the top 10 best places to live in the US based on strong economies, low living costs and plenty of fun things to do. Check out the article here. Proud of my hometown!

I miss kamp!!

I really miss kamp! I spent the last 3 summers in beautiful Colorado and I am having withdrawals... I miss the weather, the scenery, the laid backness, and especially the people! not to mention my best friend out there - Miss Maggie Braner. and today is her birthday! Happy 8th Maggie.
did I mention... i miss kamp?

Licensed Pharmacist

Today I went to the Alabama Board of Pharmacy meeting for the last step in becoming an official pharmacist! (official in AL...SC still TBD) It was a very interesting meeting. The board members were all very nice and welcoming, but they stressed the many important responsibilities that come with our profession... trustworthiness, liability, drug diversion, last step before a med is taken, etc. I can say that I am proud to be in a profession that plays an integral part in our health care system and look forward to the impact I can have in people's lives! Yeah for being official!

June = Vacation

Yesterday started my official "vacation" time in my mind. First, I took the NAPLEX Pharmacy Board Exam on Monday afternoon and passed!! I also passed the law 2 weeks before that, so all of my studying is done! Second, I am completely moved out of my house in Bham and my apartment in Charleston is settled. My intern hours are complete, paperwork done, and again, No studying, no moving... Third, I have nothing but fun things going on in the month of June! This weekend I am going to Charlotte, NC for my friend Jessica's baby shower - should be good times with good friends. I have a mini-vacation planned with Katie, Joy and Kimmie next week at the lake. And Amy and I leave for Greece in 13 days! So, all that to say, I am thrilled to have some time to relax a bit. I started off my vacation at the lake yesterday afternoon with my brothers. We had fun on the boat - I enjoyed watching them wakeboard, trick-ski, do a scary rope swing and attempt a slalom course. I managed to get a little color on my naturally pale skin. Too bad the color is red right now... Yeah for vacation!