An uneventful trip to Calgary over mostly snowy roads. Jim is a very good driver, though, so after being up all night (some of it looking all over for my passport and medical info that I had so carefully gathered together--thanks to Doug for finding it in my computer bag of all places!) I figured it would be ok to snooze a bit. Now, though I'm tired, and Tanya is softly asleep, I'm thinking that if I stay up, I will have a head start on the jet lag thing!

We were treated to a lovely dinner tonight at the Red Lobster by Tammy and Dan Tappin, along with Tammy's mom, Shirley Giles, and the delightful Miss Charlotte Tappin, age 2. It was a long wait for a table, over 1-1/2 hours, but worth it in the end. And we were none of us bored with watching Dan and Charlotte tussle gently over whether she would eat the entire glass of maraschino cherries which the (Bosnian) server brought over. We had a really fun time, relaxing and beginning to know that we really are on the way.

We have to be up at 4:00 a.m. BC time to get to the airport in time to check in for the "international flight" to Minneapolis. We have about a 4 hour layover there--not quite enough to time to comfortably get to the Mall-- then off to Amsterdam, about a 9 hour flight; 4 hours there--again not really time to be so tired and feel comfortable in going into the city-- and we're off to Khartoum, Sudan (an 8 hour flight) where we stop for about 2 hours before proceeding on our weary way to Addis Ababa (2 hour flight).

I just received an email from an Ethiopian friend who said that the price of visas to enter Ethiopia, which are available at the border, has possibly gone from $20 US to $100 US today. "Best to be prepared" he said. He also told me that most places do not take credit cards, including the customs as well as the hotel, although they will apparently help you get through the banking situation if you need to. Since most North Americans deal with so much plastic, I wonder how 50-odd people will be able to manage in a cash economy. Should be an interesting thing to watch!

We have heard that at the last minute some more folks have decided to join the choir, so now we are up to 48 singers and a few non-singers who will help with shawls, staging, etc. Van Gilmer, the director, is sounding very excited. He has now let us know that he will be having a parts rehearsal in NYC in the airport at JFK, which of course some of us will miss. And there's a rehearsal as soon as the choir gets settled in the hotel on Thursday, as we are asked to sing that day for a pre-convention gathering of Ethiopian government officials, as well as a Universal House of Justice member and a former UHJ member. Good thing we have sung together before and know the music. Van is such an incredible musician and director though, that it works to rely on him and just sing your heart out. Gospel-style music is so easy to follow, really, for the back-up choir, although the soloists are a different story.

I'm looking forward to re-connnecting with old friends; there are many folks coming who have sung together in NYC, Chicago, Washington DC, Toronto, Vancouver, Kelowna, London, Rotterdam, Stuttgart, Luxembourg, Frankfort and Kampala.

Talk to you again, as soon as I can.

well...I have finally figured out how to get back into this blog...there were some issues with passwords and weird locking out of the account for some unknown reason to deal with, but I seem to have it figured out. This is my trial run to see if it's all working. And if you are reading this, I guess it is.

Keith and Jenny and Grace were supposed to be here today, but their car has had a breakdown, and they had to return to Kamloops. They hope to be here tomorrow.

Tuesday, Jim Murray will drive Parvin and me, along with their daughter Tanya, Calgary. We are planning dinner at the Red Lobster before a short night and then off to the airport in the morning.

I have a new iPod Touch which I'm hoping to set up and be able to keep in touch by email...

talk to you soon!

Well, here it is. The first posting to this new blog.
Today I got my prescription for Malarone (anti-malarial) and confirmed my shots were UTD. I found out that Yellow Fever vaccination is good for 10 years, which means I've got another 4 years to go.
So many things to do...find a water purification system is my next order of business.