Traveling with Rhona

Monday, September 15, 2014

2014 August Trip to TX and Alaska

I went home to the USA to visit with my family and friends. My first 5 days was spent in Galveston, Texas to visit two of my sons, Jeremy and Dustin. Most of my time was spent shopping for things I wanted to take back with me to Albania, buying new clothes because my luggage got lost, and riding bikes and visiting non-stop with Jeremy and good friends. There might have been a little bit of cleaning and cooking in there too! The time was short and I didn't sleep much!

Jeremy and I

Jeremy and I riding bikes with some friends on the Seawall.

Jeremy and I at my favorite place to eat....SUBWAY!!

My Dustin :)

ALASKA

The next week was spent on The Golden Princess on a cruise from Seattle, Washington to Alaska, USA. With a group of 10 people, including by best friend from Hawaii, Sonya and her two sisters, their spouses and grown children, etc. It was a great group of people to spend a week on a ship! Although I have 100's of pictures, I tried to narrow it down to a few of the best.

After a night in Seattle, Sonya and I ride the Bremerton Ferry to the cruise ship.

And it is very big!

So what do you do on a cruise ship? Line dance lessons...

Fancy dinners with roommates and friends!

We played games and walked around the deck to watch for whales, seals, etc.

We admired and explored our new home for a week!

In Juneau, our first port, I met the family of a PCV in Albania who lives there. Such a great family!

Also in Juneau, I took a hike, went shopping, did internet and had dinner with Suzanne's family.

In Skagway, I did more shopping, site seeing, computer, had local rhubarb wine, etc.

Skagway, Alaska. I helped discover it :)

Glacier Bay is just what the name says. Lots of Glaciers. The day is on the ship looking at awesome glaciers, whales, seals, etc.

More of Glacier Bay

Our group photo of all 10 of us.

Dinners are always an adventure on the ship!

Ketchikan, Alaska was the last stop in Alaska. We shopped, toured, etc.

This is our final group shot with the addition of one of the sisters, we are now 11 people!

Our final day is in Victoria, Canada. We went to the Empress Hotel for High Tea!

High Tea at the Empress Hotel, Victoria, Canada

Between ports we fixed hair and dressed up..

Enjoyed live music and the beautiful ship...

Dressed up every night to enjoy amazing, delicious meals...

Celebrated birthdays...

And spent quality time with my best friend in the world, Sonya :)

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Home of Hope 2014 Summer Camp

Home of Hope had another amazing summer camp at Spille Beach for a week in July 2014. Twenty children from the orphanage and the local Roma community attended as well as the staff and their families. This is a great group shot as we were watching the sun go down.

The camp was paid for by the hard work and committment of 5 young ladies from Holland: Eveline, Heleen, Floor, Mandy, and Imke. It fills my heart with hope when I see such great youth of their age involved in volunteer work; youth that want to make a difference in this world; youth that have sacrificed their time, money, and worldly conveniences to make other's happy; youth that care deeply about the world around them.

On one of the days, Alban and I walked with the girls to General Beach, about 1 1/2 hours each way. It is a beautiful beach. We had time to get to know the girls really well and how they all came together to make this camp possible. The weather was perfect, and we had a really nice lunch together before walking back and joining the kids again for beach activities.

I don't need many words to describe the happy faces in the photos below. The pictures speak for themselves. Lots of smiles, lots of laughs, lots of fun!

More photos to come!!!

And here they are, finally!

And that is how you build a fire on the final day!!

Monday, August 4, 2014

Cerrik Youth Center & PC Trainings

I moved to Cerrik in January. It is about 20 minutes from Elbasan, where I am also doing some work in Tourism. Below are some photos of me and the youth of Cerrik Youth Center. There are also some photos of fellow PCVs and I attending conferences and trainings.