Shopping for the conference...and some extra fun

:)

Rabia, me, Jerge (from Albania), Cafu and Jay

Cafu and Jay

Petrit and Dorina

Raj and Rabia

When we arrived in Kosovo, we were greeted by the most loving people in the world: the GPDC (Global Perspectives Developement Center) staff. They immediately made us feel at home and it was easy to slip in and help them prepare for the youth conference coming up...youth conference. We had both thought it was a preyouth conference and were planning on interviewing the kids, but there was no time to be dissappointed. There was so much to do and we were so amazed by the proyect that we pretty much forgot all about it.

On our way to....

Kosovo!!

Mona and I watching the graduation ceremony.

staff

seniors

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The year of service guys: Nabil, Erfan, and Richard;George, Jason, Naseem (one of the amazing elementary school teachers), Laila, Hannah, and Vafa (Math teacher in the high school very loved by the students)

The Aiffs, who had been dorm parents at Townshend for 9 years; with a graduate, Mona, coming back from her year of service in Progreso, Costa Rica (my community)

Mona, Jason and I on graduation night.

Goerge was one of the seniors graduating that year, his brother Adam was still in Progreso, Costa Rica, where he was on his year of service.

Armin and I in the nearby town where the students go on their day off.

I left Costa Rica at 7am on a Wednesday and got to London at 7am Thursday! Jason picked me up and that same day we went to a neighborhood where some baha'is have been giving children's clases to interview some of the junior youth. One of our proyects during the trip was to make a video that portrayed junior youth from their own point of view, a chance to share what's on their minds and give adults a glimps of their world. It was my first time holding a camera, and one of Jason's first times interviewing, so the road was kind of bumpy but we both learned a lot and were excited about the interviews to come.
(Sad to say lots of the pictures have been lost-sorry!)

June 4th - Prague

We realized once we got to Townshend ( a Baha'i inspired residencial school where Jason worked for a year) we probably just wouldn't want leave, so we decided to spend the first night in Praha. What can I say, it's beautiful...which is a good thing because we got really lost atleast 3 times. The highlight of that day was hearing Jason ask for directions. He was trying so hard to remember his Czech he ended up speaking to the poor man in Guaymi!! ( the indigenous language spoken where we grew up)

When we arrived at Townshend the next day and the kids saw Jason....they didn't stop screaming and hugging him all day! Everyone had really missed him and the feeling was mutual. He never left before the kids went to bed and wanted to be back as soon as possible to be with them again. He slipped right back into his old rutine, helping out at the school and in the dorms and I spent most of my time in the elementary school with some of the cutest and and smartest kids I've ever met. :)

On my way to Europe!!