Let's meet the team!

It's official, I am leaving in just over one month and just submitted the final payment to Habitat. No backing out now! I am REALLY excited to head to India and can't wait to see how this trip will unfold. In the recent few weeks, the team leader has been sending out a lot of emails about the culture and the build site. I am getting a bit nervous about the way he communicates but am hoping that once in the country everything will work out fine.

This is going to be a smaller team than I am used to and I think that there can be some positives and negatives to that. There is only 11 people going (including the team leader) which is different from Thailand (14 people) and Ghana (12 people). The makeup of the team is also going to be pretty different... 7 guys and 4 girls (it's normally about 2/3 or more female)... does this mean that I can opt out of all the heavy lifting, digging and lugging bricks? Oh wait... that's all we do on a Habitat build! :)

Here's the team:
1. Ray- team leader, from London, owns his own business, has been on/led 11 habitat trips
2. Martin- our host in India, been a social worker for 20+years, worked with Habitat India for 5 years
3. Ava- I don't know who she is, she never submitted a bio
4. Amy- lives in Florida, works as a Sign Language interpreter
5. Clinton- 36yrs, lives in TN, works for University of Tennessee
6. Chinmoy- 36yrs, from India but lives in Bahrain, works as a business analyst at a bank
7. Jerry- 40yrs, lives in WI, Works as a senior database developer at a financial services firm
8. Liam- 19yrs, lives in England, works as a sports coach
9. MAtt- 28yrs, lives in Oregon,
10. Sheri- the most awesome teammember there is! 31yrs and rock as a social worker :)
11. Daniel- from SEattle, a retired police officer
12. Natasha- 33yrs, lives in Canada, works in the Canadian forces

So that's it! It should be one heck of a ride!!! Hold onto your hats! (or should I say sari's?) :)

YEA!

YEA! I just received my final donation which brought it up to $1800 in donations! You guys are amazing!!!! THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!

Almost there!

Good news! My visa came back on Friday and it's officially time to start looking at plane tickets! I was looking at them this weekend and couldn't believe how long the flights are! Maybe I should have looked into that before choosing India... just kidding! On the way there, I have to leave on Thursday in order to get there by Saturday!!!! And that's with only a 5 hour layover! On the way home, one of the flights has a 17HOUR LAYOVER in London! Yikes!!! On the flip side, maybe I could get out and do some sightseeing! :) I'm gunna wait and keep looking at all the flight options.

My final payment to Habitat is due on October 10th so if anyone is thinking about making a donation... please help a sista out before that date :) If you would like to donate in my name, please make sure to include my ID # which is 9309-9409 and the trip code (GV11303). Love you all and am completely floored by all of your generosity!

It's Visa time!

Hello all!!! It's official, I have just sent in my visa application... to the tune of $73 plus the required overnight FEDEX to AND from the place! Boo! My fingers are crossed and I am going to be buying my plane ticket when I get the Visa back. The team leader told us "make sure that you don't tell them that you are going with Habitat... just put that you are there on a tourist visa because otherwise it will take months to get it approved" but then he had us use Habitat India as our reference in the country!! To this he replied "I know, it's ridiculous but this is India... trust me, we do this all the time." How can a country that is so lax require me to send in copies of my birth certificate, a recent utility bill and entrust them with my passport?!?!? Keeping my fingers crossed!!!!: :)

AMAZING!!!

WOW, you guys are amazing! Just received another donation. I am SO thankful!!!

Yipee!!!!

Another donation... SO grateful! Thanks! :)

Woo hoo!

Yipee! My first official donation since opening up this page! Girl, you rock (I'm not sure if I should out ya! :) ). Thank you!!!!! Check out the updated thermometer on the side! Woo hoo!!!!