Last Day at eMi...

...it's bittersweet!!

The past few weeks have just flown by with a lot of holidays, socializing, and of course, project work! Due to the schedule of project trip dates, many projects in the Colorado office don't come to completion and printing by the end of the intern term and the next semester interns help to finish up the redlining and printing. However, it's still the goal of most project leaders to get their projects to as close to completion as possible by the time we leave the office. Thus, I've been busy getting as many of our drawings as possible into CAD, and am happy to say that I accomplished that goal as of today. I've been working on the civil drawings for the project, these drawings take me a lot longer to do than the elevations and plans because I'm not a civil engineer and often have to stop and ask questions. And, when my boss is in Egypt, well, occasionally the turn around time for answers is a bit longer than usual! There are plenty of people at the office here who have been answering my questions, too. It's a big happy family willing to help each other here at eMi, so a lot of projects are on track to finish up soon!

I had my exit interview on Monday and Friday morning at worship all the interns gave short testimonies of their time here at eMi. Both of these events, as well as spending time packing and talking to the other interns has given me a lot of opportunities to reflect on how I've grown spiritually and professionally during my time with eMi. My professional growth has been obvious, in my opinion. This was the perfect internship for me. Not only did I get applicable architecture experience, this job also gave me a confirmed motivation to continue studying architecture. Unlike where I was at a year ago at this time, now I know why I want to pursue architecture: so I can continue to serve with eMi in some way and with other organizations that help people through design. I was also given a lot of responsibility as an intern; I got to focus on one project and be an integral part of the design team--an experience that not many architecture interns right out of college get!

I've grown in a lot of other ways with eMi, too. Mainly, I felt valued as a person and not just used as an intern. I know that there are plenty of companies that treat their interns well, but working for a group that emphasizes mentoring and individual growth in their internship program is unique. When I shared how I've grown spiritually at this internship, I shared about how I've come to have a bigger view of God and come to rest in His perfect plans. It still blows my mind that even a month before I came out to eMi I couldn't have even come close to orchestrating these last four months to play out as well as God has. He really does have my best interest in mind! It's evident even looking at our group of interns; most of us agree we probably wouldn't be as close had we been classmates at the same school--we're just too different in a lot of ways. But, this unique setting has given us the opportunity to work and play together and become close friends. Another thing I've loved about my time here is how God has shown me how small this huge world is. I've gotten to meet brothers and sisters in Christ all over the world and it's so fun to leave here knowing that God provides that "family" wherever I go. This time with eMi has been truly life changing, and I can't wait to tell others about it when I get back to Minnesota! In fact, I've already recruited (without trying) Minnesotans for internships/project trips---my friend from school, Paul Evans, will be an intern in Colorado in the Spring!

This past weekend the interns finished off our time in Colorado with a ski trip to Breckenridge/Frisco/Keystone area. The group included 11 Colorado interns/staff, the 2 Canada interns, and 9 friends-of-interns from around the country! We stayed in a huge place and everyone skied together on Sunday. It was a great end to these amazing four months. My friends from home, Phil & Ivana, came to join us for the weekend and it made me so excited to come home and see friends and family. Skiing was definitely not easy for me since the last time I skied was in Minnesota four years ago, but I ended up having a great time.

Alright, I have to cut this post off and post it already! There will be more to come! With some pictures!

Christmas decorations up!

we decorated for Christmas at eMi!!!!

WAY OVERDUE!

I can't believe it's been so long since I last wrote, but at the same time it feels like only yesterday I returned to the Colorado! Forgive my absence, I have no good excuses for not updating.

my roomie and I baked a pie as soon as I got back!

Not too much has been going on since being back except re-adjusting back to life in America. Part of getting back to the daily grind has included working on my grad school applications full speed ahead. I hope to get them pretty much wrapped up by the time our post-internship ski trip comes along on December 10th. I've learned quickly, though, that if there's anything I learned in architecture school it's how to work well under pressure (and so trying to finish my applications a month before they are due reminds me of when I was an overachiever in high school!).

Two weeks ago I had the privilege of presenting about my trip to the rest of the eMi Colorado Springs office during our weekly Friday worship time. Usually a project leader does most of the presenting and interns get a little time-slot in the presentation to talk about how the trip impacted them. But, as was announced last week, I am the first intern to have the entire 30 minutes to myself, seeing as my project leader is in the Middle East office. So, it was up to me to represent our Sudan team well, and also to give the Colorado Springs office a glimpse into life in the Middle East office. It was challenging not only because of the pressure of having all eyes on me, but also because my time in Egypt was difficult and I didn't want to get up there and be a Negative Nancy about MENA. Overall, I think the presentation went great and I felt like I had a good balance between high points and low points of the trip, and it was really rewarding to get to share the whole experience with my co-workers.

Elevations that I've been working on for the Girls' Dormitory building

Work has been going well. I've really enjoyed getting the buildings we designed in Sudan into CAD and seeing some of the drawings get to the point of printing. We hope to get the project done in the next couple of weeks for review, so I will be busily compiling all of the information into one report to be printed and sent out!

It's that bittersweet point in the internship where there are only a few weeks left and I am torn between focusing on investing in the people here, but also preparing to go home. I can't wait to return to Minnesota; being here has really shown me how blessed I am back home and what a wonderful community of people surround me there. However, as I reflect on the past few months with eMi, I am astounded by what a life-changing few months they were! It's funny to think about how upon graduation last spring, God had this awesome experience planned for me and I was completely unaware of how excellent it would be. I've gotten so much clarity on why I want to pursue architecture now (upon graduating I didn't even know if architecture was what I wanted to do in grad school), and so much hope and excitement for the opportunities that await me! And the people I've met are invaluable; I have such a great network of architecture and engineering friends around the globe now who enjoy the same kind of work that I do!

Prayer requests:

-Please pray for a stress-free and efficient finish to this term; it has the potential to be busy with work, grad applications and socializing and thus, stressful :/

-Please pray for the admissions committees of the schools I'm applying for : University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, University of Virginia, and University of Texas- Austin; it never hurts to pray for them, right?! Mainly I am praying that where and if I get in, that those places would be places God wants me to be for this next step in life

Back in the USA...

...after a weekend in England!

Ginnie, myself, & Val in Frinton-on-Sea (on the English Channel!)

 I spent this past weekend in Colchester, England, with the eMi UK interns and it was a wonderful pit-stop on my way back to the US!

Levanham church

The two interns there, Valerie & Ginnie, and I had a bunch of fun touring around the romantic English countryside with its beautiful autumn colors and delicious tea and scones. It was so great to have fellowship with other interns again! I didn't realize how much I missed that during my month away. I went into work with them on Monday and got to experience the eMi UK office. Its small, but very warm and welcoming, and really there's never a dull moment there. England is just such a charming place--a stark contrast from Cairo--and I immediately felt like I could have stayed there for a long time. It was a great weekend for me to relax and reflect on my time in Africa, and think about the next couple of months in Colorado and beyond!

 Being back is great. I loved travelling and the adventure I was blessed to be on this last month, but there really is no place like home. Actually, I'm not home yet, being in Colorado Springs for the next couple of months still, but it's home for now! It's been wonderful to be back at the office, with my intern friends and coworkers. And the weather here is also wonderful. I never realized how much of a cold-weather person I am until I lived in Africa for a month!

Before I leave Cairo

It's my last day in Cairo and I had the day off of work to pack and get some last minute shopping in with Beth. I was nervous that I would have WAY too much stuff to bring back to the states but thankfully, I've left things I brought in every country I've been to so far so my bag is actually a little lighter now than when I arrived! So, between now and the church event I'm going to tonight, I figured I would get another update about Cairo posted since I've had a second week here to process my experience even more.

Last week, my first week here, turned out to be a really challenging week. Halfway through the week I was hit with travel fatigue and tired every day no matter how much sleep I got. To add to that, it was HOT here. I remember one day it was 40 degrees Celsius here when it was 40 degrees Fahrenheit in Minneapolis. I was not raised to be used to 100-degree F weather in the middle of October! Along with that, I was experiencing culture shock more than I have in my past travels and in a different way. Just about everything made me want to cry---that's definitely a sign of culture shock (combined with tiredness and heat)! I was surprised that I was experiencing culture shock here in Cairo rather than in Sudan, but reflecting on it more it made sense. I was prepared to be in a completely different world in Sudan, and I was ready to be surrounding by things that were unfamiliar to me. Then I arrived in Cairo and finally I was in a city again, and one that looked like others that I've been to (in Athens or Belgrade, for example). But that was the kicker--because it looked familiar I expected to understand it and be more comfortable here, but that wasn't the case. Cairo is unlike any city I've ever been to; it's the Middle East. Social interactions are entirely different here, especially as a woman. Most people don't speak English, not even taxi drivers. And it's obvious I'm a foreigner so I always feel watched, but not in a good way (this may also come back to the fact that I am a woman). Needless to say, all those things added together hit me hard and at one point I really just wanted to leave Cairo.



Woody, Sara & I out to eat with Egyptian friends

 



Thankfully, the weekend came and brought some distractions and more rest. My friend and former classmate, Woody, is working in Cyprus this year and he came down to Cairo for the weekend for some sight-seeing.We met up with Sara and tooled around downtown Cairo for a bit. We went to the Egyptian museum, a boat ride on the Nile, and got some excellent fatta (fet-ta) and mulukhiyah (mull-a-hee-ah) with some Egyptian friends. On Saturday, we did Race for the Cure at the Pyramids with my friends here in Cairo. THAT was quite the experience!! The run was short, but right around the pyramids and sphinx--definitely something I'll never forget! Not to mention the fact that there were 12,000 people there, most running off-road (aka in the desert) while giant tour buses drove UP the road. In the states, an event like this would shut down the road that was being run on, as well as half a city block around the entire area surrounding the event. Not in Egypt! It was a typical tour day at the Pyramids so the race "shared the road" with the streams of tour buses and taxis. At the end was a giant party by the sphinx. Arabic music and dancing and eating, and  A LOT of pink hijabs!! I rode a camel while I was there, too. The weekend ended up being great, and my friends and the getting out really helped me get out of the culture shock slump from the week before.




The craziness that was Race for the Cure @ the Pyramids

 

Now, this past week has been great. I'm much more used to the cat-calls and staring that I get every time I leave the apartment, so it doesn't bug me as much. I've learned a little more Arabic and recognize where I am more in Heliopolis, so I feel more comfortable getting around. I've been getting a lot done for the ministry we worked with in Sudan. I've been putting together a brochure about our project for the ministry to take back to the states. When I get back to the states, I'll pretty much be doing ACAD non-stop. Getting all the drawings ready for the final report, which we hope to have done by the end of my internship in December Insha'Allah (God Willing, in Arabic). I'll also be busy working on grad school applications in my free time. I'm trying not to let the thought of how much work I have to do on those get me more anxious and stressed here than I already am!

Another thing that has really been a great stress release here is Zumba. My friend, Jessy, is an instructor here at a really great womens' gym. Zumba is an aerobics class that uses dance moves to keep you moving and your energy up, making aerobics fun! Since I love to dance, I LOVE this. I've been to a couple zumba classes in the states, but they vary from instructor to instructor. Jessy, originally from Costa Rica, is an amazing dancer so the moves are fun but I definitely get a work out too. The women that go get really into it and it's pretty fun seeing them let loose in the class, and then clean up, cover up, and leave the gym very conservative and reserved. The gym has really welcoming, comfortable atmosphere where women can feel free to let loose, hang out, and shoot the breeze like the men do at street cafes all the time. It was good for me to spend time here because it helped me see that women in Egypt do have the freedom to be who they want to be and be less reserved, it just happens in private more than in public. The private realm is the woman's realm, the public is the man's. What a different culture this is.
Also, the other day Beth and I went on a run early in the morning right by my apartment. Running outside in Cairo only happens in the morning, in only a few places in the city (parks only) and mostly by men. But, occasionally a few women will go out--at like 6 or 6:30. So, I've only gotten to run once here, and it was still VERY hot.

Unfortunately, my computer has a virus I think. I was warned this might happen while I was in Africa, so I was prepared. Mainly, things are being uninstalled from my computer--like my device installer and my wireless/network adapter. SO, if I got on a wireless network early in my trip (like this one) I can still get on, but now my computer doesn't recognize any new networks--in fact, the "view wireless networks" option in my control panel has completely disappeared. And, I can't upload pictures from my camera anymore. It just doesn't give me an option to upload them anymore.  :/




Sphinx & Pyramids, Giza, Egypt

 

A bit about Cairo now

I've been in Cairo a week now, and I think I am finally ready to update about this crazy & confusing city. I avoided posting any first impressions of the city right away because a) I wanted to get my Sudan updates up (which still aren't all up... ) and b) this is the Middle East--- a place I could easily apply Western stereotypes and call them "first impressions", which I didn't want to do.

So, like I said, I've been here one week. Thursday, Friday and Saturday of last week were spent exploring some parts of the city--mainly Heliopolis (the area I'm staying in), and some places in downtown Cairo. My friend, Sara, took a couple weeks off from her job in Tanzania to come up and visit Cairo while I'm here, so we did a few of the weekend things together! It was great to have a friend my age around to spend time with. She is staying in a different part of Cairo, and I haven't seen her much this week since I've been working. Nonetheless, it was fun to explore some of Cairo with her.

Heliopolis, where I'm staying, is a suburb outside of Cairo. It started as an area where British councilmen built their villas in the '50s and was quite the luxurious place back in the day. It still is considered a very nice area of town, but it's developed so that it looks much more like the rest of Cairo, and newer neighborhoods like New Cairo have all the villas now. The streets are lined with concrete-block high-rises with storefronts along the street. The great thing about Heliopolis' high-rises, though, is that when you stop and really look at them, they all have their own unique detailing that gives them their own character. As a designer, these are the things I notice the most in cities and Heliopolis gives me endless opportunities to enjoy these details.

I've been riding the bus to work everyday and that's been a whole new experience as well. A bus fare is 1.50 l.e., which is about $0.25 per ride--pretty good deal. The first difference about buses here is that people get on and off wherever--as long as you can flag down the bus in a noticeable way, it will slow down enough for you to jump on (and I mean literally, run and jump). The bus usually slows down enough to let women on  nicely but most of the time my second foot has just entered the bus when the vehicle starts moving again. The door stays open so people can jump out when the bus slows down at an intersection. I've seen many men ride halfway out the door of the bus when they're only on it for a quick jaunt. When a lot of people enter at once, they find their spots and then pass the money for the ticket forward. The driver proceeds to divvy up change, get the tickets, and maneuver his large bus through the hectic Cairo traffic all at the same time. Today was the first time I experienced a ticket check. Two men jumped on the bus with paper in their hands and stood right in the doorway. The bus continued to let people on and off (these men clearly in the way) while the men looked at each person's ticket and ripped it. Then a few stops later, they got off.

A roundabout in Cairo. 

The bus description reminds me to talk about the traffic in Cairo. A mere description in words really won't do it justice, so I might have to secret-spylike take a video of it sometime and post it. Basically, there aren't any controlled intersections, so you just honk your horn when you are coming to an intersection. Whether you slow down as well or just barrel through it is up to you, but you run the risk of the other people coming the other way choosing the same option of you and causing a collision if you barrel through. usually, a chunk of traffic one way will go until someone leading the pack the other way gets enough guts to interrupt that flow and starts driving. Round-abouts have zero organization (not that they've ever seemed organized to me, but that's because I'm not European). Most vehicles are small here, and that means there is very little visibility past a row of parked cars along the street. This requires most drivers to pull out into traffic to get a good look at when they can merge, and ultimately one merges whenever they want to hoping the car coming will slow down. Crossing the street as a pedestrian is basically the same. So, the only real danger to me here is being hit by a car. Not mugging or rape or kidnapping, but just a simple love-tap from a car.

This is a pretty good video I was shown when I got here about Egypt, and it's definitely true!

Europe vs. Egypt

(backlog of Sudan entries, continued)

October 3, 2010

Time flies. Its hard to believe its our third day in Juba already! So far it hasn’t been too uncomfortable or difficult, but I’m sure that might change by day 10. We were all super tired on Friday when we arrived, so we slept well on our traditional Sudanese string beds that night. We started off at 9am on Saturday and I even enjoyed a shower in the morning! It was cold… but it was a shower! We actually have a shower in our bathroom and I guess the ministry is ordering water in our tank to be refilled daily so as to provide us with water for a shower everyday. The water is from the Nile—pumped straight from the river to a truck to our water tank—so it’s not the cleanest stuff in the world, but with a lot of soap it will do the job. And in this humidity, a little cold water every morning is GREAT. 

We had our opening meeting under the one large tree on site and did team intros and why we’re there and expectations. It was nice and cool under the tree, but the day was getting hotter by the hour. I really like this team—we’ve worked really well together so far, and I think we will continue to the rest of the week. Around 12:30 we went to the restaurant at the hotel next door for lunch and had a feast! (compared to our meager supper the night before). Chicken, beef, rice, bread, French fries, coffee… nothing super African, but it was definitely a lot of good food to give us energy for the day. It was a very LONG meal, about 3 hours long. We headed off to the girls orphanage site after lunch. The site is about 15 minutes across town from the boys site, and in a very nice neighborhood, apparently. You can tell an upscale neighborhood because of a few western-looking houses scattered amongst tukels and mud huts—the traditional housing here for most people.

Tukels. This is what most areas of Juba look like

Traveling through Juba, I’m so confused! People live in these traditional tukels—typically round, thatched roof huts—and it looks like they don’t have running water or electricity directly in their tukel. But as we went to church today and as we’ve been around town, the majority of people dress to the nines. I’m going to be very honest here and clearly show that I am used to a western lifestyle, but it’s just hard for me to think about getting dressed up nicely (like for work or something) in a waterless, electricity-less tukel everyday. (a house with dirt floors)  Now, I’m not knocking the tukel. They can actually be quite beautiful structures and are definitely economical here. But it’s just a way of life that I’m not familiar with, so it’s been very cool to see how people live similarly to us in very different environments.  It also makes me realize all the things I think I “need” in order to be clean and presentable everyday, when really those are mostly luxuries.

The people have been very friendly here. Always waving and greeting us. I don’t feel threatened or unwelcomed by strangers. We have stayed mostly on the orphanage sites and not ventured too far into the markets or town, so that might change if do that. I don’t think we’ll end up going to the markets here… they are mass chaos and we don’t have ready access to transportation to get to and from them without dragging along Dr. James, who has a job to do at the orphanage.

One of the first cooky experiences was money exchanging. Dr. James (our makeshift chauffer) told us that the best exchange rate is from the boys on the street that do money exchange. These are basically guys with handfuls of money that mob your car when you pull over. So, Dr. James handled the money and exchanging, while we watched the craziness that was yelling in Sudanese Arabic and the bartering for exchange rates. One dollar exchanges for around 2.80 Sudanese pounds, and we got an exchange very close to that with the boys on the street. The bank was exchanging for 2.4.

The "office"

Today we started with the master plan of the girls site. Coming into this I though we were just doing dorm buildings, but after having a programming meeting with Philip, the ministry director, turns out he has a LOT of plans and dreams for the site! So we are designing the master plan as if all these plans unfold as hoped, though they buildings will probably come in in phases. I worked on panoramas of the site and starting to get some rough layouts of some of the guest/staff housing done in CAD. It looks like I'll be doing CAD most of the week, with some hand-rendering closer to presentation time. The civil engineers/surveyors on the team will be heading out to the site the next couple days to get that done. I'm actually kind of glad that I will be hanging out at the boys site because it's much cooler in the "office" than it is out in the fields and sun of the girls site. But hopefully later on in the week Stu & I will be able to get out too!

Panorama of the girls' site

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Many Sudan Entries!!

Two weeks later, and I am in Cairo!

As I had guessed, internet was not to be had (except for a short email check here and there) in Sudan, but I did take the time to journal about my experiences in my notebook or on my laptop while I was there. So, I will be trying to get that backlog of journal updates up here this weekend. I'm also finally updating my flickr albums to at least have trip photos on it!
Here are the first of my Sudan entries:

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Friday, October 1, 2010
9pm
I made it to Sudan! We got here around 3:30pm and left the airport around 4:30. The airport consists of one room that has customs, baggage claim, and a waiting area for arrivals. And when I say "room", I mean it. Small! After exiting the plane on the tarmac, a few people waved me towards the entrance to the airport. Upon entering, I was shuffled into a herd of people going towards the customs desk. There were supposed to be two lines, but it was more of a herd. One man took my passport and visa and stamped it, while the other had me literally "sign in" to the country. Like when one signs into a volunteer shift or something. Then I turned around and baggage was being tossed into the room through a large hole on the side of the building. I eventually got to the inspections desk, where they looked through my stuff and then let me through.  I met the architect, Stu, and the civil engineering student, Nick, at the Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) airport and when we arrived in Juba we met up with Janet (engineer in Uganda office) and Shawn (engineer). We were still waiting for Steve and Philipto arrive, and so the doctor from the orphanage (Dr. James) that met us at the airport simply walked up to the air traffic control tower and asked them when the plane would arrive. I tell you this to give you an idea of what our first taste of Juba was like, and as I continue to tell you about Sudan, you will see that our first impressions were fairly accurate! Everything is about who you know.

Once we had the entire team gathered, we headed to the boys orphanage, where we would be staying for the week. I expected a good long drive through Juba, but turns out the orphanage is literally right next door to the airport! We met the staff on site--Jahim, Bob, Henry, Dr. James & Mary. They gave us a tour of the site and then went out to get us food for dinner. We ended up having our food table in the guys' room because Janet and I were staying with two women volunteers from Egypt. One is a doctor (Vivian) who was shadowing Dr. James, and the other (Maria) will be the first staff on the girls orphanage site. They both seem very nice. Our dinner consisted of breadsticks, tuna, and some fruit. I hope we get a little bit more food the rest of the week!

Tomorrow we are getting up at an easy 9am to start off the week of work!

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More later!

Smooth travels & A little exploring

[the following are my journaling of the past 24 hours of my travelling, when I didn't have internet. Since I have it now, I thought I'd update]

September 29, 2010

 

I’m currently en route to Washington DC from Denver---first let of my 4-legged, 3-day journey to Sudan. Things went so smoothly this morning, Praise God! My Sudanese visa was waiting for me at the FedEx in Denver when I got there at 10am, and I quickly and easily checked my bag—which ended up being EXACTLY 50lbs (such a blessing!). I also found out that though I transfer airlines (United to Lufthansa to Ethiopian Air), my luggage is going all the way to Juba so no need for me to baggage claim and recheck my GIANT 50lb bag at the different airports. I just want to add, I think I packed pretty light—for me at least. Half of my bag is full of things for the trip that are staying there. I have a bunch of water testing kits for the MENA office, clothes and a soccer ball for the orphans at the orphanage in Sudan, and a book and miscellaneous supplies. That means… PLENTY of room for souvenirs on the way back?!?! I guess that means I need plenty of money for those souvenirs too, which I don’t have, so I guess I’m traveling light on the way home! 

It hasn’t sunk in yet that I’m on my way to AFRICA for a month! In the prayer-sendoff in the office yesterday, one of the staff prayed about God having this trip planned for me since before I could even imagine it would happen, and that really changed my perspective on this next month. Since this trip fell into place as a series of ideas turning into actuality, I didn’t really take the time to think about the fact that none of these stops are random, and God has a plan in all of it. It made me start to consider why I am the intern that is suited for have this experience (“The eMi Office Tour 2010” as Rex & I have dubbed it), and what it may be that God is going to do with it. I’m excited to find out! I think I’m ready for anything… I think.

9:45pm- Washington DC

Ok, so I don’t want to speak too soon, but God is REALLY blessing this trip so far! Last flight I sat on the aisle and there wasn’t anyone next to me. This flight—the 7 hour one to Frankfurt—I am ALSO on an aisle (making going to the bathroom at 3am a LOT easier) and I ALSO do not have a neighbor. Now, despite the convenience of this, I do actually enjoy having someone to chat with a bit on the plane. I like making friends J But, instead I get this… which will make it easier for me to sleep, hopefully!

Sept. 30, 2010 –Frankfurt Airport

Surprise! I found a church to sketch ;)

I’ve arrived in Frankfurt and am a little confused as to what to do when I get off the plane—we’re EARLY on arrival and I already have a 12 hour layover. Thank goodness for my friend, Davidson, who gave me detailed instructions as to how to get on the S Bahn to go to the city (a 5-minute train ride). I will probably just go to the places he mentioned—the shopping areas and churches and old buildings (touristy stuff)—so as to keep a low profile and blend in with the crowds. I’ve traveled enough that I’m pretty good at hiding the fact I have no clue what I’m doing sometimes ;) I’ll have to find a locker to put my carry-on into. I don’t want to make it THAT obvious that I’m straight off the plane. I think I might sketch a bit if possible. The pilot just said it’s 50 degrees here… I’ve packed for 80+ degrees… haha, we’ll see how I fare!

6:22pm – Frankfurt Airport (Flughafen)

Well, I’ve returned from “Frankfurt am Main” (downtown). It was a nice little excursion! It took a lot of info-desking and question-asking but I found the luggage lockers (very secure) and train tickets and got downtown around noon. It was very bustling because it’s the work-day lunch hour. I bought myself a nice little map and followed roads around the city. It looks pretty similar to other European cities I’ve been to. The juxtaposition of contorted glass-box skyscrapers abutting classically-European, 19^th century stone buildings with arched entryways was neat, and made me think it looked like Belgrade combined with Paris. I found some neat parts of the old city that is left after the Allies bombed Frankfurt during WWII (thanks Davidson for directing me to those places!), and took some awesomely-lame pictures of myself in front of some cool places (see above). I also got a chance to do a few quick sketches (will scan and add later!)! I spent about 4 hours downtown, and then it started to rain (it was overcast all day). BUT, even with the rain, and the 55-degree temperature, people were still enjoying their coffee and food outside on the umbrella-covered seating areas on the pedestrian-only streets. That is what I LOVE about Europe—the café-&-street life. I still think places like MN could get away with doing this, because in colder places like Germany and France, they do it, they just put heaters outside. Now, it couldn’t be year-round, but it could be 3-seasonal! I do feel bad that I didn’t take the time to learn a lick of German before heading out into the city today. Even though I know almost all Germans speak English, I really like to at least know basics of a language when I travel somewhere. I guess that means I should start listening to those Arabic lessons I uploaded onto my iPod!!

Now I’m at a Starbucks until 8pm, when they will start getting boarding passes for my flight.

I saw this building on the left and immediately sat down to sketch it because of the glass addition hugging the old stone building on the corner. Such a nerd.

Visa craziness!

We have had quite the excitement regarding our visas for Sudan this week!

My project leader has friends in the Sudanese Embassy in the country he is in, so it seemed pretty certain that we would be able to get our visas on Monday. However, turns out that office just stopped producing the visas we need, so on Tuesday we were left trying to figure out how in the world we would get into Sudan! The embassies in Uganda  & Kenya, and the office in Sudan can produce these visas, so my project leader sought out these options.
After much prayer, emails, and favor-asking, we all now have TWO visas each! Our office in Uganda was able to get our visas and is sending them to us with a group returning to the states from Uganda on Monday. We should get those visas Wednesday morning---the day we leave! If this doesn't work, the ministry in Sudan has also gotten us visas, and we can most likely get to the airport in Juba as long as the visas are waiting for us when we land.
Needless to say, it was a crazy rollercoaster of being ready to go, then suddenly having no idea of how we would get into the country, and then having two options work out! God provides in cool ways, now we're just praying that at least one of them works!

Sickness & Health

I talked to my boss yesterday about the place we'll be staying in Sudan. He had just talked to a doctor who spent time at the orphanage we'll be at and there is good news and bad news:
First, this doctor's friend got typhoid, then pneumonia, while they were there. So basically, don't touch the water.
GOOD NEWS though, is that there is a doctor on site and he is actually very very good, so if we need to...we can be treated quickly and well!

Links and Prayers

Yesterday I got a really encouraging email from one of my former professors from the University of Minnesota. He is in Haiti because the U is planning on having a grad studio work with Architecture for Humanity down there during the spring semester. He ran into some eMi engineers down there, and hearing about that made me want to plug AFH and just say how exciting it's been to see so many different groups of design and engineering professionals give their time and talents to serving those in need in the world! It's also exciting to see Universities get students involved in that kind of work too!

Check out what eMi and AFH are doing in Haiti:
AFH in Haiti
eMi's disaster response efforts

I also have a quick prayer request for visas! Our project director will be going to the Sudanese embassy to get our visas on Monday, Sept. 19, and so please pray that everything goes as planned and we get them! Since he is going with a Sudanese friend to the embassy who knows people there, we hope that things will go smoothly, but getting visas are often the cause of a lot of frustration and uncertainty for these trips! My friend, Val, an intern in the UK office, hasn't been able to get her visa for her India trip that leaves this week, so prayers for her visa to come in or for another option for a trip to work out would be appreciated too!

Thanks for all of your encouragement and prayers, friends!! I can't wait to update you more when I'm in-country!

(and my flickr pictures are veryyyy behind. sorry. I will get that worked out before I leave!)

So many things I feel like I want to update about!
First, 10 days until I leave! Wow... it snuck up on  me! This next week and a half will probably have a lot of errand-running and last minute preparations in it!

This week at work I was helping out one of the engineers finish up a project in Egypt they did this summer. I was given a SketchUp model drawn by the team's structural engineer of the structural system of this theater/music studio building. My job was to redraw the structural grid plans in CAD. Other than the fact that I don't know all the technicalities of drawing a structural grid, it was quite the project because the SketchUp model was in inches, my CAD drawing was in millimeters. And the model's dimensions were slightly off in a lot of places---so all in all, it was quite the learning experience! After asking a lot of questions of the engineers in the office, I finished the grid drawings and we got them sent to the engineer and we're just waiting to get them back with adjustments made! Working on all of these other projects around the office has made me really excited to get started on my main project this term--the one in Sudan! only a couple weeks away!

This week I will be going up to Minturn, CO, (near Vail, in the "high country" as some call it around here) to meet the architect that is coming on our trip to Sudan. He's been on multiple eMi trips before and owns the firm, Blueline Architects, in Minturn. I'm excited to see what his firm is like and start talking about our work in Sudan! I know that week in Sudan will be a crazy challenging week--like a weeklong design charrette-- and I hear the electricity goes in and out a lot! Gotta get an extra battery for my computer! But I can't wait to get back into design and this time something that will be built!

Oh! I also wanted to update with details about my crazy travel schedule. I am super excited because I get to visit so many different eMi offices! The 5 days in Uganda was definitely a surprise addition that I didn't expect, but it will be great because we are going to have our design review in that office. I also have a friend, Brice, from Minneapolis who will be in the Uganda office that week too! I love random encounters with friends abroad! While I'm in Egypt, one of my best friends, Sara, will be visiting Cairo for a week, so I get to spend time with her there too. And then, the stop in the UK office was mostly me asking for an extended layover there so I could visit the team there, and I can't wait! Overall, the month will be full of traveling and new experiences and lots of learning and designing---it'll be great!

Calendar of Events!!

This week has been productive! We finally bought our tickets for our project trip and it's exciting to have things moving ahead in our plans! My travels are much more complex than I had imagined, but I'm excited for all of the exciting things that the complexity entails. To help me organize my month away (Sept. 29-Nov. 2), I made myself a calendar (visual learner). I'm posting it here as a link to a GoogleDoc.
Claire's Travels Calendar 

More details to come soon :)

Another eventful week & beautiful weather

This week was a short work-week, but that doesn't mean we weren't busy! The directors of all the eMi offices were in town for the Director's Conference, so Tuesday night we went to an office & directors barbecue at a local park. It was really interesting to hear about the dynamics of the other offices--how big or small they are, the way God has been blessing them and the challenges they face in their different locations. I might take a couple of them up on their invitation to visit their offices in the future, too!
I've had a steady stream of work coming in from my boss in the other office, mostly making adjustments to CAD drawings of a previous project and studying up on the ministry we will be working with in Sudan. I've also started trying to learn Arabic. Thankfully, the office has a set of Arabic language CDs and a co-worker was nice enough to lend me his books on Egypt and learning Arabic.
The office was pretty empty on Thursday and Friday, due to the director's conference and a co-worker's wedding. Friday morning we had a really moving worship and prayer time in which we prayed over the directors of the other offices, and over our CEO who was having surgery that day. We also served at the soup kitchen, Marian House, like we do every Friday. I really enjoy this time of the week because the more we work there, the more we build relationships with both the Marian House staff and the regulars who eat there.

4-Nation Dance Party (clockwise from top left: UK, COS, Nelly Video, Costa Rica, Canada)

At the end of the day on Friday, since there were only interns in the office and most people had finished their work for the day, we TokBox'ed the interns in the UK, Canada and Costa Rica. We put on some music and had what we call a 4-Nation dance party! It was so fun to see our friends at the other offices!

As for our social lives here, we've been watching A LOT of football! We went to the Air Force Academy game last weekend, as well as watched the LSU and Virginia Tech games. I also watched the Vikings-Saints game with my two Louisiana friends--that was tough. This weekend a few of us interns are helping out at a co-workers' church retreat with childcare, so I get to spend two mornings with 9 adorable preschoolers! I'm also putting together my portfolio for graduate school applications and getting a started on those.

We're now VT fans!

Prayer Request:

-We are still looking for a Civil Engineer for our project trip, which is delaying our purchase of tickets. Please pray for continued provision for these details to be worked out so we can still be in Sudan at the beginning of October as planned. (If we delay the trip, we may not be able to meet with the ministry leader there, which would be difficult)

Living Water Ministries, Juba, Sudan

This past week I've been getting projects from my boss, Steve, to do before the trip, which has been keeping me relatively busy at the office. These projects include little adjustments to previous designs on CAD, paperwork, and reading up on the organization in Juba's vision for the project and the project scope. I've just finished learning more about the ministry we are working with in Sudan and I wanted to share it with you!

Living Water Ministry, founded by Brother Mafdy Moosa

The ministry, started in 1984, has ministry centers in both northern and southern Sudan. Since their founding, they have been providing training and leadership seminars to raise up national missionaries and church planters to reach all parts of the country. They also train their students in vocational skills like carpentry, english, computers, farming, teaching and welding by which he or she can be a self-supporting missionary or church planter.

The ministry has land in northern Sudan that they plan on having dorms, a retreat center, recreational courts/pools, and farms on. Part of our time in Juba will entail master planning this site (which we will not be going to). The other part of the time will be spent expanding what is currently in Juba by adding a girls' orphanage, chapel/gathering center, kitchen, sewing workshop and storehouse.

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In other news, I'm leaving for Sudan in less than a month! I've gotten my shots and taken my typhoid pills, so next will be making sure I have my visa and starting to pack!

This week the directors from all of the other offices will be coming to Colorado Springs for the directors' conference. Thus, the office will be busy with visitors! We have a fun labor day weekend planned, with the first big event being an intern outing to the Air Force Academy football game tomorrow!