Hi everyone!!!
First of all, I know this is super impersonal to be writing a mass email. However, I'll dive into what has been consuming my time and I'm sure you'll understand!
Second of all, I am SO glad that I made the snap decision to come. Upon my arrival in San Diego, I quickly regretted my decision to dress according to Dallas weather instead of California weather. As I stood outside of the airport waiting for the Invisible Children van to pick me up, I began drowning in a pool of my own sweat. Luckily, Jedidiah and Tiffany from IC picked me up and blasted the air conditioner to help me out. Thank goodness for a vehicle with a working AC. The IC office is only a few minutes from the airport and we went straight there...who needs any rest right? I immediately met all the staff, immediately forgot all of their names, then headed off to be with the Roadies. I was definitely anticipated a diverse group of humans, however, I will say that this group exceeded any expectation I had. We have Australians, New Zealanders (I don't think that's what they're called...but we'll go with it), Scots, Irish, Brits, Canadians, a few from south of the border and of course all of us Americans. There are only a couple other Texans and some roadies have affectionately begun calling me 'Dallas'. I tried a couple of times to say I was from Lubbock, but after blank stares and lots of shrugs, I stuck with Dallas. I guess it works.
At the office, we spend our time doing many things. The bulk of our time this week consists of us researching universities and secondary schools in London (did I mention I'm on the London team?!?!!) and attempting to establish contacts at the schools in order to book a screening. It can be a little interesting calling a school in London and attempting to explain (in my Texas accent) what Invisible Children is and why on earth we are coming to the UK to travel around, but I think they are liking my accent and love when I use the word 'yall'. We have been doing this during the day time, which means that everyone in London is sleeping, so we speak mostly to answering machines. But one night this week the UK roadies are going to have a late-night calling session so we can talk to actual humans...luckily they are letting us sleep in late the next day! Speaking of setting up screenings, if any of you have friends or anyone over in London that could maybe help us set up a screening...I would be forever indebted to you. :) When we're not making phone calls, emailing, or researching, we have training sessions in which a staff member dives into a specific topic and pretty much drills information into our head. For example, our session today was over the complete history of the different programs that IC has begun in Uganda. At the end of the sessions, they will ask questions that audience members could potentially ask and give us a chance to answer them. It's actually been very beneficial for all of us and it's very nice to get used to talking in front of massive quantities of people (there's probably about 70 roadies total). The wonderful thing is, though, that since we are all working for an organization that we believe so confidently in, everyone is very encouraging and has the "we're on the same team" attitude. I have not felt inadequate, despite my arriving a week late, nor have I felt that anyone lacks confidence in my ability to catch up quickly. It has been a very positive environment, and for that I am incredibly thankful...because I am EXHAUSTED!
We work from 9-6 each day (give or take an hour or so), then we come home! Home consists of two houses that are across the street from each other in a town outside of San Diego called La Mesa. In one house are the international roadies (that's me) and the interns who will stay in San Diego and continue work in the office. There's probably 30 of us I would guess. There are 8 girls in my room, 4 sets of bunk beds, but it's actually quite comfortable. And across the street, the rest of the roadies stay! About 50 people living in one house...let's just say I'm glad I'm with the smaller group. It has been so much fun getting to know everyone's background stories and hear their accents. I'm determined to perfect my British accent so my friend Charlie has been helping me with it. She says I'm not too bad, but apparently I sound "too posh"...haha of course...to me that sounds like a wonderful thing!
All of us UK roadies head off to London on Saturday. The whole group, which includes the Ireland/Scotland team, Wales/England team, and the Greater London (me) team, will stay in London in one flat for the next few weeks and continue training and setting up screenings there. Around Valentine's day the other two teams will hop in their vans and drive off into the countryside...team London Domination as I like to call us will stay in the city and bounce around from school to school! I'm going to wait to tell you all about my teammates until I know them a little better. I really want to paint an accurate picture for yall...just give me a little bit of time. :)
I can't wait to keep yall posted on everything that is going on with this tour and I really hope that this blog is going to be an effective way of doing that. I never thought I would be a blogger, but I guess I could be worse things!!! Thanks to ALL of you for your support and encouragement...I miss yall already!!!
Dad...stop mentally correcting my grammatical errors.
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