I feel changed... not because I know more, but because I know less.

We're home! And thank God!

The trip was amazing - the sights and experience incredible and impossible to put into words. After being gone for a month, taking 15 flights, an adjusting to an 11 hour time zone difference, travelling over 20,000 plus miles, a few skeptical bus rides and intense dreams from prophylactic anti-malarial meds, we're thankful to be home.

I feel changed through our experiences and through the sights of the various countries in Africa, but not because I know more, but because I know less.

This trip was undeniabley the most insane trip Brett and I have or will ever take together - fingers crossed. Africa is a continent like no other. After visiting three countries, Egypt, South Africa and Tanzania we are so thankful to be home - and American. The poverty and quality of life in some parts of Africa that we drove through/saw is heartbreaking.

Most, if not ALL the areas we visit thrive due to tourism. You have Egypt which has the pyramids of course, and most of the individuals make a living either through tourism or agriculture- mainly tourism. South Africa more developed and more first world (we even tasted some of the best wine we've ever had) however, the economy down there has taken a hit due to news that the area is unsafe to travel - which Brett and I unfortunaltey experienced ourselves (more in a bit). Finally, Tanzania is again tourism (Safari and Kili hikes) and agriculture yet the income provided by tourism leaves the country at the hands of foreign investors who own/invest in the safari lodges - they actually fly in the food we were eating because the food would make the average tourist too sick to enjoy their vacation.

In South Africa, we stayed in the Gardens district, which was about a 10-15 minute walk to the VA waterfront. On our first day there (New Years Eve), we left our Guest House and decided to walk down to the VA Waterfront, which we assumed would be perfectly safe, considering it was the middle of the day and light outside. Upon approximently halfway there, after stopping through the local market where touts sell trinkets, carvings and souvieres we continued to make our way through to the waterfront. I saw this neat statue type thing in the shape of a rainbow and wanted to take a photo in front of it. It had a beatifult view of table mountain in the background. As Brett and I were crossing the street, a homeless man approached us asking us for money - not unusual. Brett kindly told him he didn't have any cash, which we didn't pull any of SA currency, Rand, out yet. The gentleman wouldn't leave us alone and actually waited for Brett to take the picture of me and continued to follow us, talking us up, telling us how he "know people like us have money" and to "stop lying and running away from him." Even after Brett continued to kindly tell him we were trying to enjoy our time and that we weren't running from him (just walking really fast) asked him to leave us alone he kept following us and asking us for money. Finally, waving his beenie for money in our faces, he pulled his long sleeved shirt back on his right arm to show a large steak knife. We continued to ask him to leave us alone and his response was that he would leave us alone but keep following us. We grabbed the first cab we saw.

This incident was much scarier than when I type it out, as you're in the moment, in foreign land, foreign and alone, after reading about how unsafe SA is, only to find out the truth was not only heartbreaking but terrifying. We were both quite taken back by the situation - things we thought you only read about, but now here it was becoming our reality. Needless to say, we shook it off and continued to enjoy our day, just a bit more skiddish and aware.

I want to share with you some of the journaling I did while we were over there. I'll post a few in the days to come from the different coutries/lands we were in.

Happy to be home.

Happy New Year from Cape Town, South Africa!!!

Brett and I spent our first New Year together A&A - abroad and alone. After taking three flights to get down to South Africa - Capetown (we flew 1 hour from Dahab, Egypt to Cairo, Egypt then after a three hour layover flew 8 hours from Cairo to Joburg, South Africa with another three hour layover and then flew from Joburg to Cape Town which was 2 hours...).

Needlessto say - we weren't too tired to immediatley hit the grounds here in Cape Town and put our tourist hats on! We walked through the amazing Dutch and European style streets and visited some local markets. The people here are filled with love and have a lot of energy and spirit.

We ended up at the VA Waterfront and spontaneously took a sunset cruise on a yatch with bottomless champaign - great New Years Eve combo! We each had four glasses - but who is counting... Then we headed to dinner.

I'd be lying if I said we made it to midnight. After our hectic travels, we actually decided after a sunset cruise and celebratory dinner, we skipped the fireworks, beat the traffic and headed back to our B&B Manor. We did see midnight from the comforts of our "home."

Our cab driver on the way home - unfamilar with traffic apparently - kept saying F&*# Sh*t over and over again and swearing at people with nice cars while simultaneously hollaring at the "beautiful mamas." He told Brett and I that he finds the "right one" ever two months... and then proceeded to scream profanities. Our favorite was "Mother NATURE!" instead of "Mother ..." - well you get the point.

We are happy to be here and out of Egypt - for Egypt (aside from Dahab) was insane. The combination of smog, honking horns, auditory and visual stimulation along with 5 time daily prayers was enough after 4-5 days. The driving is insane was well - the white lines painted on the road are pointless and there are NO traffic laws - NONE... It's UNREAL!

Tomorrow, after a tour of Robben Island (considered the Alcatraz of South Africa) - where Nelson Mandela was held for 30 years, we head to South Africa Wine Country. We are renting a car, scary - well won't say that because Brett is driving, but I will say that they drive on the "opposite side" of the street here, and while I am in the "drivers seat" in the Western World, I will actually be the passenger. Pretty much a metaphor for Brett and I's relationship. After 5 nights - we head to the airport to fly to Tanzania for our game drive! Can't wait!!!

Well, we're off for more adventures. We feel VERY blessed to have safe travels!! Miss all of you dearly!!!!!

XoXo - Brett & Gina

It's goodbye to Cairo and hello to Aswan!

After three crazy days in Cairo, and by crazy we mean INSANE, we are happy to be off to Aswan.

Cairo is insanity on wheels. There are horns constantly honking - constant and pedestrians crossing the street like "Frogger." Brett and I have truely experienced our first culture shock. This city is in shambles! The buildings are built out of brick and clay and cement and many do not have roofs. Smog checks don't exist here - that is for sure. However, amist the insanity described above, between the hagglers and the donkey carts alongside the road, lies a genuine nature, once you get past the haggling ofcourse.

Aside from the people, the pyramids were amazing! Breath taking and a sight to be had. We enjoyed our 2 hour camel ride in Giza. It was an amazing experience. My camels name was Alibaba and Brett's camel's name was Mickey - like Mickey Mouse. My camel was sassy and hated laying down for me to get off and occassionally grunted and spit and snorted. We also visited Dashur and climbed down about 100 steps into the bottom of the pyramid - once in there, we could barley breath and the limestone reaked of ammonia, I had a mini panic attack as I felt as though I could not breathe.

Yesterday we travelled by bus 6 hours southwest into the black sand and white sand desert and slept under the stars. We hired a guide and drove us through the desert sand dunes and set up our camp and cooked us lunch, dinner and breakfast. We watched the sunset against a salvador dali backdrop and woke just before sunrise and also made a friends with a fox named Jose that looked just like HURLEY!

Now after three crazy days, we're on to Aswan. We're staying on the Nile and will visit more temples and tombs. After Aswan we are taking a bus to Luxor and then onto Dahab to spend Christmas on the Red Sea.

PS: People think we are brother and sister and are from Spain or Canada.

Off to AFRICA! We'll be blogging from afar!

Today is finally here!

The anticipation leading up to today has been culminating since June of 2010, when Brett and I booked our R/T airfare to Cairo, Egypt! In some sense, we convinced ourselves that this flight was the "right" flight because it has a 9 hour layover in London. We are going to do some quick sightseeing in London and visit our friends who moved to London in 2007 immediately after they were married, Andrew and Katie. Andrew is Brett's "Buddy" (I put "Buddy in quotation marks because when Brett transfered from the NYC PwC office, Andrew was assigned to be his "buddy" in San Francisco) Needless to say, Brett and Andrew became close friends, and this will be our second time seeing A & K in London.

After our quick layover in London - it's off to Cairo we go. We land in Cairo at 5:15am, two days (with the time change) from now! We will orient ourselves to the city day 1 and day 2 were off to see the Giza pyramids!

Day 3 were are safaring out to the Whitesand Desert to see the blacksand desert, crystal mountains and overnighting under the stars in the middle of the desert - alone! We'll have a guide, don't fear.

Day 4 & 5 include a flight down to Aswan to visit the temples and a bus ride up to Luxor the next day for more temple time. Then it's a flight to Sharm-el-sheik where we will take another bus to Dahab, where we will enjoy a vacation from our vacation on the shores of the Red Sea. Here we will spend the next 7 days, lounging on the beach, skiing sand dunes other possible adventures. We will spend Christmas on the Red Sea! Christmas Eve/Christmas Day we are hiking St.Catherines http://www.desertecotours.com/showimg.asp?img=UploadImg/Pages/eilat_12.jpg

We will be spending New Years Eve in South Africa. We're spending a week in SA and will travel the Western portion of the country by car and southern coast line (visiting the southern most point in SA) along with the Winelands, Table Mountain and Robben Island. We also plan on louging on the beach and swimming with the penguins! I can't wait for that experience! After SA were off to Tanzania.

Our game drive is for a week through the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater. We'll have a private guide/tour and are staying in lodges scattered throughout the country and on the rim of the crater. We're also visiting a local tribe the Masia during our visit to Tanzania.

It's going to be a whirlwind of a trip. Brett and I will blog along the way, as many of our friends have asked :) Love you all!!!

Happy Holidays! Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Thankfullingness

Especially today, we all talk about the things that we are thankful for, we all stuff ourselves full of turkey and stuffing. One thing we should remember today is to be thankful for ourselves.

Life can be incredible sometimes, and it can be incredibly trying at sometimes. Remembering to be thankful during the difficult times is espeically difficult compared to feeling thankful during the wonderful times.

I LOVE the Katy Perry song "Firework." She sums up being thankful for ourselves in daily life in her lyrics. If we aren't thankful for ourselves, then we won't be able to light up the sky for other people. We can go through trying times, but if we hold on to our true self and allow our pain to be felt, we can "ignite the light and let it shine." We can take our pain and loss and turn it into something productive. Pain is a horrible thing to feel, emotional and physical - neither being easier than the other. Pain, loss, depression has a horrible stimga in our culture. If we show our sadness, greif or pain we are deemed weak. Even our insecurities are looked upon as weaknessess. I'm purposing that if we feel our greif, loss and pain - face our insecurities - it brings out the "fireworks" in us. The deeper we go within ourselves, the brigher we can become.

"If you only knew what the future holds
After a hurricane comes a rainbow

Maybe your reason why all the doors are closed
So you can open one that leads you to the perfect road"

Today I am thankful for my car accident. I'm thankful that it brough out the depths of my emotions and insecurities and I am thankful that for the past 7 years I have had to live with the loss of my voice. I am thankful for the trache scar on my neck, for it saved my life that day, and I am thankful that my life was spared so I could feel the greif of recovery and all the joy life affords, through the good and the bad. I am thankful for all the ingredients of life, the sweet and the sour, the bitter, hot and cold. For we can't stuff oursleves silly and enjoy all that stuffing and turkey with only some of the ingredients... you need all of them to realize the perfect flavor - whatever that flavor may be.

Happy Thankfullingness!

Did you lose your voice?

After being asked that question 10 Million times over the past 7 years, I've come to appreciate my circumstance in a different light with in the realms of my new career, Nursing. I've also come to see my situation as a gift...

Since day one of my accident, I've always been asking my surgeon, when will I get my voice back... when in reality, I should be appreciating that I am alive and thriving.

I am currently researching for one of my classes a topic of interest, which is "Increased airway patentcy with exercise in post-traumatic laryngeal seperation," and I came accross this article http://www.utmb.edu/otoref/grnds/Laryng-Trauma-2003-0903/Laryng-trauma-2003-0902.htm. Essentially,after reading through this article, it made me realize how lucky I am to be alive from a medical standpoint and not a "this isn't fair that this happened to me" standpoint (not that I say that line very often).

I had a stage V (out of V, V being the worst possible injury) laryngeal seperation which usually, as this article states, results in immediate death. I shouldn't be here... is was I should be saying... and I should be happy to be alive - which I am. On top of not living, my quality of life should be poor. According to this article, I am Aphonic, without true vibration of the true vocal cords. This is the poorest outcome and is generally related to the stenting procedure I underwent immediatley after the trauma to save the diameter of my airway. The diameter of my airway was comprimised due to the blunt force trauma of the steering wheel/dashboard/or possible random curtain rod that was packed in my car.

It is true, it is amazing what the human body can endure. It is sad that I am aphonic. But I am alive, I can communicate and I can swim, bike and run! I'll be a Half Ironman come April 30th, and will be celebrating my Stage V repair mini-airway and aphonic "poor" quality voice with a smile on my heart. In losing my voice, I've gain the determination, insight and perspective on life that no surgery can interfere with.

We only LOSE things if we let people take them away from us. Everytime I run, I am choosing to celebrate my mini-airway and with determination I choose to see what I've gained through this process, not what I've lost. So to answere the question, "Did you lose your voice...?," ... you tell me, did you?

An Update on Life... Career and Travel

I'm back.

Okay, sorry for the hiatus. I've been insanely busy with school, the move and clinicals...life in general.

I'm finishing up my third semester and working on finding a position as a RN when I graduatein December 2011. My throat surgeon at UC Davis has asked me to come work with his team upon graduation, and after long and hard consideration, I have decided that this is something I would be interested in. It will be amazing working along side him and his team. I would work in the Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) Clinic. It's amazing to think that this will make things come full circle. Life is so amazing in that way. He has even discussed the possibility UC Davis funding my DNP/PhD after I graduate from USF and research along side his team. It is especially difficult to find a position as a RN right now and I have a position available one year before graduation with the oppurtunity to continue my education. I would have never in a million years imagined this would be my life. It's especially heart warming that he would want me to be apart of his team, considing I am aphonic (without true vocal cord vibration). I had such a difficult time believing in my own worth because of my voice for such a longtime. Becoming a nurse has been so healing in this way. I am so grateful!

When I was working as a CPA at PricewaterhouseCoopers I would imagine doing my clinical rotation at Children's Hospital in Oakland (CHO). I just found out that next semester I will be doing my clinical rotation for Pediatrics at CHO! I am so excited for this rotation!

In other news, I am having surgery in Janurary to give me more airway and inject my vocal cords. I have a different feeling about this surgery! I think it will really give me a ton more airway and more of a voice. I have 40% diameter of my airway right now... hopefully this will give me 80-100% and more voice! I am hopeful, please pray for me.

I've signed up for a 1/2 Ironman. It's April 30, 2011. I will need to get training into FULL swing when Brett and I return from Africa... we leave in 34 days! Brett will be doing this distance as well!

With school as crazy as it is, I will welcome a 6 week break with open arms. Brett and I will be in Africa for one month. We are leaving and heading to London to visit some friends for a day on December 16th. Then we are heading down to Cairo and will land on the 18th - staying in Egypt for 10 days - we will visit the pyramids, tour the city itself, Coptic Cairo, Khan-al-kali and sleep one night in the WhiteSand Desert under the Stars. Next we are flying down to Aswan after three days in Cairo/Desert. We'll stay in Aswan for two nights (to see temples) then bus up to Luxor (stay in Luxor for the day to see more temples) and then fly to Sharm-el-sheikh and take a bus to Dahab. We will be on the beach on the Red Sea for X-Mas in Dahab. Dahab is suppose to be like Ko Samui, where we visited in Thailand. After 7 days in Dahab, we will catch our flight down to South Africa (8 hours) and stay for 7 days. There we will swim with the penguines on the beach (too cute!), visit Table Mountain and enjoy wine country. We will ring in the New Year in South Africa...Brett's most excited about South Africa, so as far as plans, that parts up to Brett. After our 7 days in South Africa we fly up to Tanzania for our game drive/safari for 8 days. We'll see the Serengeti, Mt. Kiliminjaro and Ngorongo Crater. We're staying in Lodges in the middle of the game drives. After our game drive/safari we fly back to Cairo for an evening and then have a 24 hour flight home! We won't think about that part yet... We'll be home January 16th, 2011 and sleep for two days straight from pure exhaustion!

I feel truely blessed to have be married to the love of my life, travel the world with him and persue a career that my heart desires. What more could a girl ask for? (Maybe her voice back....??)...oh and babies ;)