Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers throughout our journey. We are so excited to be home. It was a LONG LONG day of traveling the last two days.
We left Lencois for Salvador early on Sunday morning. We had a 6ish hour bus ride with 2 quick potty/puke stops (only for a few, but some were sick). Needless to say, I listened to my ipod REALLY loud on the way to Salvador. When we arrived, we went to the pool and the beach in Salvador until dusk. We took showers and headed to the Brazillian steakhouse restaurant. We had amazing food and we will have to go to one of these restaurants again, but preferably in the states so we can feel comfortable eating all of the food. It was extremely hot in the restaurant because the air conditioner broke that day, so we sat in our nice clothes sweating. After dinner we headed to the hotel and got a few hours of sleep before getting up a 5am on Monday morning to head home.
We got to the airport and were told we have 3 flights home...uff-da. We were not excited to hear this, but dealt with it and flew a 1.5 hour flight, and 8 hour flight and a 2.5 hour flight that got delayed by about 2 hours. Then we took a 3 hour bus ride home, with customs, immigration, puking, pooping and sleep all in the mix. We made it home this morning at about 4:15 am (Iowa time--7:15 am Brazil time), so we got 2 hours of sleep and headed to class. Congrats to Dan, who hasn't got a nap since and had to see patients today. I've luckily had time to lay in bed and work on uploading pictures while watching some tv. I got caught up on the phone with some family (particularly my sister who got engage while I was in Brazil).
It overall was a spectacular trip, and head to my facebook page to see pictures. We are planning on posting a few more things to this blog...so keep checking back in the next day or two.
Love to all of you!
~~Lindsay and Dan
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Off to Salvador
Hey everyone!
We are headed off to Salvador this morning. We probably wont have internet access, so we will talk with you once we get home tomorrow. We should be in Miami by 3 or 4 tomorrow afternoon so my phone will be on while we are on our layover. Dan doesnt have his phone, so call mine if you need or want to chat!
Will write more when we get home!
We are headed off to Salvador this morning. We probably wont have internet access, so we will talk with you once we get home tomorrow. We should be in Miami by 3 or 4 tomorrow afternoon so my phone will be on while we are on our layover. Dan doesnt have his phone, so call mine if you need or want to chat!
Will write more when we get home!
Saturday, March 6, 2010
A real rest day...
Today was awesome. Dan and I got up when we woke up on our own, hung around the hotel and just rested today. We spent some time at the pool by ourselves (which is nice because when you travel with 25 people, time when it is quiet is few and far between). We wandered into town, but it had just finished raining and when it rains, all the shops close their doors and windows (which make them look boarded up) so we couldnt find a place to eat lunch. What do Dan and I do? We go to the store, find cookies and pringles and snickers bars and made lunch out of that. As gross as that sounds, it was quite tasty. We took a nap, had some talks, went back to the pool, I read a book in the hammock as Dan watched DVDs and now we are headed to dinner.
We got Dan some ear drops (which he hates) but they have lidocane in it to numb his ear. They are tough to get in because his ear is all but swollen completely shut, so the littlest amount gets in, but it helps. Better living through chemistry when you have an ear infection I guess. Lots of people still have been dealing with puking and other plumbing issues, but overall we are pretty healthy and ready to head towards home. Luckily I havent been sick at all and Dan´s sickness was one night. The ear infection we can deal with and it seems to be improving.
We are off to dinner and to Salvador tomorrow morning (or by the time we ACTUALLY leave, it may be afternoon--it is Brazil after all). If we get there early enough, we get to go to the beach and then we are going to a Brazillian steakhouse where they walk around with different kinds of meat and you pick whichever ones you want. We all are going to get dressed up for dinner tomorrow, so it should be fun. Off to dinner and packing. We´ll be home soon!!!
We got Dan some ear drops (which he hates) but they have lidocane in it to numb his ear. They are tough to get in because his ear is all but swollen completely shut, so the littlest amount gets in, but it helps. Better living through chemistry when you have an ear infection I guess. Lots of people still have been dealing with puking and other plumbing issues, but overall we are pretty healthy and ready to head towards home. Luckily I havent been sick at all and Dan´s sickness was one night. The ear infection we can deal with and it seems to be improving.
We are off to dinner and to Salvador tomorrow morning (or by the time we ACTUALLY leave, it may be afternoon--it is Brazil after all). If we get there early enough, we get to go to the beach and then we are going to a Brazillian steakhouse where they walk around with different kinds of meat and you pick whichever ones you want. We all are going to get dressed up for dinner tomorrow, so it should be fun. Off to dinner and packing. We´ll be home soon!!!
Friday, March 5, 2010
Clinic is over!
Ahhh...we are done! We adjusted and adjusted and adjusted and are finally done with clinic. It is bitter sweet, since we all know how much these people could benefit from us working here, but we are in need of some rest. The heat, food and physical activity has worn us out.
We drove to a small town which seemed very poor. We adjusted for about 8 hours and got to see some really amazing cases. Dan Sallee (this one is for you Brittany) got to see a cerebral palsy child today and did an absolutely amazing job. We had a few cases like this and the children come in kicking and screaming and by the end, the just fall asleep. We took some pictures which we will share once we get back.
Once back to the hotel, we worked on a ton of paperwork finishing up all of the non-sense paperwork that goes with getting credit for school. We just went and had some awesome pizza (because they asked what we wanted for dinner tonight and it was a resounding PIZZA!!!). Dan is in bed, trying to sleep off his ear infection. He is doing fine but will go to a doctor for some pain medicine if absolutely needed before flying. We will see what happens but hopefully he will be better by then.
We have decided to hang around town here tomorrow. We are a bit sad because we were planning on going cliff jumping and going down natural waterslides, but he doesnt need anymore water (particularly river water) in his ears, so we are just going to hang around here, sleep and possibly hike a little tomorrow. We are ready for some rest.
We cant wait to get back to see all of you and share more stories and pictures. (Oh, and go to Aruba in a few weeks!!!) Woop woop! And, there is clean water in Aruba and not so many diseases. YAY!
We drove to a small town which seemed very poor. We adjusted for about 8 hours and got to see some really amazing cases. Dan Sallee (this one is for you Brittany) got to see a cerebral palsy child today and did an absolutely amazing job. We had a few cases like this and the children come in kicking and screaming and by the end, the just fall asleep. We took some pictures which we will share once we get back.
Once back to the hotel, we worked on a ton of paperwork finishing up all of the non-sense paperwork that goes with getting credit for school. We just went and had some awesome pizza (because they asked what we wanted for dinner tonight and it was a resounding PIZZA!!!). Dan is in bed, trying to sleep off his ear infection. He is doing fine but will go to a doctor for some pain medicine if absolutely needed before flying. We will see what happens but hopefully he will be better by then.
We have decided to hang around town here tomorrow. We are a bit sad because we were planning on going cliff jumping and going down natural waterslides, but he doesnt need anymore water (particularly river water) in his ears, so we are just going to hang around here, sleep and possibly hike a little tomorrow. We are ready for some rest.
We cant wait to get back to see all of you and share more stories and pictures. (Oh, and go to Aruba in a few weeks!!!) Woop woop! And, there is clean water in Aruba and not so many diseases. YAY!
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Another day in the books...
Hello all!
We are SO excited to be back at the hotel. We love adjusting but have adjusted for 5 days straight and have one more to go. We got to see some return patients from yesterday and we have seen some cool things happen on this trip so far. As a group I would say that we have seen between 1500-2000 people while we have been here and we have seen people as young as 18 days and some 90+ year olds. We have had an amazing experience and have gained a lot more skill in our adjusting.
Dan and I were planning on going to a swimming hole on Saturday for our day off, but he has an ear infection (yea, the Justice family knows what I am talking about) so he is in bed trying to sleep it away and we will see if we get to swim on Saturday. For the rest of you, he gets ear infections after swimming quite often and he cant really do anything for them except sleep. He will be just fine, we just want him to get over it before we have to fly because that would be miserable for him. So, he is getting adjusted frequently and resting. I will keep you updated.
Everything else is going great. We got to eat at a different restaurant last night, and although they served rice and beans, they also served us our own dishes of steak and chicken (differently prepared than what we have been eating continuously) that we roasted at our own table. We cant wait to see what is for dinner tonight. We had awesome pasta from an Italian restaurant 2 nights ago and are hoping for more of that tonight....we shall see.
For those of you (Dad and Aunt Mary particularly...Drew, you as well) that are on time people, dont come to Brazil, and particulary in a group of 25 people. Every time we are supposed to be there, Dan and I and about 2 other people are there and within 45 minutes to an hour the rest of the group decides to show up and stoll around until we are ready to leave as a group. Needless to say, I am learning patience along with my adjusting skills here in Brazil.
I am headed to make Dan some soup and then headed to the pool before doing paperwork and going to dinner. I will write more tomorrow!
We are SO excited to be back at the hotel. We love adjusting but have adjusted for 5 days straight and have one more to go. We got to see some return patients from yesterday and we have seen some cool things happen on this trip so far. As a group I would say that we have seen between 1500-2000 people while we have been here and we have seen people as young as 18 days and some 90+ year olds. We have had an amazing experience and have gained a lot more skill in our adjusting.
Dan and I were planning on going to a swimming hole on Saturday for our day off, but he has an ear infection (yea, the Justice family knows what I am talking about) so he is in bed trying to sleep it away and we will see if we get to swim on Saturday. For the rest of you, he gets ear infections after swimming quite often and he cant really do anything for them except sleep. He will be just fine, we just want him to get over it before we have to fly because that would be miserable for him. So, he is getting adjusted frequently and resting. I will keep you updated.
Everything else is going great. We got to eat at a different restaurant last night, and although they served rice and beans, they also served us our own dishes of steak and chicken (differently prepared than what we have been eating continuously) that we roasted at our own table. We cant wait to see what is for dinner tonight. We had awesome pasta from an Italian restaurant 2 nights ago and are hoping for more of that tonight....we shall see.
For those of you (Dad and Aunt Mary particularly...Drew, you as well) that are on time people, dont come to Brazil, and particulary in a group of 25 people. Every time we are supposed to be there, Dan and I and about 2 other people are there and within 45 minutes to an hour the rest of the group decides to show up and stoll around until we are ready to leave as a group. Needless to say, I am learning patience along with my adjusting skills here in Brazil.
I am headed to make Dan some soup and then headed to the pool before doing paperwork and going to dinner. I will write more tomorrow!
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Back again...
Hey everyone!
We just got back from a clinic day in Lencois. We just got to walk to the school we worked at, which was awesome because we got 8 hours of sleep last night! WOOHOO!
We had a crazy busy day and it was SO hot. 95 to be exact. We had chicken, rice and beans for lunch...so Dan and I ate some crackers and granola bars too because we were all getting a little hot and dehydrated.
Overall, not a bad day, but we are exhausted. It is thunderstorming so we are just going to hang out and shower before dinner and bed.
Hope all is well for everyone!
~~Lindsay and Dan
We just got back from a clinic day in Lencois. We just got to walk to the school we worked at, which was awesome because we got 8 hours of sleep last night! WOOHOO!
We had a crazy busy day and it was SO hot. 95 to be exact. We had chicken, rice and beans for lunch...so Dan and I ate some crackers and granola bars too because we were all getting a little hot and dehydrated.
Overall, not a bad day, but we are exhausted. It is thunderstorming so we are just going to hang out and shower before dinner and bed.
Hope all is well for everyone!
~~Lindsay and Dan
2 additions to the last two days...
I forgot about 2 parts of the last couple of days that enhanced our experiences.
1) On Monday, we picked up a Brazilian hitch-hiker in our bus. That was weird...and stinky.
2) Yesterday, in the tiny car, we got pulled over. Nice. Not because he was driving crazy (which he was) but because the way they patrol here is setting up roadblock to check people´s licenses and such. We were fine...just thought it was going to be more of a hassel than it was. Now its just a good story.
Off to clinic!!!
1) On Monday, we picked up a Brazilian hitch-hiker in our bus. That was weird...and stinky.
2) Yesterday, in the tiny car, we got pulled over. Nice. Not because he was driving crazy (which he was) but because the way they patrol here is setting up roadblock to check people´s licenses and such. We were fine...just thought it was going to be more of a hassel than it was. Now its just a good story.
Off to clinic!!!
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Back from our "rest" day
Again...an amazing day.
Dan and I, along with Hans (a Norwegian student that goes to school with us) took a trip to a small town to see the people of the village. The local chiropractor took us there and let us adjust all of the students in the school (3-15 year olds) and some people from the village. It was SO awesome to get to see so many children. There were a few cryers, as can be expected, but we got them settled down and they were so excited to eat the dum-dums we brought them. All of the children see us and just stop and stare at us. They dont see foreigners often, so we were a new sight to many of them.
As we drove into the town, (at about 120 km/hr because everyone drives CRAZY here!), we stopped to talk to the locals to tell them we were going to see them. It was so awkward to talk with a man holding a chiken under its wings and around its feet. I´m not sure if he had just bought it to have dinner or to get eggs, but either way, I was distracted by his chicken as we spoke.
We also had a spectacular lunch, however we can´t eat most things they serve us. They grow everything they eat in their village, but we can´t eat the raw vegetables. What I wold give for a salad right now...mmmm.
At the end of the day, we packed up the car and visited the chiropractors house. Lets just say its not quite the houses chiropractors in America live in, but they have all sorts of fruit trees in their yard which was awesome. We picked up his two 4month old german shepard puppies so they could go to the vet for their checkup. So, as soon as we loaded them, neither of which had been in a car before, the dog on my lap peed ALL OVER my legs and it ran down to my butt. So, me, 4 grown men, 3 chiropractic tables, 6 backpacks, a jack fruit (spiky and about 3x the size of a pineapple) and 2 puppies rode in the volkswagon rabbit sized car. We then toured the town once we dropped off the dogs at the vet, drove most of the way back to the town we are staying in and stopped at this restaurant/river bathing place. We checked it out quickly and headed back to the hotel.
Dan and I just finished our notes, ate pop tarts :-) and are heading swimming and to bed early...no more 5-6 hours of sleep!
We will write again tommorrow!
Lindsay and Dan
PS--Drew, tell Easton hi, or bye bye if he prefers, for us! Cant wait to see you guys in June and show you our pictures!
Dan and I, along with Hans (a Norwegian student that goes to school with us) took a trip to a small town to see the people of the village. The local chiropractor took us there and let us adjust all of the students in the school (3-15 year olds) and some people from the village. It was SO awesome to get to see so many children. There were a few cryers, as can be expected, but we got them settled down and they were so excited to eat the dum-dums we brought them. All of the children see us and just stop and stare at us. They dont see foreigners often, so we were a new sight to many of them.
As we drove into the town, (at about 120 km/hr because everyone drives CRAZY here!), we stopped to talk to the locals to tell them we were going to see them. It was so awkward to talk with a man holding a chiken under its wings and around its feet. I´m not sure if he had just bought it to have dinner or to get eggs, but either way, I was distracted by his chicken as we spoke.
We also had a spectacular lunch, however we can´t eat most things they serve us. They grow everything they eat in their village, but we can´t eat the raw vegetables. What I wold give for a salad right now...mmmm.
At the end of the day, we packed up the car and visited the chiropractors house. Lets just say its not quite the houses chiropractors in America live in, but they have all sorts of fruit trees in their yard which was awesome. We picked up his two 4month old german shepard puppies so they could go to the vet for their checkup. So, as soon as we loaded them, neither of which had been in a car before, the dog on my lap peed ALL OVER my legs and it ran down to my butt. So, me, 4 grown men, 3 chiropractic tables, 6 backpacks, a jack fruit (spiky and about 3x the size of a pineapple) and 2 puppies rode in the volkswagon rabbit sized car. We then toured the town once we dropped off the dogs at the vet, drove most of the way back to the town we are staying in and stopped at this restaurant/river bathing place. We checked it out quickly and headed back to the hotel.
Dan and I just finished our notes, ate pop tarts :-) and are heading swimming and to bed early...no more 5-6 hours of sleep!
We will write again tommorrow!
Lindsay and Dan
PS--Drew, tell Easton hi, or bye bye if he prefers, for us! Cant wait to see you guys in June and show you our pictures!
Up and at it again...on a "rest" day
Hello family and friends!
Wow...well, we´re getting a bit worn out, so today is a rest day. However, when you are in Brazil the one time in your life you´ll be here, you do something fun. So most people are going to the river to go down natural waterslides or hike 3 hours to a waterfall, but Dan, me and one other student got picked to go adjust people in another town with the local chiropractor. So, we´re up and at it and heading off for another work day.
Yesterday was amazing. We got up bright and early after 5-6 hours of sleep (seems to be a common thing on this trip). We bussed it to Palmeris and then my group got on a crazy bus driver´s van, proceeded down a dirt road for about 45 minutes and after almost having a puker (not me momma!) in the van, we arrived at our location. We set up clinic and away we went. We adjusted until lunch, took a break to eat at a restaurant that served toasted bread with pesto, home-made vegetarian lasagna and freshly squeezed pineapple-mint juice. Sounds weird, but most things are here and somehow they still taste good. Then we went back to clinic, adjusted for a while and then closed up shop. We headed to see this local man´s house that makes liquors just like the other group, then went to eat pizza. The pizza is at a little organic restaurant and that is the only thing on their menu.
After dinner we took the 1.5-2 hour ride back, hung out by the pool for a bit and went to bed...not early enough of course. People on the trip are getting mildly sick from eating food and being worn out, mostly with "pluming problems" as the Austrailian doctor on our trip calls it. We're all doing our best to keep hydrated and eat only what wont upset our stomachs. Poptarts and crackers may be the way to go for a day to let our bodies adjust a little.
Well, I´m off to clinic and we´ll post more tonight or tomorrow. Oh, and I cant get pictures on here as I go, since this is a community computer we are using, so they will come when we get home. Sorry!!!
Keep praying for our group!
Wow...well, we´re getting a bit worn out, so today is a rest day. However, when you are in Brazil the one time in your life you´ll be here, you do something fun. So most people are going to the river to go down natural waterslides or hike 3 hours to a waterfall, but Dan, me and one other student got picked to go adjust people in another town with the local chiropractor. So, we´re up and at it and heading off for another work day.
Yesterday was amazing. We got up bright and early after 5-6 hours of sleep (seems to be a common thing on this trip). We bussed it to Palmeris and then my group got on a crazy bus driver´s van, proceeded down a dirt road for about 45 minutes and after almost having a puker (not me momma!) in the van, we arrived at our location. We set up clinic and away we went. We adjusted until lunch, took a break to eat at a restaurant that served toasted bread with pesto, home-made vegetarian lasagna and freshly squeezed pineapple-mint juice. Sounds weird, but most things are here and somehow they still taste good. Then we went back to clinic, adjusted for a while and then closed up shop. We headed to see this local man´s house that makes liquors just like the other group, then went to eat pizza. The pizza is at a little organic restaurant and that is the only thing on their menu.
After dinner we took the 1.5-2 hour ride back, hung out by the pool for a bit and went to bed...not early enough of course. People on the trip are getting mildly sick from eating food and being worn out, mostly with "pluming problems" as the Austrailian doctor on our trip calls it. We're all doing our best to keep hydrated and eat only what wont upset our stomachs. Poptarts and crackers may be the way to go for a day to let our bodies adjust a little.
Well, I´m off to clinic and we´ll post more tonight or tomorrow. Oh, and I cant get pictures on here as I go, since this is a community computer we are using, so they will come when we get home. Sorry!!!
Keep praying for our group!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
.JPG)