Blogs from Penn's Landing, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, North America

This blog will be super short with no photographs. Our staging information was super-secret…. So if we to tell you about it, we would have to kill ya! Just kidding. The staging consisted of paperwork, motivation and building rapport between volunteers. We did group skits and obtained valuable information about the PC (yes, we are down to initials) and Morocco from very enthusiastic and knowledgeable people. Morocco sounds fantastic, mystical and challenging. (All of which we knew already… but this was reinforced with gusto!) After the initial meet and greet, we broke up into two groups of about 50. So, after an ice-breaker exercise with all 100 volunteers, we got to know about 50 people much better. How? The group shared its anxieties and aspirations and did a lot of laughing. The bottom line of staging ... read more

18th Sept ’12 York to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Today it was raining!! We were driving through the Amish farm lands of Pennsylvania and had intended to do Aaron and Jessica’s buggy ride but by the time we reached the farm it was tanking down and a buggy ride didn’t sound as much fun! We did spot a few buggies around and about and lots of Witness style barns but it just wasn’t the same in the rain. So we carried on along a very complex route to get to Philadelphia Airport. At one point it was raining so hard you couldn’t see the road at all which was a bit hairy! However it eased off to a mild torrent and we made it to the motel ok. 19th September ’12 Philadelphia After we checked out of the ... read more

Church: This morning we went to church at St Patrick's Church in D.C. St Patrick's church is the oldest parish in the Federal city and it was breathtaking! Alex tested out the acoustics for the first 10 minutes. He loved hearing his voice echo. Alex and I then spent the rest of the mass in the forum. On our adventures, we love to attend mass at the local churches. Not only does this allow us to have our one on one time with God but we also get to experience the local church culture and beautiful buildings in the process. Union Station: On our way to the greyhound station, we stopped at Union Station to take a look around and to have lunch. It is huge with a grand ceiling and giant soldiers along the roof ... read more

After 7 hours on the bus this morning, I arrived in Philadelphia from Boston by Greyhound bus after a quick stop in New York City. My first stop was to pick up a new travel bag (duffel bag, backpack, suitcase combination) to make travel easier. My grandparents helped me pick it out and I will be staying with them for the next 2 days. We went and saw the movie Cairo Time this evening and had sushi for dinner. The movie was a quirky romantic drama with some fantastic shots of Cairo especially close ups of the pyramids. I will travel to Washington D.C. on Wednesday. I got some photos from the bus seat view today as I passed New York City and just as I entered Philadelphia.... read more

Santa Barbara II We flew back to LA from KC and stayed with Mark's friend Donnie and Jenn in Manhattan Beach. We spent a nice evening with them and tasted the local fair near the beach. The next day, we went to the Getty Museum which is an incredible free collection of artwork, buildings and gardens. If you're ever visiting LA, be sure to see this 110 acre museum perched in the mountains above Santa Monica. The architect Richard Meier created this state-of-the-art museum with modern architecture and incredible gardens. They built the main structures out of 16,000 tons (1.2 million square feet) of white travertine stone that was imported from Italy. The art collection is world class and they rotate shows all of time. They're open some weekend evenings as well to see the sun ... read more