I have arrived.

I'm here.

The journey began yesterday at 6:05 Eastern Time in Atlanta. I caught my flight with no problems at all and boarded with ease. After the initial joy of getting moved to an aisle seat I realized that the two 13 year old boys that were pinching and poking each other all the way down the aisle were getting closer and closer to my row.

Sure enough those heathens were my neighbors. In the middle section... 4 deep. I sat on the left side next to the aisle, the boys next to me and their mother as the other end cap. For the first 45 minutes of travel they were quite literally punching each other in the head. It escalated and escalated and ESCALATED. My looks of amusement turned to frustration turned to unfiltered fury. And oh did those boys notice. I am fairly certain I was being called many choice words in German for a good 10 minutes at one point.

Finally one boy hit the other one so hard that he yelled loud enough to disturb the whole cabin. Finally, the Mother shushed them a bit and encouraged them to put in their headphones. I sat the whole time thinking "Really Heyzeus? Really? These kids have to be my neighbors on this flight?

After the movie was in they were fairly harmless and mostly quiet.

I landed in Frankfurt at 9 am their time and had a quick layover. When I arrived at gate B47 to wait for my flight to Accra I was met by two of the ticket-takers and asked if I would join them at the ticket counter. "I'm upgrading you to business class."

Wait what? Why? Uhmmm Thank you? - that was all I could think of to say!

Let me tell you... flying business class on a 6 hour international flight is like being escorted to heaven temporarily. I just started laughing when I sat down in my beautiful seat - "Alright Heyzeus so is this my reward for being a good girl on the first flight and holding my tongue?"

I like to believe so.

I landed in Accra at 3:30 their time and retrieved my bags and went through customs quickly and painlessly. I then waited 3 hours in the airport for my new friend Angie who would get in at 7 and take me to the hotel. She knows missionaries in the area and they were gracious enough to pick us up at the airport and buy us dinner. They are staying at our hotel for the night and we are going to the Cape Coast tomorrow with them to see one of the forts used in the slave trade when the Gold Coast was one of the biggest exporters of human capitol. I can only imagine what it will be like to stand in that building... knowing what went on there for so long.

My feelings about being here are hard to explain ... It still feels surreal. It's truly incredible. It just... feels right.

I can't wait to update more this week with photos and information about my program and orientation.

I'm IN Africa... when did that happen?