Scrapbooking, Internet and Keeping in Contact

I am told that there is Internet available in the town but it’s not the most reliable connection. I think the lodge might have Internet too but it may cost extra. We are required to be in the hotel each day by dark for safety, so I’m hoping that will give me enough time to write my blog for the day and then get some rest. The girls that went last summer said that you would be exhausted each night and ready to go to bed by dark anyways. I’m going to type on a word document and then cut and paste so that I don’t have to worry about loosing anything or paying for Internet for a long time. So even if am not able to post the blog, I’ll still write it and post it online whenever I have access. Hopefully my plan will work! I’m going to put one of those “out of office” automatic return emails for my vt.edu account, but I’m still planning on checking my email. Since I’ll be gone a month, I don’t want to worry about returning emails that I can deal with when I’m home. But I’m hoping to be able to email back home especially if I have medical questions or concerns.

I’m definitely planning on bringing my laptop with me. I think computers are available in town, but I want my own. Plus I have so many documents and important things on here that I might need. My ichat program allows me to have video chats with people. I thought it would be so cool to be able to video chat with my family and friends at home. My dad’s laptop is the only other computer that has a camera so I got him set up with a screen name and we practiced video chats with each other. It’s all set up on our computers so it might work. Dr. Kelly said the Internet is too slow for something like that, so we probably won’t be able to do it but you never know!

My mom is an intense scrapbooker and over the years we have collected quite the collection of supplies. I enjoy scrapbooking too, but it takes me much longer to complete an album and I simply don’t have time for it these days. I have received some scholarships for my trip to Africa and they ask us to bring albums and share stories about our experience. I have less than a month after I get home to make an album before I go back to school. I have a MacBook computer and I love it! I made a calendar from iphoto for my parents for Christmas to try out the product, and I was really happy with how it turned out. I like the idea of doing a digital scrapbook. It is easy for me to work on my computer and a lot quicker than doing it by hand. Plus I love doing this type of stuff. Iphoto album didn’t have very many page layout options but it was a free program so I was just going to make do. Then I learned about Snapfish. I briefly looked at Snapfish and I liked their album designs a lot better. So hopefully I’ll have an album done within a couple weeks after I get back.

I’m also hoping to post some of my pictures on snapfish.com. I’ll put the link on my blog if I am able to do that. The Internet might be too slow and it wouldn’t be worth it but it would be really cool if I could! That way my pictures could be on backup if something happened to my hard drive. I’m always paranoid about that. Who knows, the Internet might not work and I could have to wait and post everything when I get home. I just don’t know.

Once again, I’m very sensitive how I portray Africa in my album because of my African Studies class. I would like to have an album about my trip with pictures of me, where I went and what I did. But I would also like to take pictures of their culture, their school and not have any Americans in the photos. I’d like to make an album or even make a little children’s book about the country of Malawi. I’d like to be able to use it to teach others about Malawi and maybe show a different side of Africa… a day in the life of a Malawi child, or show similarities between Malawi and us, but I want it to be a happy book. Hopefully I’ll have better ideas once I get there.

I’m also taking a camcorder with me. They are so small these days it doesn’t take up any space. Just like my album, I’d like to make a movie about my trip and the places I went, but I’d also like to make a movie about the country of Malawi and not include any Americans. I have a lot of experience with iphoto, albums, greeting cards etc, but I’ve never made a movie before. I’m excited to learn about editing and the new technology. This type of visual media is right up my alley. I’m actually taking a class on visual media in the fall, so I will have plenty of footage to make projects! I have got my work cut out for me when I get back.

Last semester we had a guest speaker come in one of my media classes and talk about combining a slideshow of still photos with voice recordings and narration. He showed some really neat examples and I would love to try to make something similar. I’m bringing my voice recorder too. I can interview people, but only record their voice and show pictures of what they are talking about. It doesn’t require as much work as making a movie but still provides visual and audio entertainment. Who knows what I’ll actually end up doing, these are just ideas.

As far as phones, I don’t anticipate having access to a phone at all during my trip. I’m sure I can find a phone if I need one, but I don’t want to rely on it. I’m going to turn off my cell phone, but I’ve heard you can buy international calling cards. I haven’t really talked about that with my parents yet. I’m with a big group of people and I know someone will have a phone if we need one, but I think I will be okay without calling home as long as I have the Internet. Some of the girls said they will want to call home each night but I think I’ll be just fine.

Dr. Kelly gave us lots of contact numbers and email addresses of places we will be and people we will be with. My parents have plenty of ways to get in contact with me if the need arises. And all of our parents have a list of the other parents information. So if one girl talks to her parents, they can pass along any information. My mom finds the most comfort in knowing that Jean will be there and looking out for us if we need Malawi/American help.

I am reading over what I wrote and laughing at myself because I sound like such a Girl Scout. Can you tell I was a Girl Scout for over 10 years? Always prepared and always have emergency contacts!