:: First Day ::

Written 21.1.2007, my bedroom, 3:14 local time.

It's finally the time to review the past week. I've been at NABI for 9 days now. I'll start from the beginning.

1st night, Thursday:

Ben picked me up at the busstation. It was comforting to finally meet a Bahá'í. The trip to NABI campus took about 45 minutes. We used mostly Interstate 40, which passes very close to the legendary Route 66. It was very dark so I couldn't see anything but the signs. We arrived at NABI and my first impression on the campus was, that the buildings were very sparsely located, but the campus seemed very cosy and friendly.

We drove straight to the Bathke's house. Bathkes are the people who are mainly repsonsible for NABI. They live in a lovely, welcoming trailer. I stepped out of the car, and before I got to the door, I saw a dog approaching. Ben told me it was Sugar, one of the two dogs that sometimes are allowed to hang around in the campus area. Sugar is a very friendly dog, and she was the first new friend I got at NABI.

After meeting Sugar, it was the time to take my first step into a trailer. A trailer is mostly like any other house, except that it's movable and it's made of lighter materials. The Bathkes were there at the door to meet me. They were going to a meeting of LSAs the following day, so this was my only chance to meet them before they left for their 4-day trip to central Arizona. The visit to Alice's and Jerry's (Bathkes) house was a confirmation to me. It was a confirmation that I would catch up on things pretty fast and I would learn many things during the following days, weeks and months. Visiting the Bathkes, I also met Peggy, who you will get to know later reading this blog!

The time came for Ben to take me to my trailer and help me drop off my things. I met Amy, my housemate, and her mother who was visiting, very briefly, because Ben got a call from Ruhiyyih and Phil, the other youth volunteers, who were in Ruhiyyihs trailer and invited us over. I had the first glance over the room that would me my home for the next 2,5 months, dropped off my things and went to Ruhiyyih's and Peggy's house.

I saw Ruhiyyih sitting on the sofa. There was a guitar and a viola in the room, and I figured the youth were playing some music. Ruhiyyih and I greeted each other and shortly the door was opened and Phil came in.

We listened to music, got to know each other, found out that we have similar music tastes and talked about most anything! It was an amazing night. Nothing special happened, and that made it so special; being with Bahá'í youth was similar all over the world. Many other things connected all the four of us together. When I went to bed I already felt like I had known these people for weeks! Thank you NABI staff for such a great reception!

Checking out at 4:00 NABI time.