I have been almost non-stop traveling since Monday at 4:30 am. My flight from O’Hare to LAX was good; I slept most of the time. Or rather I tried to. When I got to LAX, I felt a little unsure about what to do and where to go. LAX is a beautiful airport. There are little boutique type places inside. Once I got my bags I called my family and the LAX point person (Bo) who I think I woke up. I then wandered around the American Airlines terminal until I found someone and asked him where the International terminal was. I got to walk outside from one terminal to the next. I breathed in CA air and saw some palm trees. I can officially say I have walked in CA now. I wandered around the International terminal, just to check it out. I then settled at a table in the upstairs sitting/waiting/dining area. I found different ways to amuse myself a.k.a. sudoku, playing cards, reading a magazine and a book, and just people watching. Close to lunch the place got really busy and I needed to o to the bathroom, but I was afraid to loose my table. God provided me with a person who asked if she could sit with me. She was also willing to save the table as I went to get food and to the bathroom. Both of these tasks were rather interesting since I got a cart for my bags and I took that everywhere. The food I got (for both lunch and dinner) was almost like Panda Express but more authentic.
After she left I just chilled more and worked on my prayer journal and calendar. It was really amazing to see how God really led me to write certain prayer requests down for specific people, when I never really thought about praying for that person in that way. Praise the Lord. The seating area died down a bit so I went to the bathroom and explored the upstairs. My table was taken when I got back but there was one open closer to the window. I then table hopped for a while till I was sitting at a table that was by the window and a plug but not in direct sunlight thus making it extremely hot. I got to talk to Brad Drewes. It was great to talk to him. He gave me some praise (from himself). He is getting married (YAY)!
Finally at around 6pm other people started to arrive in this order: Kyle, Caleb, Andrew, Lauren, Marie, Adriel, and Phil. These were the ones who arrived before 10. We played some card games, which made the time go by faster. Finally we went to go check in and go to the gate. We then met Dan; he had already checked his bad. Beth arrived right before we boarded the plane. I really enjoyed getting to know everyone. We then took a bus to get to the plane. That is when I started to feel unbelievably tired. I had some good conversation with Andrew about where I have traveled before and my goal of swimming in every ocean and visiting every continent with the exception of Antarctica. We then boarded the 747. All of our seats for the most part were scattered. I was a little glad about this because then I would not be tempted to talk or stay awake.
So I slept for 10 hours of the 13 hours flight. Waking up only for meals, bathroom breaks, and the last Movie (Last Holiday). When I was awake it was good t see some familiar faces and to talk with the people I am going to spend 7 weeks with. When we finally landed in Taipei, I was ready to go and very awake. It was 6 am there but 3 am in LA and 5 am at home (so there was a 13 hr difference). At the airport we played “Evil Dictator” which was so much fun. It’s a game where you make up rules that no one knows about (only the ruler does) so people get penalties until they follow the rules. During this time I got to know people from other Asia Treks and Kyle, who also played.
It was fun to just talk to people. I sat by Dan and Kyle on the way to Manila. We listened to Jazz on the plane and talked. When we finally got there, I was hit by a wave of heat. The smells were totally different there. The air is more humid and it just felt wet. We then went to an area where we were going to meet our ride. We put our luggage on a truck and then we boarded a nice bus. We finally connected with the rest of our student group (Rachel, Sarah, Zach, and Sean). It was great to see everyone. We then drove through Manila for 45 minutes till we reached Quizon City where we were staying.
It was amazing to see the city. Manila had a lot of modern and English billboards. I found out that movies come out on Wednesday. Also gas prices are about the same. It was amazing to see how certain areas were really clean but still looked unclean or old. Every building was so close to the next. They almost looked like one long building. When we arrived at the mansion, I noticed that all the houses had brick walls around them with barbed wise and broken glass cemented to the top. The place we were staying had a textile factory up front. I am not sure if the factory is still in use but it is still there.
When we walked up the driveway we got t o see our trek leaders (Ray, Danielle, Megan, Amanda, Ling, Darren, and John). We then got to have lunch not that we hadn’t eaten on the plane. The main meal was pork so I ate the sides. The backyard was amazing. The porch is stone and has columns. There is a pool and a performance stage made out of bamboo. They had set up tables on the back lawn and on the porch where we could eat. After we ate we got our room assignments. I was staying with 4 other girls who are going to Dhaka (Marie, Beth, Lauren, and Adriel). We share 1 double bed and 1 Queen. It’s kind of fun. We have been spoiled for everyone had an Air Conditioning unit in their room, not you are suppose to only have it on at night. The rooms are not what I expected. The only way I can explain it is a really nice hotel that needs A LOT of repairs, but imagine that it is a hotel from the 80s.
After we got settled a bit, we had team time. We talked about what our expectations were and where we were. We then ate dinner. (It is a little hard to remember because of the jet lag). We then went to group time (all Asian Treks). They knew better than to do something important because we were so far gone. Before our leaders would let us go to bed they made us play mafia, missionary style. That was draining. We then fought to stay awake until 10pm their time 9am my home time.
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