Thursday, June 07, 2007

Bangladesh Journal: Monday June 26, 2006

Well it has been a week since I have been home. This morning I got a rather rude awakening. I put my feet down on the group and there was an inch and a half of water. Last night a pipe burst and there was flooding. Everything, but Marie’s bags, was wet. I had, luckily or rather by God’s grace, put my backpack and purse on top of my big bad and had most of my things in plastic bags. But I still had to send my red bag to get dried. We had a rush to save what was dry, by the way I was the first to get up and I told the girls who all jumped out of bed. After I got everything tat was we, including my bag to the drier and after I bagged everything that had not been in a hefty bad, I got to the shower and kind of got ready. Our floor was so gross, no one can believe.
We then had a quick breakfast. During this time I didn’t want to eat because I was frustrated, wet, and a million other things, but I was shown some great community. Even though there was food right in the next room, Sean offered me food. That is exactly what I needed this morning. I needed someone willing to give of him/herself for me, and God knew that and He used Sean. Praise God, who meets all needs.
So then we loaded up the bus and headed for the airport. It was crazy to see Manila again when I was more awake. There are three lanes but they act as if there are four. I saw slums by waterways, under bridges, next to anything. They looked as if they were not real but out of a magazine or commercial. At one point, I saw a couple of houses that were by a dump truck. I wondered if they had picked that place because the dump truck parked there (access to trash). We finally got to the airport, unloaded the bus and then entered the airport. We then waited about an hour before checking in because Danielle’s laptop was not found. We finally found out it was on the bus, which was back at the house we had been staying at which was an hour away. So she had to leave t there.
We checked n, ate our bag lunches and then began our trip through security. Manila’s security is tighter than anything I have ever experiences. For instance, you have to show your ticket and passport to get in the airport. Then you have to do the same after you check in. You then pay a tax, which was $10.50 US or 550 pesos. Then you walk through a terminal towards your gate. When you hit the next checkpoint you things go through x-ray machines and you walk through a metal detector, which you already did when you got to the airport. Finally everyone has to go through a pat down. It took pretty much everything in me to not laugh when she felt my butt with both hands. Then there is another ticket check in so that you wan sit in the waiting area…WOW!
We then boarded the flight going to Singapore. I got to sit next to Phil on the plane. We flew Singapore Airlines. By far the best flight EVER! We could pick our own movie and the seats had TVs in the headrests. The rows always had just 3 seats and were rather large.
Phil and I sat by a woman who is from India. She travels a lot. It was cool to talk to hear. I then watched Sabrina the remake. I had watched the original before I left and had wanted to watch the remake, but ran out of time. We had great food too. When we made it to Singapore, I was amazed. It was so beautiful, from the plane. I loved it. There were ships everywhere. It looked so clean and small. The airport matched. There was a huge mall. Sarah and I wondered around. We sent emails from the free Internet hub, only 15 minutes allowed. We got a bit of a rip off. I guess there is a place where you can call home at 8 cents a minutes, but we got phone cards for 20 cents a minute. But that is life. It was great to talk to my family. They told me I sounded great. It was my Mom’s first day at work so they were up at 6am. Oh it was just great to talk to them.
Then we went to the gate. We had to go through an x-ray machine and metal detector to get to our waiting area. They thought my toys for the kids were weapons. They saw that they had clearly made a mistake. From that point on I had to take on a submissive persona. There were Bengali men there. We then loaded the plane, which was really empty. I got to sit by Lauren and Kyle. We watched the movie 8 below. Once again TVs in the headrests and my pick of movies, but this time you could not stop and rewind. We then played hearts, which I royally sucked at.
We finally arrived in Bangladesh at 11pm. The guys were good at walking with and around us women at all times. We went through customs, which was a little nerve racking because I couldn’t understand the customs officers and I could not look him in the eye. And they had turned away Rachel because she didn’t have an address of where we were going to stay. But we all got through. We picked up our bags. We had been praying about going through the final security check where they can tax you for what you bring in. We were worried because we were bringing in sound equipment as a gift; Ray was worried it would be taxed or taken away. The Holy Spirit was with us; we were told to walk right through, NO x-ray, NO questions, NO anything.
When we got outside we saw Peter, who was waiting for us. He runs the Grace House. He was happy to see us. We then walked to where he had parked. This got a little scary, because it was dark and there were a lot of staring men. Us girls kept our heads down and stayed pretty quiet. We finally got all of our bags loaded and all of us loaded into the cars. At this point a guy tried to get money from us by saying that he had helped us, he hadn’t and saying we owe him, which would bring shame to us. We then shut the door and left. It was bad that us women were out at night it is simply not done. The guys sat by every door and the girls in the middle and back, no door access. No one could see us, which was good.
Then I had the craziest ride of my life. There were 3-lane traffic but 4 rows of cars plus people walking and motorcycles swerving through. They use horns non-stop and drive on the left side of the road. I was amazed. We then made it to Grace House. It is a small building in bade but it is 5 stories tall. I am staying on the 3rd floor in a room with Rachel, Beth, Lauren, Adriel, and Sarah (Adriel and Sarah are in a connecting room). We opened the room in prayer. This was a blessing because I wanted to pray for Hilary, she has a roommate situation at camp and my mom and for the girls.
Oh I just remembered that when I saw Dhaka (the capital) from the plane it was amazing! I could see the lights and the cars moving. I prayed for the city them.
We then had a special prayer for Hilary, after I shared what I was told. We headed upstairs for a late night snack, which they had prepared for us. It was good, but I was not hungry. We also got to go on the rooftop and see the city. There is a factory next door; people were working at 12:30 at night. I’m hoping it is not a sweatshop and that they are either 2nd or 3rd shift workers. It would be nicer to work at night though, not as hot and no sun.
We then went to bed. There is a contest going on, who can kill the most cockroaches. It started in Manila. At this point, the score is Sean and Caleb each have 1, me with 4 and Ray with 8. After last night Sarah has 1 and I have 9! I got to go to bed, but not before Lauren screamed because one flew into her hair, these bugs can fly. I might not have to use my mosquito net, they have some here, plus mine needs to be hung from the ceiling and I can because of the two ceiling fans. I might let someone use it or just not use it at all. It is good to be where I will be staying for 5 weeks. Praise God we made it safe to the other side of the world.

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