time travelers

found it a little ironic that the movie showing on our flight from ny to amsterdam was The Time Travelers Wife, since we’re feeling a bit like time travelers ourselves. Home time I have at 11pm on the 23rd, but sitting in the airport in Amsterdam it is already the 24th and 8a.m. to boot. We landed to a beautiful sunrise of pinks and purples and the jolt of the plane touching down is what woke me… not the best alarm clock, for a moment I was fairly certain a wing had fallen off mid-flight. I felt particularly fortunate we made it in once piece seeing as we were delayed in ny for “mechanical reasons”. Pretty much my least favorite reason for delay next to lightning storms, and actually, after being on a plane hit by lightning not too long ago, I’d say the ambiguous “mechanical issues” delay is worse. What does that even mean? Does the conveyer belt to move luggage onto the plane need to be repaired? or is the engine sporadically cutting off? Because that makes a difference to me as a passenger! :) Anyway, so we’re getting pretty eager to have this travel part of the journey over and we’ve got a 1/3 of it still to go. I think at this point the main concern is that, between the 3 of us, we’ve got enough luggage to sink a small boat, we don’t know if Dr. Lee is picking us up from the airport as he had originally agreed to, and we aren’t actually certain of the address of the hostel as well as aren’t sure if there’s even a room available for us… all relevant concerns that had us a little stressed as we boarded to KJO. I slept so hard the first few hours of that flight that I missed what I’m sure was an incredible view out my window (love the window seat). I did wake at one point to take in some crazy mountainous rock formations with snow and what looked like small alpine villages, then again, I could have been dreaming. When I finally came to, my 2 neighbors actually commented on my impressive pass out. The woman was a Jamaican born Canadian citizen traveling to Africa to teach women the skill of cutting and styling hair. From what I gathered, this is her life passion and she wants to teach other women to empower them, give them a skill so that they can have an income. I thought it sounded pretty amazing. So much of what we know about developing countries and overpopulation reinforces that empowering women can be an incredible driving force in bringing down the total fertility rate and contributing to the development of a country. This woman was a crack up, she kept talking about the “luxury” of things on the plane in her awesome Jamaican accent and I definitely got a hug from her when we said our goodbyes. Next to me was a man born in Tanzania but raised in Ohio and heading to Dar Salaam for a mission… He was very sweet so I didn’t even mind that he took up a third of my seat, and when we got caramel ice cream he let me and the Jamaican woman split his and if you know me well, ice cream is definitely the way to my heart, so him and I, we were good friends after that. Anyway, he thought it was the funniest thing that I was a vegetarian (word to the wise, request a vegetarian meal on a plane and they always feed you first). I tried explaining, but as with many people I talk to about this in the US, I don’t think my point really got across. Anyway, great neighbors, both doing wonderful things, and I’d say the best company of my three flights. This flight also had the best food, and arguably the best view. Here’s the thing about the view… I slept through the cool Europe part at the beginning, then it was all ocean, and after that desert, but desert like you wouldn’t believe. Hours of nothing but beige sand in every direction; it felt like we were flying over some strange new planet. What made it interesting was the clouds. Perfect white puffy clouds with neat little shadows on the sand below. And it got better, soon there were wide circles of soft, cotton ball looking clouds, with these huge mushroom clouds exploding up above them. Just massive thunderheads billowing up toward the plane, it was awesome. And then it got EVEN better. An hour to arrival and the thunderheads looked black against the deep blue dusky sky and as I’m staring out my window looking for stars or the moon or maybe a sign of life on the ground I notice that one of the thuderheads is going wild with lighting. Just off the wing this cloud is flashing and exploding like a firework. It was like nothing I’d ever seen, hardly a second between bolts. They would come in beats, illuminating the cloud then flickering away just as the next cut through the cloud. It would have sounded so cool, a constant rumble of thunder… At this point it is nearing 8:30 pm on the 24th, our ETA. I have home time as 10:30a.m. on the 24th. we had left for the airport at 3:30am on the 23rd, which makes it easily 30 hours we’ve been traveling, 40 with the time change. Needless to say we were a bit delirious when we deboarded the plane but the smell as we walked off into the warm night air was, I can’t even describe it, the kind of smell that confirms you’re somewhere exotic, and far from home, and that this is going to be a great adventure. The smell reminded me of the Philippines, slightly different, but got my adrenaline pumping with the excitement of traveling just the same.

As for our concerns that we would be luggage-less, stranded at the airport, and clueless as to where to direct a taxi… fortunately I am a strong believer in the power of positive thought and Thu, Amy and I were all thinking some seriously good thoughts because turns out we landed early, got our visa’s no problem ($100 US), got all 6 checked bags in only mildly abused condition, and managed to juggle our 12 pieces of luggage as we walked into a crowd of people holding signs with unfamiliar names and signs for taxi companies. Miracle of all miracles, we’re approached by a small Korean man who asks my name. When I say Lindsay he says oh yes, Lindsay! I’m Dr. Lee! I was seriously so happy I hugged him, no joke, we were all so relieved to find him there, especially after my neighbor on the plane had stressed to me the importance of having someone meet us at the airport. Better yet, he grabs a bunch of our bags and leads us to his lexus suv, that, with only a minor struggle, fit all of our luggage. The 45 minute car ride to the hostel was filled with conversation about the local area, important Swahili phrases we should know (including a song he sang to us), and exchange of information about ourselves and him.

The hostel is… a bit more roughing it than I was expecting, and I wasn’t expecting much, but we’ve settled in quickly and I’m sure it will feel like home in no time. The three of us are sharing a dorm room sized space with three small beds covered in mismatched blankets we didn’t use. The mosquito nets are riddled with holes and I’m thankful Todd and Jenny leant me theirs. Our sleeping bags served us well, but we were all a little toasty. I think Dr. Lee’s warning that it would be cold here has to do with him being acclimated to a warmer climate. Fortunately the beautiful spring and start to summer that Oregon had to offer (how well can you read my sarcasm?) has prepared us for the cool-with-a-bit-of-rain weather we woke to this morning. Big bugs kept me company in the shower, and I think, had I not brought shower shoes, I would not being showering at all seeing as the bottom of the shower is covered with… Fungus? Algae? I’ll go with Aspergillus :) We’re off in search of water today… yes, we arrived last night with no water, no place to buy it, and no way to boil it. When you have no water available it makes you extra thirsty, even if you aren’t dehydrated. Bottom line: we’re here, we’re safe, we’re relatively clean after much needed showers, we’re hungry (but Thu literally brought a Costco-sized pack of M&Ms so I have faith we will survive) and we’re going exploring!!