Week One of Eight
As I reached the terminal gate at 7:30pm I saw the air craft outside & was amazed at it’s size. I’ve never seen anything like it, boarding started and as I reached the air craft I took my seat next to the window & instantly made friends with the man sitting on my aisle row seat. He was an older man mid 50’s and I saw him take a selfie as the attendants passed out the Emirates air package: socks, eye mask, ear plugs, menu and stickers all in a cute little hand bag.. I leap up out of my seat and photo bomb his selfie as he laughed, we both took our seat and began to listen to the annoucements for our 7:55pm take off.
A great way to start my trip, positive vibes on my way to Dubai!
This past December was my first plane ride.. EVER, so you can only imagine the nerves shooting through my entire body. Therefore the positive vibes were very much needed. The plane took about 4 hours just to reach maximum height.. it was absolutley magnifiecient; Watching the buildings turn into citities, and cities turn into towns, and then far away lights to then nothing but night clouds all around. Dinner was served at 9pm sharp.. & I was not entirely sure it would be free, again becasue I had never done anything like this before. Silly I know, but dinner was served (free) & I enjoyed a delicious rice and curry meal. By 11pm I had already finished my second movie and was not at all tired. Around midnight the elderly man maybe 75+ yrs old directly in front of me got up to use the restroom. My seat was conveniently close to the bathroom, 3rd row to be exact. Though inconveniently to get the bathroom there were 3 steep stairs to reach the door; On the mans way back to his seat he stumbled in his mens saree wrap (I already forgot what it’s called, geez) and fell to his knees and then down the stairs. As everyone panicked and only stared at the poor man the man beside me woke up, struggled to unbuckle his seat belt, jumped up, & his head phones flung off as he reached the old man. Thankfully all was good because I was at a window seat and am only 5’2″ I honestly couldn’t see the man on the floor however, once he was helped up he walked fine as if nothing happened back to his window seat in front of me. The man beside me now sat with an energy running from the adrenaline so he ordered some cocktails to help him relax, hah. Finally I fell asleep around 1am and slept until about 5am when I heard a fair amount of noise, it was only turbulence & I soon fell back asleep until about 7am. Wide awake and STARVING I impatiently waited for breakfast & COFFEE to be served. Breakfast was delicious and served around 9am (Texas time). Soon after the captain annouced we could open our window panels.. only to realize it was pitch black outside.. It was Sunday night, and only Sunday morning back home!! Crazy. (And I’m still not use to the time difference!)
My Daily bible verse that day, Sunday was Proverbs 16:3, and was much needed.
As we landed and arrived in Dubai, I slowly but a bit antsy began to walk off the plane where I spoke again to my seat neighbor. I asked where he was from and where he was headed, he was going somewhere near Pakistan and would be going off shore for 28 days! He was going to stay the night in Dubai and head his way the next morning.
I found the airport in Dubai to be extremly confusing & could barley find my way… I literally asked the same question to every different airport guide multiple times, making it to each spot they’d point to. Finally I found my way out of the air port and towards the busses.. my terminal was a 20-30 min bus ride away.. after re-entering a new section of the airport & security I waited about 3 hours for my next departure. While on the bus I met a girl, I don’t remember her name.. but she was from somewhere, she said near Pakistan and was going there to visit home. I later caught her again in the restroom right before they called for my flight. From there I had to re-load the bus to get to the plane. In Dubai they pulled the bus right up to the right side of the air craft and had all passengers load the plane by stairs.
As the plane took off at 11:30pm Dubai time they served us dinner. I wasn’t hungry since I had just eaten (my breakfast) but decided to eat anyways.. well because why not and quiet honestly was nervous for not knowing when the next time I would be able eat. Monday morning at 5AM I found my way through the Sri Lanka airport & rather easily. Once you disembark the plane, oddly no one was allowed to speak until we reached immigration. Once I made it through it was all uphill & easy from there, kinda. I found my luggage and the Sri Lanka Volunteer personnell who’d be driving me to the homestay. I did however struggle once he walked me to the ATM and asked me to take out 10,000 Rupees. Hahaha… to my amusement it only ended up equaling 50 U.S dollars. We then made our way over to the phone booth where I was meant to get a Sri Lankan SIM card only to find out that my phone company locked my phone… and it wouldn’t work. We ended up leaving the airport and began our travel to the Homestay. I quickly learned that Sri Lakan’s drive opposite to us in the U.S. and even worse they drive like complete maniacs! It’s one thing I know I will not get use to.
Sri lanka is like no place I’ve ever been.. and currently still have no words to explain it.
As I reached the homestay I learned that I will be living at the Savithree Homestay with my one roommate Rosie ( a volunteer) and other House mates Tarynn (volunteer) and Imogen our Peer Mentor. I am very excited to get our first week started. Let’s do this!
Stay tuned for updates.
Psalm 71:15
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