Somewhere in the 2nd half of the 16 + 1/2 hour flight
The male flight attendant came down the aisle closing all the window shutters - at freaking SUNRISE!! Since people were sleeping I GUESS it makes sense, at first. But I sneaked [at ?:?? after 10ish hours of flying you'd forget that the correct word to use here is "snuck" too...] a couple peeks out my window with my camera & today's sunrise was FREAKING BEAUTIFUL! I don't understand why Chris barked at me for having my window cover open half way (if even). It was bright out, but crazy beautiful and he didn't understand that I wasn't planning on leaving it open... If he reads this then I guess he WILL. haha.
(some amount of time later)
We have 2 hours and 58 minutes till we get to New York and there is a baby on the flight. I've either had music or a movie this whole time so far so it isn't an issue for me, but Janelle, Jeremy, Chris, and Kristy man... They keep turning around to look at the baby with annoyance, just hoping it'll quite down long enough for everyone to sleep. The mom has most likely been awake with it longer than any of us have though!
It is taking all I still have in me not to:
1. Peek out a small crack I could make under my window blind
2. Snap at a few of the team members before landing in Denver (but probably same with them towards me)
Security in Jo'burg to get on the plane was intense!
- Normal security, but not intense at all -- my bag was opened and browsed through though
- Gender-segregated frisking lines
- Another bag/carry on search
- Passport check
- Ticket check
- "Here is a plastic card with a number on it. Carry it down the loading ramp and give it to that man 150 ft in"
- Ticket checkers to tell you which way to go to your seat (standard)
- When we stopped in Dakar (after the first 8 hour flight) to switch some staff/passengers out, everyone had to go grab their carry-ons from up above & whatever wasn't claimed was gotten rid of in case in was a bomb or something
mental note: look up muslimsforpeace.com (it was on someone's shirt or something)
Laguardia Layover --- which was extended twice (from 3p to 4:25p)
I did the "tourist-y" thing and bought a I (heart) NY t-shirt! It is green & makes me happy (& I got good coffee, which also helped the layover...)
Went to "drinks" with
Deb Janelle Sean Jeremy
-----------------------------------
|_____________________|
Kristy Me Charles
(that was a diagram of the table and who sat where, beteedubs)
This is when Jer told me again that he won't be surprised if this journal ends up being a NY #1 best seller (but he hasn't even read it) because I'm always adding to it. Then there was a talk about how they don't like that I'm always writing because it makes them self-conscience. They flatter themselves ;)
Cathy is sooo beat tired! I can hear it in her voice and it is all over her...face... and so are tears?! =(
(just after I wrote this I went and checked on her and apparently she'd just learned that her grandma had died the day before)
Taking off from New York.
Finally - it wouldn't've been so bad if we could've known it would've been such a long layover because then we would've been able to adventure the city a bit & I would've been able to hang out with Amy Pierce (who apparently lives really close to Laguardia!) :(
As we all heard a man's voice stream through the overhead speaker informing us about the movie being played (Oceans), I was looking out the window[shocker, right?]. Off in the distance I saw one of New York's skylines - I think Manhattan. I would've taken a picture, but the timing with take off wasn't right -- story of this trip home *pout*. The city was softly back lit with light pink, light orange, and white tones. It was something you wouldn't normally expect to see in New York - understated, soft spoken...ness. The next time the man spoke I looked out my window again. With any city life far, far beneath us, all that was visible was clouds. These clouds were the picture definition of the place called "Utopia" - as cliche' as it may sound. The first image that came to mind was free falling from this little window, back first, with a big smile on my face and 100% carefree! The clouds appear softer, more fluffy, animated, and lively than those on toilet paper commercials. Just by watching one clump of "vanilla cotton candy" for a minute I saw 11 different images ranging from a puppy to a lobster to a boot. The picture I shot of it [above] does not come close to reality of how pretty it was...
(Some time later)
What if God brought me on this trip to plant/instill the idea in my mind that one of the best possibilities for me to learn patience + people skills + diligence would be to work on a long term project in Freedom Park? Derek, Rebecca, Lincoln, and Jenny (along with other YWAM team members) have gone in to work there but after some time they realized/felt like they were working for nothing because they were trying to get results quickly instead of long term/big pictures [according to Lincoln]. I don't know what 20 year project Lincoln keeps referring to about that place but if it is God' plan for me to go work in Freedom Park (or anywhere) for 20 years of my life, I'll go do it in a h(e)artbeat! [I'm not insinuating that I do not believe they are all there doing His will.]
... Home!
I wish that I hadn't been too tired to get a picture with my welcome team [mom, Johanna, & Kevin(who claimed the first 2 hugs before I'd even gotten off the plane)]...
NOTE:
Anything I publish after this post is what I've written since being home. I think everything has dates, so check them because they won't be consecutive like the actual journal was. PS: Thanks for continuing to read! :)
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