Such Great Sights

I woke up super early this morning to go running with Larry, Kelly, and Drew. This was the first time for me to go running since San Francisco, so I was a little nervous about how it would go. We took a taxi to the park, and it was so cool to see all the people once we got there. There were so many people running and walking, and then in every available open area there were groups of people doing Tai Chi and other aerobic exercises. I ran with Larry, and we did about two laps which is about a 5K. I didn't even listen to music on this run because I was so busy looking at everyone. After the run, we walked back to teh church. On the way, Larry and Kelly pointed out some of teh sights from when they grew up there. Back at teh church, almost everyone was still asleep, so I decided to catch up on my journaling. It doesn't take long to fall behind :). However, Robert came down in a few minutes and wanted to go eat breakfast with someone, so since no one else was really up yet, I went with him. We went to Mama's-a little diner-equivalent restaurant down the street from the church. I tried a fried omlette over rice, which turned out to be a pretty decent choice. I have noticed that fewer Thais speak English than Cambodians did, so that kind of complicates things. Hopefully I can learn pretty quick how to speak enough to get around. When we got back to the church, I went upstairs and got to experience my first dip bath. That is where you take buckets full of water and pour them on you. That first bucket of cold water certainly was a shock to my system. After my "shower", I went downstairs and got ready to see off the AFCO group. We walked them to their bus and then said our good-byes. I definitley was very said to see them go. I had so much fun with them. I was a little surprised at myself for tearing up as they pulled away. I will get to see them in a few weeks though when they come to Chiang Mai, and I can't wait! When we got back to the church, Larry gave Terri and me some time to get settled, and then he took us out to hit the town. He gave us a running commentary about Bangkok trivia, which was very interesting. Our first stop on the tour was the National Museum of Thailand. They have a pretty cool history. My favorite part was about King Rama IV, the king that the movie The King and I was based on. I also really liked reading about the present day King. He seems like a pretty cool guy. After the museum, we all went to a restaurant and had some Kao Pad Gai or chicken fried rice (I am slowly learning some Thai). After lunch we took a ferry to Wat Arun-the Temple of the Dawn. Its height seemed pretty unimpressive, but as I continued climbing, I realized each step got steeper and steeper. The view was quite impressive from the top though. After Wat Arun, we walked to the temple containing the Jade Buddha, however, we were yelled at by a very unfriendly Thai museum worker for trying to enter without proper attire. So even though I didn't get to see the Jade Buddha, the temple was pretty spectacular from the outside. We finally decided to head back to the church, which was ind of a relief because I was exhausted. Terri and I spent the rest of the afternoon catching up on emails, writing blog entries, and downloading pictures. It was all kind of overwhelming! We took a break halfway through to go eat dinner. We went to KFC, and I have a sneaking suspicion that their original recipe didn't make it to Thailand. We stopped by the cell phone store, and I picked up a second hand phone and some minutes so that I can have a workable phone in Thailand. I am pretty excited to hopefully make some friends in Chiang Mai and start using it :). After that, we hit it hard again in our rooms at the computer. I was definitley ready for bed after a long evening of some extensive catching up!

Jars of Clay

Today I didn't even hear my alarm go off. I didn't wake up until Hilary's alarm went off, so we were all in a hurry to get dressed and packed up. We made it downstairs in time to catch our last day of pancakes before we headed over to the church for our first Cambodian chapel. Even though I can't understand any of what they are saying, it is still really cool to be a part of their worship service. Afterwards I exchanged email addresses with a few of the students there, Khim and Cheev. They had come to the village with us the past few days and were quite a help. After chapel, we said our goodbyes to the students and loaded up the van for some sightseeing. The first place we went to was Tuol Sleng, a genocide museum at the former Khmer Rouge S-21 prison. It was haunting to walk through the room and see all of the pictures of the people who were in this prison. It is so weird and sad to think all this happened in our not-so-distant past. After the museum, we headed over to the Russian Market. I am not too sure why it was called the Russian Market, but it was definitely fun to walk around. There were so many stalls that when we got to the middle of it, I felt slightly claustrophobic. I was glad we went though because I got a chance to replace my backpacking backpack that broke on the trip over here. We stopped at a coffee shop called Jars of Clay for lunch, and I had a cinnamon, banana, and raisin sandwich, which was definitely an excellent ordering choice. I also got a chance to talk to Mrs. Dolan here. She was so nice! I am amazed at they way she has adapted so well to life here. After lunch, Terri and I walked around the market a bit more before we went back to the house to pack. At the house we changed into our travlling clothes. It reminded me of the days of travelling on passes and having to dress up. Kelly said he wanted us to represent Jesus well instead of looking like grungy backpackers (which is what we are). At the airport it is funny to see the people staring at our gigantic group of Americans. We definitely catch their eye :). At the gate, there was a Dairy Queen right across the way, so we all got some Blizzards before we departed. That's what I like about Cambodia! I also got a chance to talk to the three guys that spent the three days we were in Phnom Penh on a medical missions boat. It sounded like they had a really great trip. I sat between Terri and Michael on the plane. I really enjoyed talking to Michael. He has been on several different AFC trips and it the student leader of AFCO this year, so he has some pretty funny stories. I also got to listen to a few bands on John's ipod, and I really liked them a lot. I am going to have to check them out in the near future. When we landed, Larry was waiting with the vans to pick us up and take us back to the church. I was so excited to be back in Thailand and get the chance to see more if it, since the last time I was here, I didn't really get a chance to check it out. When we got to the church, we all unloaded our stuff and then dispersed for the night. I went with a big group to "The Big C". It kind of reminds me of a gigantic Walmart with a food court and a movie theater stacked on top of it. I opted out of seeing Prince Caspian and instead ate at The Pizza Company with Michael, Hilary, Roxanne, Justin, and a few of his Bangkok buddies. I had a really good time hanging out with them, and after dinner we all got ice cream and checked out The Big C shopping scene. After that, we hit up an internet cafe and tried desperately to catch up on our correspondences. When we got back to the church, I hung out with all the girls on the third floor while they were doing laundry and repacking for the next big leg of their journey. I have so much fun with them! I am kind of sad to see my week with them end tomorrow.

Catch Her Eye

I keep waking up later and later here. I wonder if that means I am getting used to the time change because back in the states I always seem to have a hard time getting up in the morning. It is kind of rough getting ready in the mornings with four girls and one bathroom. I don't know how the AFCO group shared one bathroom between all twenty of them at one of their stops. They are pretty hardcore. Breakfast was pancakes again! YAY! This time she set out peanut butter with the pancakes-my favorite. Terri and I were signed up for the village group again, so the morning routine was pretty similar to the day before except this time we drove out two hours and had about four extra people in our not-so-air-conditioned van. I will say that the ride definitely was interesting with the heat intensifying all of our smells. When we got there, our restructured group definitley missed John and Julie R.-the unofficial song and game coordinators of the group. I tried to start up a few silly church songs for our crowd of seven teenage girl participants, but they were less than impressed at us. I felt kind of like an idiot after the fourth song's response was only blatant stares and rolling eyes. We finally decided to try our hand at some games. We played this game-Catch Her Eye-for about ten rounds, but it was totally worth it because they loved it! After that, we played Dragonball and mastered the dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge. We played with a soccer ball though which was pretty scary because some of those kids have got quite an arm. We took a break for about an hour or so to have lunch. We had the same Cambodian food as the day before, which was pretty good. Except most of us ended up feeding half of our food to the dogs, ducks, and pigs. I did learn that those animals do not eat well together because a dog and duckling had a bit of a run-in, which did not end well for the duckling. It came out of the tustle with the dog looking a bit wobbly. After lunch we made a few more attempts at some games, but they had a poor reception. This village was a pretty tough crowd. Finally some of the adult Khmer bystanders offered us some help. We played a couple of games that the kids actually seemed to enjoy and participate in, which was kind of a relief. Just when we were getting into the swing of things though, we had to pack up and leave. It is always kind of hard to leave because the kids seem to get so bummed out to see us go. Even these kids seemed kind of sad, despite our poor attempts and games and songs. As we were leaving the villagers chased down two ducks and tied them up as gifts for us. So we started the trek back, however, we were all a little smellier and hotter and two ducks more crowded. When we got back to the house, I hung out downstairs for a while until dinner was ready and the boys arrived from the church. We had FAJITAS! ! ! They were so good! Mrs. Dolan knows just how to hit the spot. After dinner the Dolans' landlord who survived the Khmer Rouge Regime talked about his experience growing up during that time. It was pretty interesting, but his accent was pretty thick so he was kind of hard to understand. After he finished talking, I stayed downstairs to talk for a little while. then I went upstairs with Julie and hugn out with her, Roxanne, and Hilary. They are all so fun to be around, and I am so glad I was able to get to know them all!

Wrapped Up, Tied Up, Tangled Up

When I woke up this morning, our little air conditioner was going full blast. Even though I was cold, I thought I had better enjoy it because the rest of the day would be all heat and humidity. When I got downstairs for breakfast, I was so excited because Mrs. Dolan had fixed pancakes, and they were delicious! I almost felt bad when we got to the church and found the boys eating noodles, but that didn't last too long. The village group, which was my work group for the day, waited around a while so that the nutrition truck group (which they called the "nut truck") could be dropped off. While they were gone, Terri and I went down the street to grab a Coke. We were feeling not too chipper this morning. When Mr. Dolan got back, we all piled into the vans and drove about an hour outside of Phnom Penh to some villages. When we got to the first village, one of the teachers there gave us a brief history on the church and orphanage there. Then we had some free time to explore the grounds and talk to the kids. I am always so surprised to find out how old the kids are because they seem to young. They said the kids look so little because of malnutrition. I got a chance to talk to Jim Nasiam (confidential name change). He is from Pakistan and is from the Mohammad bloodline. A few years ago he converted to Christianity and was disowned by his family and was forced to flee the country. Right now he is stuck in Cambodia indefinitely. After our explorations and conversations, we ate some Cambodia-style lunch. I got a chance to talk to the Dolans a little bit, and we found some mutual friends back in the states, which is always really neat. After lunch, we went through our general routine: singing silly church songs and playing games. It is always cool to see how teh group grows as mroe and mroe kids hear all the noise we are making. It seems like we always have to leave though right when most of the kids finally get the courage to come over. After saying our goodbyes, we all loaded up the van and headed to the next village church. Here the people were amazingly nice (not that nice people have been a rarity here). As soon as we got there, they started cutting up coconuts for us. It was kind of awkward eating it with everyone watching us, but it was still really good. When I finished my fruit, I tried my hand at some Rock, Paper, Scissors again. This time it went a little better since I knew what I was doing. After a few rounds, they asked us if we could fill up these three gigantic vats with water from the well. I think they probably did that for their own entertainment because we looked like complete idiots, especially after we lost two pairs of sunglasses and the bucket. Once we got all the kinks worked out of our system, we were halfway decent. We only managed to fill up one vat before the village must ahve given up hope for us and called us over to give us a brief history of their church. I sat with a group of kids who proved to be a fun distraction to my history lesson. This little girl kept yelling her name at me during the prayer, then she handed me her baby sister who was diaperless. I found that out the hard way later when she wet on me. During part of the history lesson the women and children formed an assembly line to pick out lice from their hair. That kind of gave me the heebie jeebies, but it also kind of reminded me of a Discovery Channel special on monkeys. I definitely fit right into the bunch :). When the speeches were over, we headed back to town. We had a quick break before church. I sat by a Khmer girl who was named after a famous pop star in Cambodia. She sang me part of one of her songs. Jim Nasium taught the lesson on Zachariah 3:1-5. It was good but kind of hard to follow both because of his accent and because of the pause after every sentence for translation. After church, we headed back to the Dolans' house for some down-home Cambodian cookin'. After dinner Jim Nasium gave his testimony to everyone. It is such a beautiful and interesting story, but I felt kind of bad for being so tired. Right after he was finished I went straight upstairs for a shower and to get ready for bed. When I got out, I stayed up for a while and talked with some of the girls. Even though I was exhausted, it was really great to talk to them and get to know them more. I was so glad when I finally got to bed and ready for another cool and air-conditioned morning!

Jiminy Cricket

I can't believe it has been a whole week since I have left the U.S. It seems like it has been forever since I was in the DFW airport saying goodbye to my parents. Today we left Siem Reap for Phnom Penh. Terri and I got up early to pack, check email, and grab breakfast before it was time to load up. As Terri and I were walking to breakfast, it was nice to feel a little more comfortable with where we were. It made me a little bummed to leave Siem Reap. At the Blue Pumpkin, we had a few muffins and then went back to the guest house to meet the rest of the group and check out. Our bus to Phnom Penh was pretty nice compared to our previous transportation. It had air conditioning! On the buss Terri and I sat in front of Mace Williamson who is the music coordinator for the trip. I got to talk with him a while and learned he had graduated from ACU with a math degree. It was so much fun to talk to him about our shared experiences. It is so neat to find these unexpected connections with people here. After driving for about an hour, we stopped for lunch. A lot of places pay buses and taxis to make stops whenever they pass through, and I think this was one of those places. It was funny to hear a group of tourists in the bathroom expressing their disgust at the infamous "squatty potties" and remember that I, too, had experienced their same initial repulsion only a few days earlier. Now I am quite the connoisseur of squatty potties. Back on the bus, Kelly had bought a bag of grasshoppers and gave Terri and me a chance to try our first one. No one should ever tell me now that I don't try new things :). It turned out to not be that bad of an experience though. In fact, I might even voluntarily eat one again. The rest of the ride went by pretty unieventfully. When we got to the bus station in Phnom Penh, Terri and I got a chance to talk to John and Julie about this summer. They were the previous set of interns in Chiang Mai, and have given us some pretty helpful advice. Once we got picked up from the bus station, we dropped the boys off at the church because that is where they were staying, and then all the girls went to the Dolans' house. Mr. Dolan is a local missionary that has been in Cambodia for 9 months. He moved here from Tulsa. He has three sons: Jason, Randall, and Reuben. Jason Dolan transferred to ACu last year, which is kind of cool. The other two go to Harding and Pepperdine, and their daughter is starting A&M in the fall, but she is already back in the states. We got to hang out at the Dolans' house for a few hours, which was kind of nice. We watched Secondhand Lions. After that, we went back to the church to have dinner with the rest of the group. I sat by John and found out he is moving to Austin and living with a guy who I knew at ACU. After dinner, Mr. Dolan and some students at the church led a short devo. It was so hard for me to stay focused. I was exhuasted! After the devo, we singed up for our work groups for the week, and went back to the Dolans' house. Terri and I shared a room with Hilary and Roxanne. They both seem really great and are roommates at A&M-the Redmond girls is what they call themselves. The only problem with haveing all these girls is that it takes forever to get in a shower and by the end of a day here, we all desperately need one. After our shower, we went to bed pretty quick. Terri had said today that her throat and ear were hurting. Kelly started her on an antibiotic, so hopfully that will take care of it. I hope she can get well before we start our work in Thailand.

The Perfect Game

It is so amazing to me how friendly people are here. This morning when I was at the computer, a man who was viting Cambodia from utah started talking to me. he was very inquisitive about my trip and why I was in Cambodia. After explaining everything about what I was doing, he went on and on about what a wonderful thing that was. It was such a humbling experience. I really don't feel like I deserve all of the wonderful compliments he lavished on me, and it really helped me appreciate and understand more fully how my actions can glorify God. After that, I went out to breakfast with Natalie Ware, one of the girls from A&M. It is cool to see all of the A&M/ACU connections because I learned taht her sister, Autumn, was in club with me. Natalie and I ate at the Blue Pumkin, and we ran into Kelly there. I have heard a lot of great things about Kelly and all he does with Aggies for Christ, and I am really excited to get to know him more. After breakfast, we all departed for the orphanage. There were not as many kids there, and their English was not as good as the kids for Angkor Watt, so I was kind of skeptical of what we were actually going to be able to do. It was so cool to see how my expectations were completely blown away. I didn't realize just how much we would be able to transcend the barriers between us. In our morning session, I worked with the older kids. There was one girl in particular who I grew particularaly fond of, Lenad. Even though we could communicate about two sentences with each other, it was so much fun playing games and singing songs with her. We took a wone hour lunch break, and Terri and I got some snacks and chilled out in our room at the guest house. The afternoon session was focused mainly on the younger kids. It amazes me how they catch onto games so quickly, and how I do not. I spent half the afternoon playing some hand game that I thought had to do with numbers, only to realize at the end of the day that I was playing Rock, Paper, Scissors. After our group games were over, we had some free time to play whatever games we wanted with the kids. I joined a pick-up soccer game, which was by-far my favorite part of the day. It was so cool to relate with all of the kids through that. I completley forgot that we didn't speak the same language. When we got back to the guest house, I was completley exhausted. John, one of the student leaders for the Cambodia trip, suggested we make good use of our free time by either returning to Angkor Watt or doing a prayer walk at a local park. I was less than excited about either option and reluctantly joined the group going to the park after a quick shower. I was so glad I did though. The park was so beautiful. It put me at such ease to be in this oasis and escape all of the sights and smells that the rest of Siem Reap is full of. The time I got to spend praying there brought me so much peace, and it felt so powerful at this place to pray for all the children we had met this week and the other corruptions Cambodia suffers from. After that, we all ate together at the guest house the Harding group was staying at. I feel like I am finally starting to really get to know the AFCO group and getting past all of those initial get-to-know-you conversations. After dinner we had our debriefing session where we get to hear everyone else's stories and experiences. We also said goodbye to the WYWAM group who had been with us the last few days. I really admire them and what they do. Their ministry is truly a 'walking by faith' ministry, and the stories of what they have done already are really inspiring. After dinner, Terri and I picked up a few souvenirs and then headed back to the guest house to crash. I think today has been the best day so far. I am finally starting to feel more accustomed to this new culture and environment, and I just hope the rest of the summer is as wonderful as this first week has been!

Anchors of Faith

Today was such an amazing day. I have been trying to get up a few hours earlier than everyone else so that I can have some time to myself, and that has been a really good idea on my part. (Sometimes I can surprise myself with those.) I get to write in my journal and check my email by myself, which is pretty nice. I finished all of that early today, so I thought a second about going running, but then I decided that may not be the best idea to do by myself. It may have also been the continuous sound of my grandmother's voice in my head advising me not to do such things. When everyone else did get up, we met for church. There were some people from another missions organization, WYWAM, that came to have church with us. They have been in Cambodia for almost three months! That seems pretty amazing to me at this point. Sarah, one of the girls with them, was from Boerne, TX and know some people I went to ACU with, which was really kind of comforting in a way. Church actually was really wonderful. The singing sounded so beautiful. John, one of the six month Chiang Mai interns from A&M, gave the lesson. He is one of the people in charge of the whole Cambodia trip, and he has doen a seamless job! He graduated from A&M in December '07 with a computer engineering degree and it is really neat to see how well he has adapted the six months he has been over here. After church, we went to a restaurant called The Red Piano. They advertised it as being Angelina Jolie's favorite in Siem Reap, which I thought was kind of funny. After lunch, we drove back out to Angkor Watt to do our street ministry camp outside the main temple. It was so fun to have our vans pull up and see kids come running out of the woodwork towards us. It amazes me how willing they are to give up a day of selling to tourists to come hang out with us. Some of them even said they would get in trouble for doing so, which just breaks my heart. When I actually sat down and talked to them and heard their stories, they became real people to me instead of just some person I would pass on the street. One little girl in particular, Knter, was so sweet, and she grew kind of attached to me. We played every game and sang every song together. We spent about four hours this afternoon singing songs and playing games, and it was so fun to see how excited all the kids got. It really made me excited to be there! Their kindness and generosity really astounded me. Knter gave me a bracelet she was supposed to be selling. It is crazy to see the kids go from trying to sell you their things to giving it to you. I don't think a single one of us walked away that day without some kind of gift from one of the kids there. When it was time for us to go, it was so hard to say good bye. They kept asking when we were coming back, and I hated having to say probably never. I hate how they can only have these experiences every once in a while. I really wish that if I can't, that someone else could come out there every day and love on them and show them just how valuable they are as human beings. It was horrible to drive away from all of them and see them crying and chasing after our vans. Today really showed me how important it is to really treat and see everyone as one of God's children instead of trying to ignore and avoid them. I so wish I could do more for them, but I hope that the gift of an open heart and open ears will be enough for them for now. They, at least, seemed to be more than satisfied with that. When we got back to the guest house, we all cleaned up and then we had another singing practice. Terri and I opted out to just listen today. They all sounded really great! After practice we all went to eat at Viva, a local Mexican restaurant. I have decided that I am a Mexican food snob because I haven't found any really good Mexican food outside of Texas. I guess it was kind of silly of me to expect anything out of Cambodian Mexican food though. After dinner we had a debriefing session, and it was really great to hear everyone else's experiences of the day. I am so happy that I was able to have this opportunity today, and I really hope I never forget about these wonderful children and everything they taught me!

Legend of the Hidden Temple

Today we went to Angkor Watt. Terri and I grabbed breakfast at this mini-mart down the street we discovered. I am so glad we did too because it has some of the much needed food staples: peanut butter, granola bars, diet coke, etc. After that we piled into two vans and headed to the temple. The first temple we stopped at looked like it was from an Indian Jones movie. It was so much fun to crawl around and see all of the complex rooms and hallways. I tagged onto the back of a tour for a while and found out that the temple complex was discovered by a French explorer, and it is roughly the size of the city of Los Angeles. The next temple we went to had these amazing trees all over the place. Some of them looked like they were growing right out of the rocks. We all got our picture by this one tree that was filmed in the Tomb Raider movies. At the last temple we stopped at, we ate lunch in the grassy area right outside the gates. We had bought some extra sandwiches to give to come of the street kids there that usually sell souvenirs like postcards and bracelets. The kids were all so nice and friendly. Most of them spoke English really well, and several of them knew about seven different languages. That is so amazing to me! I guess that is a skill they needed to pick up in order to survive. They were all so generous, too! Even though they had almost nothing, they still wanted to make us gifts and spend time with us. After lunch, we all went into the main temple, which was gigantic! It was kind of overwhelming to see all of it. It took us about ten minutes to walk through the outer gates and get into the actual main temple area. Just as we were about to start our trek back to the van, it started pouring. It was kind of funny to see every one from our group running through the rain with all the street kids following us. When we made it back to the guest house, we all showered and changed. Then Terri and I joined AFC with their singing practice. I guess wherever they go in Thailand, they give a little performance to the kids they are working with. These Aggies don't mess around with their singing though. This practice was definitely no walk in the park. It was a sing song caliber practice; I was preparing myself to be lectured on my poor diction or sloppy choreography :). After practice we all went to eat at the Blue Pumpkin, which is supposed to be the local hangout. They had some good food, which was kind of a relief. After dinner we had our meeting/devo, and then I was ready to hit the hay.

Road Trip

The first part of this trip has been kind of hard. Our flight got in a little later than expected, and by the time we got to the church where we were staying, we only had about three hours to sleep and repack before we had to leave again for Cambodia. I did get to meet all of the AFCO group, and they seem really great. They have a jam-packed summer, traveling around to a different place every three days or so. I think I will be glad when I can stay in one spot for a while.
We spent pretty much all day on the bus. We stopped at the border to have lunch and get our visas to Cambodia. After that, they told us we were going to do some "traveling by faith" because getting around Cambodia is a different story. Kelly, the leader of AFCO, said there is a lot of bad stuff going on in Cambodia and that they are trying to recover from some really horrible things in their past. We weren't able to call ahead and book transportation due to some corruptions with the system, so once we got there we had to wait around for a while to find something that could take us around the rest of the way. Finally we found a bus with air conditioning! YAY!
The rest of the trip we spent driving to Siem Reap. The scenery was so beautiful! It was so green and lush! There were also a lot of skinny cows along the way, which seems kind of like an oxymoron. We finally made it to the guest house where we were staying. The rest of the night we ate dinner, had a short meeting/devo, and went to bed. I was so excited about going to bed! It was the first time Terri and I had really slept in about two days. Dinner was pretty crazy though. Halfway through our meal this cat ran out of the kitchen with a giant rat in its mouth. I'm not used to many things like that happening at home. Tomorrow we are going to Angkor Watt, so I am pretty excited about that! Until then . . .

Stranded in San Francisco

Leaving home was a little harder to do than I thought. In my head I imagined myself boarding the plane with this air of independence, bravely facing whatever adventures lay ahead of me; however, that wasn't quite the scene that played out. The time leading up to my departure almost seemed scripted. I went through all the motions of my preparation for Thailand, but when the time came for me to leave, it was almost surreal. I think the actual idea of what I was doing hit me in the car on the way to the airport. At that moment, having to say my last goodbyes to my parents, I realized how far and secluded I was really going to be. My friends and family are such a wonderful support system, and it was then that I knew I would miss being able to contact them. I am so blessed with so many wonderful people in my life, which makes it so hard to leave them. I spent the rest of the morning fighting back the urge to tear up. However, feelings of sadness and homesickness were soon replaced by frustration after I reported to the ticketing agent upon hearing my name being paged throughout the San Francisco International Airport terminal. When I reported to the desk, I found out that due to a problem with Terri and my boarding pass, they sold our seats, and we were not going to be able to get another flight until June 9th. After what seemed like an eternity of pointless arguing with the ticketing agent (which I was continually regretting in my head because of my dad's shrewd advice to always stay on the good side of the ticketing agents or reap the havoc their powerful wrath can bring), Terri and I managed to get listed on the next day's flights as well as a night's stay at the Hyatt Regency. After scoping out our hotel room and free amenities, I realized that being bumped from a flight is not always a bad thing. After an interesting Italian dinner, Terre and I went to scope out the city by the bay. With episodes of Full House flashing in my head, we took the BART to Union Square and hitched a ride on the trolley up to Fisherman's Wharf. We met several interesting people on our excursion. One man we met on the BART assumed our mission trip was with the LDS, which I later realized was the not-so-secret acronym for Mormons. As I was admiring the houses on the trolley ride, it seemed so unreal to me that people actually lived in them. From time to time, I experience a Truman Show type of mentality (which might also be called self-centered by some) where it is hard for me to come to terms with the thought of an entire world existing outside of my little bubble. Once we stepped off the trolley, Terri and I realized just how cold San Francisco was, and just how unprepared we were for it. Had I been more fully clothed, I might have been able to enjoy the sights more, but after a quick cup of hot chocolate at Ghiradelli Square, my cold and tired body was ready for bed. And a wonderful bed it was. I was asleep the second my head it the pillow. The next morning after a quick run and a delicious breakfast, we hit the airport again, and we were, this time, successful at securing boarding passes on our Cathay Pacific flight. Then we got to spend the next five hours people watching, and I realized just how important your airport outfit can be. This particular choice of clothing advertises to the rest of the world (literally) the type of person you are and the life you lead. It is kind of exhilarating to think you can become a different character to the people around you every time you travel. So now I end my first attempt at a blog entry, and hope that the rest of my travelling goes a little more smoothly.