I'm Here!!

Where to begin? Well I will start with the flight. I so bravely posted about the wonderful airport and being excited, well I got to my seat, looked around, and lost it. I mean true sobbing. The screen on the headrest in front of me was written in all Korean as were most of the people around me and the flood gates opened and I began to cry. Still being on the ground, I texted Al this, "I'm losing it".
He quickly writes back take deep breaths, relax, you will be OK. If it was not for that I would have run off that plane so fast. I continued to cry softly in my chair for the next hour (or two). I was so overcome with emotion and I could not stop. The beautiful young Korean couple just kept smiling at me.

Although I knew the length of the flight, I was not prepared for how long 16 hours non-stop on an airplane. The crew was so amazing, so was the food and service but I could not really sleep like others did. Plus I packed way to much in my carryon, which was under my seat so I could not stretch out my legs. About 10 hours into the flight, I overhear an American women a few rows back talking to the flight attendant about the flight being behind schedule. I was confused because we did leave on time. This women was watching the flight on the headrest moniter (I of course could not figure this out) and noticed we were landing 2 hours later than scheduled. I panicked knowing that my connection was scheduled for only two later is Korea. I got out of my seat and asked her to explain this me. She said that all they told her is that we were late and they would keep us informed about our connecting flights. PANIC set in again. What was I going to do alone is Seoul on a layover? Yes you guessed more tears. All I kept thinking is Al will take care of it. I knew he was home watching this all online and would take care of me. I relaxed again, ate a delicious meal and had some wine. The flight attendants during the lunch service kept walking up and down the aisle with white and red wine refilling cups. This helped a little more. I watched one more movie and fell asleep for almost 3 hours.

Shortly after waking up, they let me know that the airline was going to hold my connecting flight. The kind women behind me who was connecting to another airport in Cambodia was not as lucky. Her flight left without her and the 16 other people in her group. They were a church group from New Jersey here for mission work. They were trying to figure out what they were going to do. I wished them all the best. We landed after 16 hours and I RAN to the next gate to get on the next plane for Phnom Penh. So much for my plans that I had for the 2 hour layover. I had fresh clothes and planned on washing my face ect. oh well. This second plane was very small. I managed to get through the next 6 1/2 hours. No tears. I knew I was almost here and Kate would meet me at the airport.

I landed and quickly and easily went through customs, got my luggage and walked to curb where Kate was waiting for me. She had never looked more beautiful. I was overcome with emotion again and we both just sobbed among all the people . She had a tuk tuk waiting for us and we loaded in my 3 enormous bags. She had a global phone all ready so I called home to let Al know I was safe.

We rode through the streets of Phnom Penh in this tuk tuk. A tuk tuk is a motorcycle with a covered cart that you sit in. It is all open air. It was close to 1 am by now and I was so surprised by the amount of people and children in the streets. There were food cart after food carts and open air "restaurant" everywhere. Picture the food carts you see outside of Fenway. One after the other but the food was nothing like I had seen before. Kate said she has never eaten "street food" or would not recommend it. As if I needed that warning. After about a 20 minute Tuk tuk ride we arrived at her apartment. We climbed the 6 flights of stairs with the 100 pounds of school supplies I had and entered her apartment. The pictures does not do it justice. It is beautiful inside. Clean and welcoming. I called home again, this time on Skype.

Kate and I stayed up for a little while talking. I told her I can not believe she did all this by herself. She is amazing.

I slept a little last night. The sounds and smells are all so different. Kate and Dusty were up early. I was up very early, we sat out on the balcony and had coffee. It was beautiful to see the city come alive. As we sat casually a man and his elephant walked by. As I am rushing in for my camera, I was told this is a daily occurance. OK. They left for school only shorty after the arrival of "nannie" This is the Cambodian women who lives next door. She comes every morning to prepare their lunch and then clean the apartment. She does not speak any English. I have been communicating with her all morning with smiles and nods. She scolded me in her language for trying to make up my bed and wash my coffee cup. She cut me fresh mango. There is not way for me to describe the incredible taste. I tried to nap, again orders from "nannie". No luck. When I returned from the shower, all of my clothing from the day before was washed and hanging out on the balcony to dry. I did my best to show gratitude. I think she felt it. I then showed her pictures of Max and Sarah. She smiled and said "beautiful"!

I am going to unpack and sort the school supplies. Kate and I are going first thing in the morning to the orphanage. I will put up pictures as soon as I figure out how to do that on Kate's computer. I do not have mine hooked into the wifi yet.

"Nannie" and I spend the rest of the afternoon together. She helped me to unpack and sort the crayons, coloring books, paints, ect. We did our best to communicate with each other. She loved looking through all the books. She brought over her son, who looked to me to be around 16 and asked him to try and translate. His English is a little better than her. His mom asked him to ask me if I was an "artist". I tried to explain that I was a teacher. I am not sure they understand. She continued with chores and I offered to help. At first I found her presence so strange. I didn't know how to act or what to say. As the day goes on, I find her comforting.