the wanderer
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Newark
We're sitting in a pub with WiFi internet access at Newark airport, with about 2.5 hours to go until we get on our flight to Amsterdam. They allow smoking in this pub which is nice, there isn't much else to do on an 8 hour layover than sit here and watch Olympic hockey, which I'm thrilled to get to watch a bit more of before I leave. The Czechs played an excellent game against the Germans, and right now the US and Latvia are going at it. I wonder why the Kings players that are on the US team seem to be way better at playing hockey all of a sudden. Let's hope they keep it up after the Olympic break!
We did catch a nap, somehow, in the terminal. We snaked our way around the fixed armrests on the seats and both passed out until a woman with a barking dog woke me up. I had time to dream that, like in that mediocre Tom Hanks movie The Terminal, I was sawing off the armrests to make myself a comfortable bed. I'll be ecstatic once we finally get to our beds in Moshi.
I had a scare this morning that there was going to be a major problem with my ticket. It was purchased under my maiden name because it's the name that was on my passport, but when I realized I had to renew my passport before leaving I decided it would be a good time to finally switch it to my married name. Hence, the name on the ticket didn't match the one on my valid passport, oops! I had to run around to three different airlines' ticket counters to find out which one of them could help me. Finally I wound up at Northwest, who are associated with KLM, and waited for 20 agonizing minutes while the ticket clerk messed around with the system to try and figure out a solution. Eventually he issued me new tickets in my married name, and I was able to breathe normally again. The idea of being stuck in Amsterdam or Tanzania because of something like that was truly nerve wracking.
Anyway, last night before going to bed we played tetris with our luggage, trying to make sure none of our bags were overweight. I paid a 25$ fee at LAX yesterday because my huge duffel bag that I filled with donations was overweight. My mom had a bag that I thought would be too heavy too, and we didn't want to have to pay again so it required a bit of repacking. I'm glad I packed so much in the donation bag though. I sacrificed a bit of my own stuff to make more room for donations, the first of which came from a friend of my husband's, Brandon, who works for a sandal company we love, http://oceanminded.com/. When he heard about my trip and I showed him a few pictures of Masai kids with footwear made out of old tires, he offered to get together a package for me to bring to them. I'm so grateful that he got this to me before I left, I definitely think it'll make a few kids very happy (they're mostly child sizes).
Then, at my going away party last week, my mother in law surprised me with some amazing children's books. They're beautiful, and I'm pretty sure I'm going give them to a school my mother's friend Margaret worked at in Moshi. She helped set up a milk & porridge program to feed the 80-90 kids that attend every day, and we're going to drop by there and check on the program for her. I also got them two of my English dictionaries, pencils, sharpeners, erasers, and a bunch of boxes of chalk for the teachers. It's hard to imagine going through school without even having a pencil. My mom's got more pencils, sharpeners and notebooks for them as well.
I've also got some underwear for the orphanage my mom was working at back in October. One of the saddest things for me about looking at her pictures was seeing toddlers in old, worn out, adult underwear. It's not as much as I would have liked to bring, but it was all I could find at Target last minute and I had space considerations as well.
We did catch a nap, somehow, in the terminal. We snaked our way around the fixed armrests on the seats and both passed out until a woman with a barking dog woke me up. I had time to dream that, like in that mediocre Tom Hanks movie The Terminal, I was sawing off the armrests to make myself a comfortable bed. I'll be ecstatic once we finally get to our beds in Moshi.
I had a scare this morning that there was going to be a major problem with my ticket. It was purchased under my maiden name because it's the name that was on my passport, but when I realized I had to renew my passport before leaving I decided it would be a good time to finally switch it to my married name. Hence, the name on the ticket didn't match the one on my valid passport, oops! I had to run around to three different airlines' ticket counters to find out which one of them could help me. Finally I wound up at Northwest, who are associated with KLM, and waited for 20 agonizing minutes while the ticket clerk messed around with the system to try and figure out a solution. Eventually he issued me new tickets in my married name, and I was able to breathe normally again. The idea of being stuck in Amsterdam or Tanzania because of something like that was truly nerve wracking.
Anyway, last night before going to bed we played tetris with our luggage, trying to make sure none of our bags were overweight. I paid a 25$ fee at LAX yesterday because my huge duffel bag that I filled with donations was overweight. My mom had a bag that I thought would be too heavy too, and we didn't want to have to pay again so it required a bit of repacking. I'm glad I packed so much in the donation bag though. I sacrificed a bit of my own stuff to make more room for donations, the first of which came from a friend of my husband's, Brandon, who works for a sandal company we love, http://oceanminded.com/. When he heard about my trip and I showed him a few pictures of Masai kids with footwear made out of old tires, he offered to get together a package for me to bring to them. I'm so grateful that he got this to me before I left, I definitely think it'll make a few kids very happy (they're mostly child sizes).
Then, at my going away party last week, my mother in law surprised me with some amazing children's books. They're beautiful, and I'm pretty sure I'm going give them to a school my mother's friend Margaret worked at in Moshi. She helped set up a milk & porridge program to feed the 80-90 kids that attend every day, and we're going to drop by there and check on the program for her. I also got them two of my English dictionaries, pencils, sharpeners, erasers, and a bunch of boxes of chalk for the teachers. It's hard to imagine going through school without even having a pencil. My mom's got more pencils, sharpeners and notebooks for them as well.
I've also got some underwear for the orphanage my mom was working at back in October. One of the saddest things for me about looking at her pictures was seeing toddlers in old, worn out, adult underwear. It's not as much as I would have liked to bring, but it was all I could find at Target last minute and I had space considerations as well.
The rest of my bag is mostly filled with Jim's little stepsister's clothes. Last time we went to his dad's I was given a garbage bag FULL of cute clothes she'd outgrown that were headed to Goodwill. Pants, sweatshirts, shirts and dresses. I'm not sure where those are going but I'll find a good home for them all.
Well, this has been a hard post to write. I almost lost everything twice thanks to my laptop and this network giving out, and now I really just want to get it posted before I get on my flight so I'm going to cut it short. Time to call Jim and check in anyway.
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Montreal
I'm here. I'm exhausted. Got stuffed at dinner because I barely ate all day, and now I'm feeling like I just want to keel over for a few hours until we have to leave for yet another early morning flight - a longer one this time. We'll be in Newark half the day tomorrow on a connection so maybe I can post something more significant then.
I took this picture of the sunset somewhere between New York and Montreal. It's one of the prettier ones I've seen from a plane...
It's snowing beautifully here. ¶ 2/14/2006 09:34:00 PM 0 comments
I'm here. I'm exhausted. Got stuffed at dinner because I barely ate all day, and now I'm feeling like I just want to keel over for a few hours until we have to leave for yet another early morning flight - a longer one this time. We'll be in Newark half the day tomorrow on a connection so maybe I can post something more significant then.
I took this picture of the sunset somewhere between New York and Montreal. It's one of the prettier ones I've seen from a plane...
It's snowing beautifully here. ¶ 2/14/2006 09:34:00 PM 0 comments
Monday, February 13, 2006
Leaving on a jet plane...
The last few days have been filled with preparation and cramming in good friend time. I got my renewed passport back in the nick of time, did 90% of my packing 3 days ago, went on a quick trip to San Jose to get tattooed and spend time with some good friends, and had an incredibly good time last night at my going away party. Lots of friends and family showed up, we ate and drank and played poker as I tried to indulge in the wealth of familiar faces, and I did my best to explain to everyone who didn't quite know where I was going and why. They all seem to agree that it's going to be an amazing trip and that what my mother is trying to do is so good, so I'm happy to hear all the encouragement before I take off in 10.5 hours. I'm a bit stressed although I have everything I need together - just the idea of leaving for a month and forgetting anything essential is what's gnawing away at me.
I have to keep this short because I still have some things to do, not the least of which is spending time with my husband who made today an early Valentine's day. I'm headed to Montreal tomorrow, and I'm sure I'll be able to post something a bit better from there. For now, here's a fortune I got at the end of a lovely Thai meal last weekend:
I have to keep this short because I still have some things to do, not the least of which is spending time with my husband who made today an early Valentine's day. I'm headed to Montreal tomorrow, and I'm sure I'll be able to post something a bit better from there. For now, here's a fortune I got at the end of a lovely Thai meal last weekend:
How appropriate.
¶ 2/13/2006 08:26:00 PM 1 comments
