Massiveclumpofupdates
This space bar doesn't work well. Just to warn you all. I'll be putting dates and times as appropriate on various segments of my post.
Wednesday, August 2, 2006 - 9:25PM (Sawit, Indonesia)
I arrived! Not muchtime to actually update about the town, our house, the people, and what I'll be doing, but I arrived safe and sound and feeling good. Tomorrow will be exciting.
Wednesday, August 2, 2006 - 4:22PM (still in Jakarta)
Selamat sore! Good afternoon.
My flight to Yogyakarta wasdelayed by40 minutes, but something kind of fun happened, so I don't mind.
I was sitting in the waiting area, and saw a caucasianguy who looked familiar. I was pretty sure I had seen him in Hands On photos before, and that I'd met him briefly at the Hands On happy hour in SanFrancisco, back in April. I wasn't sure though, so I sat, read, and occasionally glanced over. I noticedhim tucking his laptop back into his bag, I saw it, a Hands On USA sticker, with the trademark blue handprint. My heart suddenly swelled. It was Dave Campbell, founder of Hands On.
Even though I don't really know him, he's still a familiar face, which is much appreciated when you're halfway around the world. I introduced myself when we boarded the plane, and we chatted briefly. I hadn't even reached my destination yet, and already I'd run into someone I knew. That put me in a good mood. Plus, the flight attendant gave me candy. (Actually, she gave everyone candy, and really, I had to reach into a basket and take it for myself.) That's pretty much all it takes to make me happy.
Wednesday, August 2, 2006 - 2:21PM (Jakarta, Indonesia)
Location: food court in Jakarta International Airport
Eating: nasi goreng (basically, Indonesian fried rice. I got it because I was proud of myself that I recognized the words.)
On my last flight, from Taipei to Jakarta, the plane had the interesting feature of showing a camera feed, from the vantage point of somewhere around the nose of the plane, angled towards the ground. It was interesting to watch this during takeoff (yay, our pilot can drive straight on the painted yellow line) and landing (um, are we veering diagonally across the runway?) During the actual flight, this was turned off, although it would have been interesting to see.
Reaching my 23rd hour of travel, I was all too happy to get off the plane once we landed. The flight had been a little bumpy; my insides felt as if they'd been scoopedout, dumped in a paper bag, shaken vigorously, and then been placed back inside me. The "month of volunteering" was beginning to feel like a "month of getting on and off planes."
Once at Jakarta International, I found my way through customs and immigration pretty easily. I also found an ATM, and not really knowing the conversion rate, I got 300,000 rupiah. It sounded like a good number - I now realize that's about $30. Good job.
There are a lot of Dunkin' Donuts in this airport.
Wednesday, August 2, 2006 - 6:06AM (Taipei, Taiwan)
I landed in Taipei at about 4:45AM, local time. Four hours until my next flight. I took the automated tram from Terminal 2 to Terminal 1 (where I'd be leaving from), and I noticed two fun signs. One was a label for something, like, "window door cock." I don't remember exactly. While the translation was literal and silly, ultimately it did make sense. I'm just particularly mature, so I thought "cock, hee." The other was a sign regarding the hanging handholds along the ceiling of the tram. "Beware of hanging strap." How silly, I thought, duh, there's a strap there, don't walk into it! The doors to the tram opened up with a light DING and I proceeded to walk directly into a hanging strap. Beware indeed.
Tuesday, August 1, 2006 - 11:05AM (San Francisco, CA)
On the plane. Rebooking went fairly smoothly. The movie on the plane is Curious George. It's fun to watch the old people around me watch it. I'd watch it too, but I'm tired and my eyes don't want to focus. Sleep it is!
Monday, July 31, 2006 - 10:17AM (Pleasanton, CA)
I misread my itinerary, and missed my flight. I feel a little bit sick. Now I sit on BART, with an hour for my brain to idle away. The columns on my overall itinerary printout were slightly misaligned, so I read the meal service time as the flight time. Oy. Not only have I missed my flight, but I missed it by about 12 hours. I jut got on BART, and now I feel like I'm rolling to the airport, with very little purpose.
What a stupid mistake to make.
It's ok. People miss flights all the time, but they all get to where they're going. I will be one of those people!
Wednesday, August 2, 2006 - 9:25PM (Sawit, Indonesia)
I arrived! Not muchtime to actually update about the town, our house, the people, and what I'll be doing, but I arrived safe and sound and feeling good. Tomorrow will be exciting.
Wednesday, August 2, 2006 - 4:22PM (still in Jakarta)
Selamat sore! Good afternoon.
My flight to Yogyakarta wasdelayed by40 minutes, but something kind of fun happened, so I don't mind.
I was sitting in the waiting area, and saw a caucasianguy who looked familiar. I was pretty sure I had seen him in Hands On photos before, and that I'd met him briefly at the Hands On happy hour in SanFrancisco, back in April. I wasn't sure though, so I sat, read, and occasionally glanced over. I noticedhim tucking his laptop back into his bag, I saw it, a Hands On USA sticker, with the trademark blue handprint. My heart suddenly swelled. It was Dave Campbell, founder of Hands On.
Even though I don't really know him, he's still a familiar face, which is much appreciated when you're halfway around the world. I introduced myself when we boarded the plane, and we chatted briefly. I hadn't even reached my destination yet, and already I'd run into someone I knew. That put me in a good mood. Plus, the flight attendant gave me candy. (Actually, she gave everyone candy, and really, I had to reach into a basket and take it for myself.) That's pretty much all it takes to make me happy.
Wednesday, August 2, 2006 - 2:21PM (Jakarta, Indonesia)
Location: food court in Jakarta International Airport
Eating: nasi goreng (basically, Indonesian fried rice. I got it because I was proud of myself that I recognized the words.)
On my last flight, from Taipei to Jakarta, the plane had the interesting feature of showing a camera feed, from the vantage point of somewhere around the nose of the plane, angled towards the ground. It was interesting to watch this during takeoff (yay, our pilot can drive straight on the painted yellow line) and landing (um, are we veering diagonally across the runway?) During the actual flight, this was turned off, although it would have been interesting to see.
Reaching my 23rd hour of travel, I was all too happy to get off the plane once we landed. The flight had been a little bumpy; my insides felt as if they'd been scoopedout, dumped in a paper bag, shaken vigorously, and then been placed back inside me. The "month of volunteering" was beginning to feel like a "month of getting on and off planes."
Once at Jakarta International, I found my way through customs and immigration pretty easily. I also found an ATM, and not really knowing the conversion rate, I got 300,000 rupiah. It sounded like a good number - I now realize that's about $30. Good job.
There are a lot of Dunkin' Donuts in this airport.
Wednesday, August 2, 2006 - 6:06AM (Taipei, Taiwan)
I landed in Taipei at about 4:45AM, local time. Four hours until my next flight. I took the automated tram from Terminal 2 to Terminal 1 (where I'd be leaving from), and I noticed two fun signs. One was a label for something, like, "window door cock." I don't remember exactly. While the translation was literal and silly, ultimately it did make sense. I'm just particularly mature, so I thought "cock, hee." The other was a sign regarding the hanging handholds along the ceiling of the tram. "Beware of hanging strap." How silly, I thought, duh, there's a strap there, don't walk into it! The doors to the tram opened up with a light DING and I proceeded to walk directly into a hanging strap. Beware indeed.
Tuesday, August 1, 2006 - 11:05AM (San Francisco, CA)
On the plane. Rebooking went fairly smoothly. The movie on the plane is Curious George. It's fun to watch the old people around me watch it. I'd watch it too, but I'm tired and my eyes don't want to focus. Sleep it is!
Monday, July 31, 2006 - 10:17AM (Pleasanton, CA)
I misread my itinerary, and missed my flight. I feel a little bit sick. Now I sit on BART, with an hour for my brain to idle away. The columns on my overall itinerary printout were slightly misaligned, so I read the meal service time as the flight time. Oy. Not only have I missed my flight, but I missed it by about 12 hours. I jut got on BART, and now I feel like I'm rolling to the airport, with very little purpose.
What a stupid mistake to make.
It's ok. People miss flights all the time, but they all get to where they're going. I will be one of those people!
posted by Stefanie at 7:09 AM
2 Comments:
Do you remember when you and Celia came with my church to play BART tag and the security guard thought you snuck through the ticket taker?
I hope you brought lots of Septicare.
Yeah, in Romania every American can be a millionaire because 1 million lei is approximately forty dollars.
My friends who went to Indonesia like nasi goreng, too.
"Selamat sore" looks like "Still I am sore." - seems appropriate.
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