Made it to Thailand alive and well!

So, I made it! Taylor Hetherington, your little detour north of the volcano’s got nothing on me! To sum up the length of my travel, I will quote an answer I gave to an American woman in the Tokyo airport before heading to Thailand. She asked how my trip was going, and I replied, “Well, the flights have been good, no delays, but I got up at 4am, and now it’s 1am (Eastern time), and I have 11 more hours to go.” Basically, it was a lot of traveling, but I’m really quite pleased with how relatively smooth everything went.
There were a few things here and there that could be worth mentioning, but it was mostly just 32 hours of reading (Born to Run, by McDougall), watching movies (Young Victoria, The Last Station, Leap Year, Did you Hear about the Morgans, Princess and the Frog…), tv shows (Dexter, How It’s Made, Weird Creatures, Fraiser…), eating (scrumptious airline meals, total of four), playing solitaire (on the iPod, 4 games), and sleeping, all in random orders for various amounts of time, all interrupted by PA’s in multiple languages. On the flight from JAX to Houston, I was able to see oil on the Gulf, which was a little sad. Then on the long flight, I didn’t see a whole lot, mostly because I’m a big wimp and didn’t want to wake everyone in the darkened plane by opening the shade and letting in brilliant light from the Alaskan wilderness below. (although I did muster up the courage once or twice during the flight—the sights of snow capped North American mountains as well as Japan shores were well worth it!) Land Ho!

Once in the Bangkok airport, I experienced my first bout of stress, due to my bag literally being second-to-last out of ≥300 on the carousel, and then me waiting for 20 minutes and having no idea where my group was. I eventually backtracked [a mere 20 meters], and found the program director, who then drove me to the hotel, since the van had already left me behind. Woops! (for the record, I was waiting where I was supposed to wait, they just went to a different spot for some unknown reason…)
Today, in Bangkok (well, in a district just outside of the city), we decided to just take it easy and hit up The Mall, right across from our hotel. It is ridiculous: big, crowded, and SO much stuff crammed inside. No exciting purchases this time around, unless surge protectors and shower shoes are your thing.
In the evening, we went to Doug and Noi Barker’s house (program leaders), where we got Thai massages, ate incredible food, and watched/listened to some great musicians and dancers. I talked to Doug for a long time, and feel like I’ve already learned so much about service work overseas. He has been working internationally as a PA (physician’s assistant) and educator for more than 35 years (got started as a Peace Corps member). Tomorrow, we will learn more about his work when we start orientation and lectures.

As for now, the jet lag is taking its toll, and this pillow is looking mighty fine.