*written under the influence of sleep deprivation

As the plane took off from San Francisco, I plugged my headphones into the armrest, thumbed through a few radio channels playing forgettable pop music, and then I hit it. Channel nine was "Classic Rock", and I was instantly frozen that unmistakable hammond organ chord, shaking me to my bones with the raw emotion of the feeling of leaving and going far away for a long time.
how does it feel?
how does it feel?
to be on your own
with no direction home
like a complete unknown
like a rolling stone.


the song eventually ended, and the little plane on the map on the screen meandered its way  closer to the aleutian islands, with each little dot on the projected itinerary representing a hundred miles.


The previous day sent me all over the city, getting one immunization and finding out I needed another, driving back and forth through the city finishing last errands and making final goodbyes, and ending at 1:30. three short hours later, the alarm's squeals shook me violently into consciousness. We made it to the airport as the eastern horizon was starting to glow, and by the time the plane took off towards california the sun had risen, not to set again for another 36 hours. 

On the plane to San Francisco, I made a friend. The girl who sat behind me was named Madeline, she was seven years old, and she was traveling all by herself, except for her doll, La-La-Loopsy, and her unicorn, Sparkles. The danger of making friends with a seven year old not under adult supervision who has a unicorn in her possession is that the odds that you're going to get a unicorn thrown at you grows exponentially. She kept the flight attendant's hands full for a good portion of the flight and ran up and down the aisles and gave stickers and hugs to all of us who talked to her. As we got closer to california and the plane got low enough in altitude to see the boroughs of San Francisco, she decided that it was time to land the plane because she was tired of keeping her seatbuckle on. The clouds that floated around the city reminded her of how much she loves rainstorms, and how her sister would get scared but she wouldn't get scared. There's something indescribably beautiful about the way children are when the only adults around to stop them choose not to. 

I watched a few films to burn the first few hours. We had to watch everything together on the main screen, and they showed the films "Water for Elephants", "Rio", and "Win-Win". I love the awkward way that airline movies will cut scenes and haphazardly dub over cuss words in order to make things inoffensive. I talked for a few hours with my neighbor, Jessica. Airplanes have this wonderful element of chance, where if you're willing to speak up you get to learn all about someone else that would have never happened otherwise. I was on three flights, and I met three completely different people who I ended up in great conversations with. 

I got into Tokyo and had about 4 hours to hang out. It didn't help me that I was already completely exhausted from traveling, but I was able to see some neat toilets, and products that sound terrible (like Wasabi-flavored Kit-Kats), and had some really great sushi.

I normally can never sleep on airplanes. I once made it all the way from Cape Town to Kansas City without sleeping because of this tendency. but for whatever reason, before the plane even left the runway towards Bangkok I was done for. I only woke up for the meal for the first few hours, and I woke up completely only about an hour before landing, so I don't even really know how long the flight was without looking it up. I did end up talking to my neighbor, a Thai woman who lives in DC going home to see her mother for Thai mothers day (Happy Thai Mothers Day, Mom!).

I got into Bangkok still fairly drowsy, made my way through customs. this is the part of the blog post that I'm not going to write because it's all fairly obligatory, nothing particulary special happened except for the sheer neatness of it. Three of my leaders picked me up and we took a 20-minute car ride to the base. went to BED. woke up 5 and a half hours later, still super-tired but knowing I need to stay up all day if I want to beat jetlag.

It's fun waking up somewhere, when you've arrived at night and don't know what it looks like in the sun. The building I'm staying in is 5 stories tall and bright orange. There are buildings on both sides, and in front of the building is the Bang Na campus of Ramkhamhaeng University. In the back is several city blocks worth of wild pasture. This is my backyard:

The roof opens up into a small covered lounge and working space that allows for views of the whole surrounding area. Many-a-journal entry will be written here.

Caleb, one of the DTS leaders, took me out for my first taste of real thai food. it's everything one could hope for. I met several members of the DTS from Louisville, Kentucky, who are here on outreach. I was the second male member of the group to arrive, and two new members have trickled in.

I forgot a towel. I need to go find one before the stores close. I intend to make future posts not so travelogue-y. Bye!