The journey has definitely begun. Arriving to the LAX airport and trying to find the correct terminal was an adventure in itself. By the third loop around the airport we finally found the correct US Airways entrance- just so you know if you fly a domestic flight before exiting the country, you don’t have to go in the international terminal, so don’t park there! You’ll just waste time- we found that one out the hard way. So I checked in and everything seemed to be running smoothly. Then I went through security no problems and found my gate right away. So I figured I should charge my computer while I waited. A few minutes later I get called up to the podium to be told that the women who checked me in didn’t realize that I was going to be staying in the country for 5 months without a visa. But for the work that I am doing a visa is not necessary because we are exiting the country before 90 days to renew our traveling visas. But that wouldn’t fly with customs over in Costa Rica because you need written proof (supposedly) and LAX wanted to make sure I didn’t get all the way down there to get turned around to come back home. So I went to the ticket counter and tried to discuss with the check-in attendants what my options were and they seemed slim. All I was hearing was, “you’re not going to be able to get on this flight” my mind was racing. What in the world was I going to do!
I didn’t have a cell phone either so I had no way to contact my parents who were on their way back down to San Diego. The attendants called my parents for me and let them know the situation. My mom, being the brilliant person she is, said she could buy a fully refundable ticket that would say I would be exiting before my 90 days are up to show to customs so they would let me come into the country. My mom was on the phone with the check in attendant while my Dad was on his phone with the airlines trying to book another ticket, simultaneously driving home, so I’m guessing it was a little hectic on their end. For me I was just running through every possible outcome that was to soon be revealed. So they finally gave me the conformation number to give to customs when I arrive in Costa Rica and sent me on my way back through security- luckily the airport was pretty much dead. So in the end I made it on to my flight with seconds to spare. But it only got worse from there.
I made it to Philadelphia 6:05 eastern time with my next flight boarding at 9:08 so I had a bit of time to spare. When 9:08 came around I was exhausted from the lack of sleep. My anticipation was peaking during the previous flight so there was no way I would have been able to sleep. I plopped down into my seat and tried to get some sleep. I woke up several minutes later and looked out the window to see we haven’t moved but I didn’t think much of it I just thought that we weren’t done boarding and I hadn’t been asleep too long. The woman sitting next to me said. “Feel free to close the window if you would like” so I shut them and went back to sleep. I woke up again what seemed to be hours later and opened up the window expecting to see the Central American skies but instead I saw us taxiing at the PHILIDELPHIA AIRPORT!
I asked my neighbor what time it was and she informed me that for the past hour and a half we had been waiting for the weather to clear up and for the 30 planes ahead of us to take off. I just am thinking to myself “OH GREAT am I EVER going to get here?!” I’m wide awake at that point and a voice comes on the loud speaker saying, “We are now at the minimum amount of fuel you are able to take off on so we are going to need to go back to the gate to refuel then we will be on our way.” Everyone sighed; we were already 2 hours delayed. We pulled up to the gate and they let us know that it will be a little while so if we would like to get off the plane and get something to eat that would be fine as long as we stay near bye. I ended up exiting to try to call my mother. $5.00 in coins later I finally got a hold of her and let her know the deal.
It’s all apart of traveling she told me. Then I asked her to let the school know what was going on and re-entered the plane. It turns out that we needed to have a crew change as well due to the regulations attendants have. They are only allowed to be on the plane for so many hours before they are required to have a break. So we sat and waited patiently while trying to squeeze every bit of information we could out of the flight attendants such as; “When will we land in Costa Rica?” “When is the new crew coming in?” “When are we going to take off again?” No questions got answered but we did learn a bit about the 2 male attendants. One wanted to start to do missionary work similar to that I am doing now, he lived in Pittsburg, and unfortunately he liked the Steelers (not good). The other man was from Chile and he knew Jujitsu, salsa, and was really excited to see the soccer game that day. About 2 hours later the crew comes on and we take off.
Boarded: 9:08am
Took off: 2:00pm
Amount of sleep: ~ 1hr 15min
Luckily there were no further complications. I got through customs in seconds who, by the way, didn’t even look at the return date back to America (turns out U.S. Airways is the only airline that gives people a hard time about Visas even when one is not needed, it had happened with another staff but none of the other girls who flew other airlines). A few staff members picked me up from the airport and politely carried my huge bag for me.
We drove about 15 minutes and made it to our home base! As soon as we pulled up we heard music and laughing. Turns out they were having a Welcome dinner for my group. They served the traditional Costa Rican meal: rice and beans with plantains. I don’t know how they make it but the rice and beans are a million times better down here then in San Diego J Everyone was so kind and loving it made entering this whole new culture so much easier. I was the last person to arrive so all the people already knew a bit about each other. My DTS group got pulled aside into the classroom for some bonding time. We all introduced ourselves, played a few games, ate some cookies, and drank some coffee. Then a few of us went back to the room to get our stuff ready for a shower.
That’s when I found out we don’t have a water heater. The way YWAM is set up is to teach the groups about the culture, we are not westerners living in a developing country we are actually living like Costa Ricans. It’s so interesting to see all the differences in cultures. So I want you guys to take extra hot showers for me! Overall this place is amazing, the people, the food, the weather- even though it pours down rain half the day I was wearing a tank top, some pants, and flip flops. The base I am staying at is right outside downtown San Jose, Costa Rica. They just moved into the new property September 2009 so there are still many renovations going on. I was talking to a girl from the X-treem DTS and she said she saw pictures of the property last year and it was a disaster! She told me they have been working really hard and this place looks much nicer then it did in the pictures from last year. So I’m really looking forward to seeing how much is going to change while I am here.
Sunday a few of the girls and I took a bus to the mall in San Jose. The bus fare was only 215 colones which is the equivalent of about 40cents, I’m happy to hear I won’t be spending a lot of money on public transportation. Especially since we can plan trips to different areas for the weekend and I’m pretty sure we will be traveling there by a bus. I’m writing this on my first full day here so I don’t know much for sure. Actually I think I’m going to sign off for now and update in a few days and let you know our routine and duties. Besides I just realized how long this posting is, I apologize! But before I go I would like to let you know the places the people in my DTS are from.
El Salvador: 2 girls 18 and 26 years old
Guatemala: 1 girl 21 years old
Montana: 1 girl 18 years old
Canada: 1 guy 26 and 1 girl 25
New Zealand: 1 girl 18 years old
Texas: 1 girl 24 years old
Costa Rica: 1 guy 26 years old
Florida: 1 guy 22 and 1 girl 21
Pretty cool huh?
The other girl from Texas and I are really interested in learning to speak Spanish fluently so we have asked the girls who do speak Spanish to help us out. I’ll let you guys know how that goes!
BYE GUYS!
Lovenina
No comments:
Post a Comment