My “interesting” trip back…
We (Audrey, Ruth, Peter, Chris and I) traveled to Istanbul. No big deal. The trip on Azmar was relatively painless (unless you consider that the plane left hours later than we were told…but that’s kind of normal for Azmar, so no big deal…).
Anyone ever read, “And Then There Were None, by Agatha Christie? That’s kind of what is was like saying bye to everyone…one by one everyone slowly dissapeared. It was sad. 😦 Anyways, Istanbul was fun. So fun, because we really just got to walk around the city and enjoy the ocean (saw a TON of jellyfish) and enjoy the breeze. It was great.
Then Audrey and I get on our plane to London. It wasn’t a bad flight really, we got to debrief with ourselves and really talk, which was awesome. We also got to play an amazing card game, entitled SPANKED. We are bringing it to Baylor. Then we are told that we are being re-routed to Birmingham, England. Because they had to evacuate the control tower. Oh, good. Those are words everyone wants to hear.
So, we are re-routed and then, once we are there, the captain explains. Apparently, the fire alarm went off in the control tower, so they had to evacuate. And we didn’t have enough fuel to circle, so we went to Birmingham to re-fuel. Honestly, it really didn’t take that long, but when Audrey and I first heard the captain say that, we laughed so, so hard (when we first heard we were being re-routed.) Because that makes perfect sense. Of course we would be re-routed. (It was a great moment and the perfect end to the trip.)
Then while we are being re-fueled, Audrey makes friends with a family from Turkey behind us, and I kind of tag-along. Then I start playing a hand-game with the little girl of the family. Little did I know what was ahead. After we played my hand-game, she wants to play one of her own…No big deal, right? Wrong! This game involved hitting me repeatively. I’m sure I was supposed to do something, but those rules were not explained to me…After it’s time to sit back down, the girl keeps reaching through the seat and terrorizing us. She continues doing this for a while…she was a scary little girl….think Finding Nemo…Darla… (Ok, so she wasn’t quite that bad…but she was kind of scary…)
OK, so we finally land in London, and Audrey and I part ways…(It was so, so sad!) Then we each are told (seperately) that we have to go through customs and leave the airport. Great. Neither of us were planning on leaving the airport. (For all those that told us in Iraq that London shuts down at night, you were not kidding!) So, I can only tell you my half of the story, I only heard from Audrey earlier about her adventure…
So, here I am, but I’m being shuffled around the airport, and I get mixed up with all the people who missed their flights because of the control tower mess…so, they start offering free hotel vouchers and courtsey bags with things like toothpaste in them. When they finally get to me, I explain that my flight is the next morning and I’m wondering what I need to do and where I need to go..they tell me they can’t help me and the hotel and pouch is not for me. I tell them, yes, I understand this, but where do I need to go? (Because the last time I came through, they just sent me through the terminal and had me wait inside the terminal for my 9 hour lay-over…not this time. They shut the terminal down.) They tell me I have to leave the airport. Oh, good.
So, I start leaving with everyone, through customs, and fortunate for me, and really, honestly, by the grace of God, I run into an amazing customs lady (with bright red hair and the most amazing accent). She saw my face was red (big suprise, right?), and kept asking me what was wrong. At first I told her nothing, but of course she doesn’t believe me and gets off her seat and gives me a hug. (Is she allowed to do that?) She makes me explain the situation, and then explains to me that I don’t have to leave the airport, just the “secure area”. So she tells me that I can’t have a red face, because you never know when you are going to meet the love of your life, and it just might be Ben Affleck (apparently he came through her customs line before…). Gosh, I have never been so grateful. So, I go through customs(and get a really cool stamp), grab a coffee or chai, really, (per her request), then take my backpack, find a bench, and try to sleep for a few hours. (But of course, these are the “cleaning hours” and so they were cleaning all around me and under me…) It was an interesting night, to say the least, but I wasn’t the only one doing this, so it made me feel better…at 5am, I wake up, go upstairs, go through security, and just kind of wander around for the rest of the time…it was an intersting trip…apparently Audrey had a similar experience in her Terminal, or right outside her terminal…
Ok, if you honestly read all that…wow…I’m sorry it was so long. Anyways, so that was the trip home…I’m glad to be back, but I really do miss Kurdistan a lot…especially the people I’ve come to know and love…I’m adjusting, but again…there’s a lot I’m honestly having toruble adjusting to, and not just culture-shock type stuff…I’m still trying to work through all of this, and I honestly can’t pinpoint all of it, but, my prayer is that what I learned will grow in me, and not die…that it would actually take root and grow…
failing and falling 
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