Arriving to Pohnpei

I had promised lots of people I would blog down my adventures of being a Student Missionary in Pohnpei. So I guess I'll start from the beginning!!

I woke up early Tuesday Morning December 22nd and was about to embark an a 2 day journey to Pohnpei. I had to catch the shuttle from Sonoma County Airport in Santa Rosa, California that shuttle will then take me on to San Francisco International Airport. Once I got to the shuttle and hugged my mom good-bye for the last time till May, reality began to sink in a little bit. It was the first time in my life felt homesick watching my mom drive away in the car. After a short flight to L.A. and a long flight to Honolulu I finally arrived in Honolulu around 8 pm local time and buckled down for a long 10 hr layover for my next flight. Those 10 hours were the longest I have ever felt in my life. I was super nervous, scared, unsure, excited and stressed all at the same time!! Finally at 6:55am my plane departed for Majuro. After a Five and half hour flight I landed in Majuro. It was the first time since I was born there that I had been back. It was quite breath taking from the sky. When I landed I was super excited to see my friends Jonathan and Kara who are currently Student Missionaries there in Majuro. I went to School with both of them, Jon was actually my roommate last year and we all hung out a lot together. We also had worked at Leoni Meadows together so it was great seeing them both, since they have been there since August. Though when I walked into the waiting area I excepted to see them both, unfortunately they were no where around. I was super bummed, since I had to get of the plane for a security check, I was hoping to catch up a bit with them. Jon had told me how they were going to get fake boarding passes and chill with me, but that idea apparently didn't work out. So the next thing I know a guy from the airport security came in and yelled my name in Marshallese and I wasn't quite sure so I raised my hand, he spoke to me more in Marshallese and pushed me out of the waiting area into baggage claim and on into customs and told me that there was someone who needed to talk to me. Around this point I am Scared out of my mind not sure what is going on and so as I walk through the brown door he told me to walk through, there was Jon and Kara and Kaylie (Kara's Sister) waiting there to talk with me!! That had scared me so bad I wasn't very talkative as I could of been, but all in all it was great to see them. After saying a quick hi and bye I went and boarded the airplane since I was the only person they were waiting on and took off to Kwajalein. That stop actually turned into a 2 hour ordeal since they couldn't get a computer working so we sat for a while. Finally after what seemed like years we flew on to Korsae and then finally on to Pohnpei!! When I landed in Pohnpei my friends Corey, Charlotte both of whom work at the school in Pohnpei and my friend Nicole who is an SM in Majuro greeted me. It was a great reunion. I hadn't seen Charlotte or Corey since May of 07 so it was fun, then I met the other SM's Jon, Joy, Natalia, Katie, Tim and West. It was a great welcome and a big relief to finally be in Pohnpei. Once I got to the school and saw my apartment that I'll be staying at for the next 6 months reality sunk in on what I was doing here. I'm still quite excited and nervous but extremely jet-lagged from the extra 5 hours and a day I received when I arrived in Pohnpei. Later that night after arriving all the SMs had a Christmas party which I got to meet more SMs and spend Christmas eve together just having fun. It was a great end to a very long journey. Hopefully I'll get over the jet-lag soon, but as for now I've made it here safe and sound.