Sunday, November 23
I slept in. Till 3:45 am that is. Someone's alarm in the room next to us went off and they kept hitting the snooze button every 7 minutes. Ugh. I was awake and chatted a bit with my dad and sister online. We were all up around 7:30 am to get ready for church at 9 am. We wanted to leave for church around 8:30 am so that we could catch a jeepney and arrive on time. We had hoped that today would be a non-power bar breakfast. In fact we had told the girls that we would have breakfast at the hotel. Chris and the girls went downstairs to get a table and the restaurant was full. Boo. The girls returned upstairs with the bad news only to have Chris come back a couple of minutes later to say that they were setting up another table to accommodate us. We went back downstairs. And we sat and waited and waited and no one came. By this point, we were beginning to run out of time. A couple more minutes later we had to get up from the table and return to our room for another power bar breakfast. Let's be clear, the power bars were getting old for all of us, but at least we had a food option.
We left the coolness of our room dressed for our Sunday meetings and stepped out in to the sauna we called The Philippines. So hot. So humid. So bad for curly hair. We were able to arrive a couple of minutes early for church and were greeted by many of Chris' friends from his mission and those we had met on our previous visit.
Most of Sacrament meeting was in Tagalog and Chris interpreted a little for us. The theme of the meeting focused on self-reliance as this seems to be a big push in the country. Most families live day to day. We stayed throughout the entire three-hour block. Amy and Misha had a much more pleasant time as they had made connections with friends. Chris spent the last hour of church talking with the new bishop and Bro. Lazatin (the Bishop when we had visited a year and a half ago). They discussed the remaining amount of money from what we had brought on our last visit. It was to be dispersed to those in need.
Normita had coordinated a van and driver for us through the rest of day to take us to the airport later in the evening. Though it was much spendier than taking a bus, she was worried about us going to the bus depot in Manila and then to the airport. The driver picked us up after church. He dropped Normita and the kids off to change and then later meet us at their old house. We returned to our hotel, packed up our stuff, and checked out.
The Lazatins had invited to dinner, and we were happy to join them. They then treated us to more cake. Mmmmm.
We stopped at the De Ocera's to spend our last little bit of time with them. Lazatins dropped by as well. Somehow our conversation turned to using the CR (comfort room or bathroom) and having to pay to use it, often having to announce to the attendant whether you were paying 3 pesos to pee or 5 pesos to poop. Lazatins were hilarious. The whoopee cushions that we brought worked well into the conversation as "farters", and the kids had a lot of fun sneaking up behind us and letting them rip. Rip might be the key word as the whoopie cushions tended to blow out in more than one direction! Good thing only one of Kristen's rolls of duct tape had been confiscated!
All too soon, it was time to go. We took pictures and there were hugs all around. Our driver, a former bishop, had us on our way to Manila in no time. Unfortunately, he informed us that we had kept the van in to another shift. It was an expensive ride to the airport. We stopped for a short pit stop at an outlet mall along the way--another lovely bathroom.
It took about an hour and a half through the countryside and then the loveliness of Manila before we reached the airport. Once there, we were quick to pass through our first security point, and that was just to get in to the airport. We found our check-in counter and proceeded to wait for a long time to even reach the counter. Then it was an even longer wait. So inefficient and slow. I wasn't in the best mood so it was a good thing that I stood away from the counter. Finally we were on our way and had the great opportunity of paying our exit fee to leave the country. From there we went through Immigration and Security. Chris had access to the lounge but there wasn't much room and we wouldn't be able to join him inside. They did however allow him to bring sodas out to us as we waited in the hallway.
We waited and snacked until our 8:20 pm boarding call at gate B12. Misha and I sat in a row together, Amy and Kristen sat in the the row behind us, while Christopher sat close by. Misha promptly fell asleep, missing dinner. Actually it was the best airplane food we had had thus far. Amy had borrowed my blanket and left Misha and I without. I asked for two more for Misha and I, but the attendants were busy with dinner service. I had to ask twice and finally they remembered. Good thing cause Misha's arms were covered in goosebumps. After covering up Misha and I, we all fell asleep.
As we neared Bangkok, Thailand we set our clocks back one hour and were happy to deplane. And then had another trip though Immigration, Customs, and then Baggage Claim. All of our packages were quick to arrive except for the Christmas lantern box and my suitcase. In fact, my suitcase was one of the last to arrive, but hey, it arrived. It would hve been a bummer to lose it now.
We gathered up our stuff and headed out to the curb and who do we meet? Kevin. So glad to finally be in Thailand and happy to visit Kevin and his family. Kevin directed us outside to the curb where his van was waiting. Chris commented, "Must be nice not to have to move your car." Kevin replied, "That's one advantage to having a driver.
Kevin is an expat working for Exxon for a couple of years in Thailand. We couldn't pass up the opportunity to visit while given the chance. Walking out of the airport in to the air of Thailand wasn't a whole lot different than the Philippines--it was still hot and humid even at 11 pm.
We were introduced to Khun Tar (Coon Ta), Kevin's driver, and then on our way to Nichada Thani, an an international community located in the Pak Kret district of Nonthaburi, Kevin gave us some instruction on a few Thai words--Sawasdee Ka means hello from a woman. Sawasdee Krap means hello from a man. Khap Khun Ka or Krap is thank you from a woman or man respectively. It took about an hour to arrive at Kevin's home. Since it was late and his kids had school on Monday morning, we quietly settled in to our rooms. Amy and Misha slept in the living room on the main floor with its pull-out couch. The room had a door that closed it off. Kristen slept in her cousin Ashley's room--cousins who might pass for twins I might add--and Chris and I were happy to sink in to the trundle bed in Jeremy's room. All three boys were bunking in Jonathon and Joseph's room. Each bedroom had its own attached bathroom which was so wonderfully convenient.
It did not take any of us long to fall asleep. I think it was 1 am. And know what? I finally took Unisom. So wish I had taken it sooner. I slept all night long. It didn't knock me out completely, but when I woke in the middle of the night, I didn't have any problem falling back to sleep and sleeping until 7:30 am the next morning. Yay for Unisom.