I am not quite sure why I thought a Red Eye was a good idea??? Perhaps because I needed to work half a day, then get Sarah in & settled & that was the best option when I agreed to flights a month ago??? Note to self skip the red eye flights - although I do have one going home too - YIKES! I think I slept maybe 2 hours on the very full flight because I was exhausted from not sleeping the night before getting ready. I got into Miami & had a 4 hour layover. I did connect with a "friend of a friend" who is on this mission - Cathy & we were on the same flight to Santo Domingo. That flight wasn't too bad & I watched a good movie called All Saints - a true story about a fledgling little church in Georgia - it was perfect for my flight!
It took about an hour or more for our luggage to come & to get thru immigration & customs. Weyu our Program Coordinator was there to meet us but we waited another hour for our van to take us to the hotel which was about an hour from the airport so basically a LONG day of travel!!! We did get to see the coastline on our drive but I am told it is covered with trash??? at least where we are at. The hotel is decent - I have pretty low standards for mission hotels - 2 beds, a bathroom with a toilet & shower & my new friend Cathy as my roommate :)
I was tired but I knew I needed to power thru the rest of the night so once we got unpacked we went into the Colonial Old Town area of Santo Domingo - town plaza, old buildings, a big statue of Christopher Columbus because he landed here first before America -I honestly had no recall of that little history fact...we also saw their memorial building & 2 days ago was their "independence day or memorial day" (not exactly sure which? But we arrived at 6 pm just as they were retiring the flag in a formal military ceremony - it was very cool to see. We are somewhat near the main area of Santo Domingo versus being out in a remote area - I am sure I will figure out a little more of the geography tomorrow. I was definitely fading by 6:30 but had an 8:30 dinner & team mtg to get thru. These late style meals & meetings do not match my internal clock very well. I decided to shower first so I could go straight to bed after. The shower has 2 temperatures - scalding hot & very cold...not exactly what I was hoping for. The dinner & meeting went for 2 hours & I literally went straight to bed & slept like a rock until the 6 am wake up call came! Screening day tomorrow - let's get this mission started. I am excited to be here and grateful that I have this opportunity :) I did get to facetime my family before the meeting so that is always good!
It took about an hour or more for our luggage to come & to get thru immigration & customs. Weyu our Program Coordinator was there to meet us but we waited another hour for our van to take us to the hotel which was about an hour from the airport so basically a LONG day of travel!!! We did get to see the coastline on our drive but I am told it is covered with trash??? at least where we are at. The hotel is decent - I have pretty low standards for mission hotels - 2 beds, a bathroom with a toilet & shower & my new friend Cathy as my roommate :)
I was tired but I knew I needed to power thru the rest of the night so once we got unpacked we went into the Colonial Old Town area of Santo Domingo - town plaza, old buildings, a big statue of Christopher Columbus because he landed here first before America -I honestly had no recall of that little history fact...we also saw their memorial building & 2 days ago was their "independence day or memorial day" (not exactly sure which? But we arrived at 6 pm just as they were retiring the flag in a formal military ceremony - it was very cool to see. We are somewhat near the main area of Santo Domingo versus being out in a remote area - I am sure I will figure out a little more of the geography tomorrow. I was definitely fading by 6:30 but had an 8:30 dinner & team mtg to get thru. These late style meals & meetings do not match my internal clock very well. I decided to shower first so I could go straight to bed after. The shower has 2 temperatures - scalding hot & very cold...not exactly what I was hoping for. The dinner & meeting went for 2 hours & I literally went straight to bed & slept like a rock until the 6 am wake up call came! Screening day tomorrow - let's get this mission started. I am excited to be here and grateful that I have this opportunity :) I did get to facetime my family before the meeting so that is always good!
No comments:
Post a Comment