The trip

At SFO, near the end of the 3 hour layover.

Tuesday morning was very busy. I slimmed down my luggage by a few pounds (just to make sure they weren't over 50), took the last couple boxes to storage, and got a new pair of sunglasses. I got plenty of texts and calls of people saying goodbye (including one who said, "You're leaving next week, right?"), and I turned in the keys to my apartment. It was a beautiful and windy day, and I felt loved with all the goodbye messages and sad about not living in the apartment anymore--and I thought, "Wait... why am I leaving this place?"

I sank into the hammock on the balcony for the last time and thought for a bit. Why was I leaving? There wasn't any way to get out of it, but I needed to know the answer. And here it is: It's not that I was leaving, it's that I was going. The important point was that I was going to New Zealand, and a necessary thing for that to happen was that I'd have to leave California.

Finally figuring that out, I went on with my day.

Mary and Dad picked me up and took me to the airport. They helped me with my luggage and walked me to security. There Bree met us, and Dad and Mary said goodbye and left. Bree and I sat and had a nice chat, and said goodbye. As she left, I went through security. And what do you know, one of my college professors was right behind me! We discovered we were on the same flight to SFO, so we waited together and had a nice chat.

The flight was 1.5 hours late. No matter, I had a 3 hour layover in SFO. It was entertaining (is that wrong?) to hear others freak out over their phones: "Is there ANY other flight that I can take later once I get to SFO?!" We later found out that the flight was late because the President was in SFO, and the whole airport was shut down for security. And it was funny to hear all the Republicans (most of the people around me--it is Fresno) grumble and talk about what a "great" president he is, making them too late to catch their next flight, yada yada. I wasn't concerned. "God," I prayed, "just get me there by 7. That's all I ask."

He did! We got in to SFO around 5. During the flight, I sat next to a nice old man who complained about how young people do things nowadays and said I was too young to be knitting ("That's something my wife does!"), and generally was pleasantly crotchety. As it turns out, he played with the Chargers football team while they were still from LA and not San Diego! He also said he had sat next to Elizabeth Taylor one time, as close to him as I was sitting! I didn't catch his name, so I can't research him, but that's okay. I enjoyed him while he was next to me. Near landing I started worrying about how I was going to navigate SFO, because the last time I'd been there I was 11 with my whole family, and it had been daunting. But once I was actually there, I realized it was much easier because not only am I now 23, I'm only one person and not a young family of 8.

I was 3 hours early to the next gate and the only one there. It was so nice to simply sit, alone, after two weeks of running around like a crazy person! I watched a movie on my ipod touch (thanks, Josh!), knitted, and sat. Eventually, more and more people came and sat around me, then we boarded and took off.

I got a window! I was in a row of three seats. There was a nice lady (from NZ) on the isle, then the seat between us was empty. We both rejoiced about that, and chatted for a bit. I liked her.

The last LONG flight I'd been on was one from Germany to Salt Lake City (I think?) when I was 11. It had been very long and boring. This flight was about the same length (12 hours), but not nearly so boring. I watched two movies (on my very own screen in the seat in front of me), "X Men: First Class" and "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" (two movies I've been wanting to see), and slept. I may have slept for about 6 hours! Hooray!!

We landed! I again navigated a large airport all by myself (with the help of signs, of course). The only hold up was my visa had the wrong birthdate on it (oops). So I waited for 5-10 minutes until a nice man told me that it's okay for this time, but I'll need to go to Immigration and change it if I want to leave and then come back. Shew! That was scary!

I wasn't sure when the airport was going to end, but I finally walked through a large doorway and found Katherine smiling and waving at me. It was so good to see her face and know that I could hug her! (The only thing skype is missing is a hug application. I don't know how it would work, but there might be something there...) We greeted each other and started the trip to Peter and Arna's house (my host family and Katherine's parents-in-law).

The combination of being tired from a long trip (and two weeks of preparation), being in a new place, realizing I would never experience Wednesday, October 26, 2011 and hearing Katherine talk in a different accent than any I've heard (acquired after almost two years of living here) was almost overwhelming. But I made it through! When we got to my new home, Peter and Arna welcomed me. Arna fed me breakfast, and the rest of the day ensued with unpacking, napping, chatting and taking a walk on the beach with Arna, more unpacking, and chatting with friends on facebook and skype. In the evening we had dinner (Peter, Arna, Katherine, Danny, and me), then everyone but Katherine left and we got to spend some time together. As the evening came to a close, we had a dessert and I decided it was time to hit the sack.

The view from my bedroom.

Though pleasant and peaceful, it was a really long day. But that's just because of my fatigue and the fact that I was in a brand new place, not having any idea of what anything was going to be like. Besides, the first day is always the longest.

Thanks for reading! May you be covered in peace right where you are,

Sarah