Arrival

Well here is post numero uno. This one is about the journey over, and first Sunday. Warning parental descresion advised, professional driver on closed course, do not try at home.... Well the drive to Dallas was pretty uneventful, until we got into town. We got to one point and hit a stand still. This was at like 1:00 in the afternoon, and my flight left at 4:10. Yeah I was a little worried. Luckily we pushed through the traffic and made it to the airport about 2 and a half hours before my flight. I made it through security and immediately set out to get some food. Unfortunately my terminal didn't have much to choose from, so I ended up getting a bag of chips, big snickers bar, two small chocolate chip cookie brownies, and a Wild Cherry Pepsi. A lunch of champions. I was sharing my departure lounge with a flight to Denver and struck up a nice conversation with an elderly couple from Florida. We talked about where I was going and what I was doing. It was really encouraging to talk to them. I boarded the plane and started my three hour flight to LA. Now the problem with a domestic flight with American is that there is no in-flight movie. So I was wondering what to do with myself, when I remembered that Dr. A had provided me with plenty of Physics homework to do. So I set out doing that and actually got several comments from the flight attendants about how amazed they were that I was interested in physics. Anyway we landed in LA and now it was time to find my connecting flight. Well LAX doesnt actually do a very good job of telling you where your flight is. Lucky for me I had four hours to figure it out. So after talking to four people I finally was able to figure out how to get to my flight. I also was invited to get a drink by two attractive ladies that I let cut in front of me in line. I decided that, that was probably contrary to my mission and declined. Besides I ain't no ones sympathy drink. And moving on, I hopped on a shuttle bus and headed for my correct terminal. I was the only one on the bus and so I was able to strike up a conversation with the bus driver. We talked about football, and how I looked like a rugby player and so I could tell chicks that I am one so I could get me a date. Finally at the correct terminal I went in, got my ticket, and began going through security. So have you ever been in line and there is this one person who keeps causing problems with their check in bag so they have to keep running it over and over through the X-ray machine, yeah that was me. Appearenty my HP Touchpad is a bomb so they wanted to keep running it and see if it would actually chang into one. So Brandon be forwarned. Also there was this one TSA agent who kept looking at me suspiciously. I mean, here I was having my bag and stuff run over and over trying to be pleasent and he was looking at me like I was a terrorist. I was smiling and everything and he was suspicious of me. What is this world coming too? On another note the guy in Dallas asked me if I had any grenades in my hat, I had to tell him the truth and say no. I figured that wouldnt go over well had i said yes. After I was through security I decided that my first priority was to find something to eat. Luckily there was a Burger King, I know they are still around, and so I went and grabbed a meal. After that it was off to the gate to wait for my flight. About thirty minutes 'til take off the lounge was packed and they finally let us all board the plane. I started talking to the guy next to me who was gojng to be backpacking across NZ for three months. I thought that was cool and so I decided to tell him what I was doing. I laid it out and he said "Oh I didnt know Christians did that" in the sort of way that made it clear, he was not a believer and was not interested in the sales pitch that most give him. Well my intention was not to sell him on anything and so I changed the subject and we talked for a little while longer. Once on the plane I found my seat at the back and bunckered in for my 14 hour flight. Now I will say this, in my extensive travel experience, this was the nicest plane I have been on. New Zealand Air has a really nice thing going on. The inflight entertainment was top notch, the food was quite good, and I actually had a lot of leg room. I started by watching two movies and then getting 6 and a half hours of sleep. Followed by another movie. Finally at about 5:15 in the morning we landed. It took me about an hour to get through customs and Bio Security, something that I experienced for the first time. After getting through security I met Eliza and Jeremy, my contacts, and we went to McDonalds for breakfast. Afterwards they took me to One Tree Hill. We stuck around for a couple of minutes, but not to long due to the wjnd , cold, and impending rain. Which is kind of funny, seeing as the first day in Cape Town was the same. Jeremy and Eliza then took me back to their place so I could clean up and get ready for church. We then headed to the Northside Church of Christ for Sunday morning service. Northside is a small little place with about 70 members regularly. This Sunday they had 20. The service lasted about two hours. Afterwards there was a tea break and class. Once church was over we were invited go over to one of the families house for lunch. We had sandwiches and a really nice chocolate cake. At about 5 oclock we left the house, this was also were I would stay the first night, and went to the Discover Church for evening service. It was a shorter one with just as many people. After Discover Church Eliza, Jeremy, and I went to a place called Hell's Pizza to grab dinner. We got two pizzas to go and went to one of the families from Discover Church's house. At this time it was about 9 oclock. At about 10 oclock we headed back to Jerry and Virginia's and i was able to call it a night. I'm surprised I made it this long. I hadn't gotten much sleep on the plane and made it until 10. Well the first week is coing up so stay tuned. This is Ryan Dillon signing off.