so, my flight back was incredible. it was clear that the Lord had gone before me and that he was caring for me the whole way along. first, there was checking in... i weighed my bags on the scale at home, which i thought would be about right since the little calibrating thing showed that it was actually adding a few pounds. nope. i got to check in and both bags were over the 50 lb allotted. the lady was super nice and told me i had to take stuff out. i was prepared, so put it into a bag for my mom to take home. the lady noticed some of my heavy books and complimented me on my good taste. she then proceeded to tell me to just shove it all into my carry-on, which of course already surpassed any weight limit they might have. that was where the really heavy and/or important stuff i wanted to be sure not to loose. i told her that i thought it was probably already full and she said, actually go put it in the carry-on measuring thing to make sure it will fit. it didn't so i started to rearrange things there (and take out a couple books) to make it fit. when it did, she suggested i go across the hall to the shop with a sale on rolling duffle bags (so i could take everything i had just pulled out of the other bags). i asked if they were really going to allow me to have my carry-on plus this other bag the size of a normal big carry-on (basically) as my personal item (which i previously thought only included a purse or a laptop bag, or something a bit smaller). she assured me it would be fine and i went to get the extra bag (on which i saved a ton of money over having tried to get those books to me in madrid any other way).
so i was off and somehow just about everyone on the entire trip was extremely nice and helpful.
then i got to philly with the 6 hour layover, so i could hang out a bit with my brother (pictured above), my great brother. we went to his neighborhood in sw philly, which is by the way a very fun, artsy and ethnically diverse neighborhood with GREAT food, great architecture, great people, and fun things to do. (it also doesn't hurt that my brother lives there.) we had some good laosian food (kind of a mix between vietnamese & thai food - also where the country is located) and then went to his apartment, hung out with his cats, sat out on the back porch, and just enjoyed a couple hours together. unfortunately, six hours is a fairly short amount of time when you have to take up most of the later two back inside the airport.
(oh, by the way, my brother has a show in philly this saturday that you should DEFINITELY check out if you live or will be in the area. drew is a musician and a quite talented one at that. he's playing in a coffeehouse/bar which is somewhere around 48th street. let me know and i can get you the name. the name of his group is assemble, you can find it on myspace - although there are a few bands with the same name.)
then, i got back on a plane which fortunately had 2 empty seats between me and the girl on the other end. so we both got a decent rest and were able to actually LAY DOWN on the transcontinental flight. i did watch p.s. i love you, but was too tired to watch much else. i also got some good reading done in a fabulous book i recently picked up. it's a compilation of sermons on the sermon on the mount and is fabulous - Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, Dwight Martyn Lloyd-Jones. apparently he is quite well known. anyway, i currently think he's amazing.
i also LOVED hearing and speaking Spain spanish again. it was great! and the people around me were both nice & interesting.
well, after sleeping a bit on and off for several hours, i was awakened by the breakfast cart bumping my feet. i laid back down, eventually got some juice & coffee, and eventually arrived safely to madrid almost an hour early - 7am. i got a taxi (since i brought back way too much stuff) and ended up paying about 10-15 euros less than i had expected! amazing! on the ride home a friend called to see if he could pick me up from the airport, which was really a nice bonus (even though i was in the taxi already).
i walked in the door to an amazingly clean apartment, thanks to my new roommate chery! such a blessing! unfortunately the internet isn't working and thus the vonage phone isn't either (but today i found a wifi line from the neighbors that works on and off, so at least i have something). later a friend helped me put together my new bed (which is SOOO nice).
as you can imagine, i am still getting used to the time change (7 hours) and am still a bit jetlagged, which is why it is now (wow) 3 am and i am wide awake. and in the morning, i am a complete zombie. at least i have a couple days before i have to fully engage with the normal world (sat/sun) - when i head up to galicia (nw spain) for the western european new staff training with ágape. in the meantime, i should probably get some shuteye.
note: this picture of my brother cracks me up. it looks like everyone is either amazed or horrified by drew's crazy dance moves. in actuality he is just knealing down to talk to vance jr., or buddy, my cousin's son. :-D jejeje. it really is hilarious if you look at drew and think that he is dancing. :-D
