FLIGHT TO MANILA

April 2, 2011 After great visits with my mom and dad last night, Louise, Dirt and Ellie arrived about 10:30 PM and we visited until about 11:30 and they headed on to Nashville and we got ready for bed. Mom and Dad brought a Filipino cell phone that I will use on the trip and then give to Josie A. They also sent 2,500 pesos for her and her family. April 2, 2011 Got up this morning with Ellie at about 7:30 AM and got to visit with Ellie for about 1 ½ hours by myself. Then Jamie got up and we had a light breakfast with the family and then went to the church building and handled some things and headed to Chattanooga. We ate at Sticky Fingers. We had a great Southern meal of wings and ribs before heading to the airport. The flight from Chattanooga to was on time and uneventful.
When we arrived in the Atlanta airport, we found a charging station and got our phones and computers charged and headed to T G I Friday’s to eat. Chris had ribs and I had soup and salad and it was a good meal. We then spent about 5 hours waiting for the flight and Chris and I had the chance to visit with a very nice Korean lady, Sona, who lives in Birmingham and is traveling back to Korea to see her sick mother. She shifted seats and sat with Chris and I on the flight to Seoul. The flight left about 10 minutes late, just after midnight, and the plane was full. During the first 10 ½ hours of the flight I slept and watched two movies, Gulliver’s Travels and Secretariat and ate dinner and breakfast, I had Korean for dinner and still couldn’t eat the seaweed soup or the pickled … something. It was a vegetable but was not a kosher dill.
Sunday, April 3
We crossed the International Dateline at about 6 AM EDT and turned south. This trip we flew the Great Circle route. We left Atlanta and flew almost due north across Hudson Bay in Canada and then turned to the north and west and flew to the Artic Circle and north of Alaska. About 6 or 7AM ET we headed across Siberia headed south to South Korea. We will fly well inland over China, also, and into Korea. At about 10:45 AM EDT, Chris and I shared the Lord’s Supper at 36,000 feet over northern Siberia. It was encouraging to think that we were sharing it at about the same time our brothers and sisters in Trenton were partaking. A little feeling of family, even 7500 miles away. Sunday came and went and we never touched the ground. International travel will mess with your mind sometimes….. We are slated to land in Seoul at 4:43 AM Monday morning local Korean Standard time and we leave for Manila at 8:10 AM local time.
Monday, April 4, 2011
We arrived in Seoul on time and it is always nice to get off the plane after a 15 ½ hour flight! We went to the terminal and Chris headed for the coffee shop while I watched our carry-ons. I began talking to a young man in his late 30’s who asked why we were going to the Philippines. He said he was born in the Philippines but had moved to New Jersey 25 years ago. Alex and I began a discussion about our trip and family and religion. When Chris returned with the coffee, he sat down next to him and we continued the discussion and turned it in to a question and answer session as he asked us questions about the Bible and spiritual things. We both talked to him for a while until I got connected on SKYPE with Jamie. Chris continued to discuss the Bible with him and the conversation and discussion with Alex went on for over an hour and a half. One of the more interesting comments by Alex was made after about an hour of serious questions by him. He said, “It’s great you are doing this but I really don’t think that many Filipinos are very interested in the Bible or spiritual things.” I found this particularly interesting after this young Filipino had initiated most of the first hour of the discussion and would continue it until we got on the plane! He was very interested but he cold not see that others woul be interested too! Our flight was announced and we boarded the 777-300 for our final leg of the flight to Manila on time, about 8:20 AM Seoul time. When we got to our seats, the seat beside us was vacant so we had a little extra room to spread out and relax for the last 3 ½ hours of the trip. Never found much on the movie channels I liked so I put in some music and slept of and on until we arrived. It was interesting the meal choice on the plane. At 9:30 AM local time, they served us lunch, seafood and rice, pickled vegetables and a roll with yogurt! Not your typical power breakfast, but our internal clocks were so confused, it didn’t really seem strange at all! We landed in Manila on time and after clearing customs and getting our bags, we went out to meet our ride. When we walked out of the terminal, across the road, in the mob of Filipinos, was Richard De Capria. It’s not that my eyes are that good, he is just head and shoulders above most Filipinos at 6’2”! He was smiling and waving his arms and signaling us to wait. Susan Boniel and our sister Celine met us with Richard and the driver and we loaded up the van and headed NW to Urdaneta. About 2:30 PM we stopped at Max’s in Tarlac City for lunch. Tarlac is our regular spot as the shopping area has Max’s Chicken, KFC, Jolibee’s, Pizza Hut and Starbucks. For an American group heading to north-central Luzon it is an oasis of the familiar!. In Max’s we decided on a Filipino family meal with chicken, fish and pork along with soup, vegetables and of course, rice! When I got ready to pay the ticket, sister Celine had already paid for it. She and her husband, Benny, are in the construction business and very influential in the Urdaneta congregation. They did the construction on the beautiful chapel (church building) at Urdaneta and loaned the congregation the 1.2 million pesos,(about $28,000 US) interest free! Her grew up as a preacher’s son and attended Sonrise Christian College and is very good friends with Bob Buchanan and family, He also is close to Roman and Lena Carriaga and their family. We continued on and made a stop at CSI (a department and grocery superstore) and got pesos for dollars at a good rate (43.15) and I got minutes for my local cellphone and Chris purchased one. We arrived at the Lisland resort and checked in about 6:30 PM. The cabanas that we had are nice with a large bedroom and sitting area and a bath. They are in the middle of the property and away from the pool and ballroom but not so close to the road so it is very quiet. Chris went to #7 and I went to #6 and after a call to Jamie and Mom and Dad, called it a night at about 8:30 PM PST (Philippine time) and fell quickly to sleep on a very comfortable bed. We are ready to go to work!