Jet lagged

I slept right on through until about 6am. Wow. That was pretty incredibly sleep. However, Rick woke up at midnight. He worked on some emails he needed to answer (no, we didn’t have internet – he was just answering some that he had already received.) Bless his heart, he didn’t get back to bed until nearly 4am. Again, you just can’t imagine what jet lag is like.

We ate a nice breakfast at the YMCA dining room. Again, there were things that would have been a lot better to me served at lunch or supper but Rick loved them all. So many different tastes and textures – it is really something.

We gathered up all of luggage and headed out to catch a taxi to take us to our new “temporary” home. It was moving in day! We got there and began to unpack all of our things. (There is no telling when we will be able to move into our own place so we might as well settle in here and get comfortable for awhile.)

All of our luggage was in good shape except for one. Now I blame myself because from all of the packing I have done in my lifetime, I should know to put things in Ziploc bags. However, I neglected to put this particular item in one and I am so sorry! And you will never guess what it was – one can of my favorite GFIC coffee – French vanilla! That was going to be my treat to myself. Oh, well. I don’t know if I was sorry that I wasn’t going to get the coffee or that it had gotten all over everything in that suitcase. Guess what was in that suitcase – all of our DVDs and CDs – and Rick’s clothes, of course! It was like sand and all of the DVDs and CDs had to be hand washed and air dried! Poor Rick. He volunteered for the job and it took him several hours to complete this one bag! But he finally got it done.

Around 10am we headed back out for another exploration. Rick had another mall in mind – and we were going to look for a simple cell phone to buy without a contract just to get us through until we have our resident permit. This mall has four stories and I think you could be in there a week and still never go in all of them!

One of the most fascinating places we went was the “food court” for lunch. All around the sides there were all kinds of Asian food booths. There were pictures on the wall of the different items available. We walked all the way around and STILL didn’t know what we wanted. Finally, we just got something and looked for a place to sit down. It was pretty good food and there was a whole lot in one portion so I was glad we just shared the one.

After lunch we walked around the mall more. This particular mall is called Suntec and it has A LOT of computer and cell phone stores in it. By the end of the day we were the new owners of a simple cell phone (which is being charged up right now!) We went outside to catch a taxi home and saw the line of people waiting for a taxi. It was so orderly (not anything what we experienced in Africa). We probably stood in line 45 minutes before it was “our turn” to get the taxi. When we arrived at our apartment I literally thought I was going to have to drag my own self to the door. By the way, we live on the 8^th floor (there is an elevator!) We came home and put away the few things we had purchased (shampoo, soap, yogurt, granola, etc.)

Rick still needed to “top off” our bus cards for tomorrow and he wanted to pick us up something for supper. Meanwhile, I took a hot bath – that did wonders for me. Soon he came home with the topped off cards and supper – rice with some kind of sauce and some kind of fried shrimp cakes. They hit the spot and now I am ready to hit the hay! Tomorrow is another big day!

Rice for breakfast!

We got up and dressed and headed down to the YMCA dining room for our complimentary breakfast. Now this was an experience. Okay, it was right up Rick’s alley but there’s some thing that are just not meant to eat for breakfast. RICE IS ONE OF THEM! I tried several new items including a chicken sausage that wasn’t half bad. There was fried rice and noodles and several things to go on top of that. Rick finally led me to the TOAST and coffee and I was glad for something familiar. There was also fresh fruit – little finger bananas (like we had in Africa), pineapple, watermelon, and such. After breakfast, we headed out to explore the world. Little did we know but the rest of the world in Singapore (stores and shops) don’t open until 10am! We did meet with the lawyer who is working with us to get our company registered. Still nothing there so PLEASE let that be a matter of prayer. We can’t really do anything without our resident permit. We can’t

· sign up for any kind of internet service

· get a local cell phone with a contract

· have any kind of television service

· look for an office

· look for an apartment

So you can see how IMPORTANT it is that we get that registration! PLEASE remember to pray about that.

That morning we also got the keys to the apartment where we will be living temporarily until we can find our own. It is three bedrooms (about 1300 square feet of living space). There is a nice air conditioner in our bedroom and in the living room (but not in the kitchen). It has two full baths which is nice, although one of them has a really bad odor so we just keep that door shut. It is partially furnished. There is a bamboo type living room set (couch and two chairs). There is a small dining room table. And we have what we believe to be a queen size mattress! What else could we need? The kitchen doesn’t have much so I guess we won’t be cooking too much! Aw!

We left the apartment and walked for a ways and found a very small café in our new neighborhood which I am sure we will frequent. We had a club sandwich (with egg mayo – sort of like egg salad). It was good. But the best thing was the mango smoothie. Oh, my was it delicious.

After lunch we headed to one of the MANY malls here in the city. We took a bus there and was able to see a lot. I think we will really enjoy not having a car and letting someone else do the driving.

The city was so clean and the weather was nice, too. It was probably about 85 degrees, more humid than we left things in Tennessee, for sure! The mall was incredible! There were so many different levels and so many different stores. We walked and walked and walked. We promised ourselves that we would not go home until 6pm so we wouldn’t be tempted to nap. Most people say you can get over jet lag quicker if you just take on the sleeping habits of your new environment with no afternoon naps. I’m sure this is wise, but by about 3pm my body really started to IDLE. We pushed ourselves more and left the mall about 5pm. We got on a bus and headed home. We thought we might stop and eat but we both were fighting sleep and decided we better head back to the YMCA before someone had to scrape us off the ground! I’m so glad that Rick had reserved our room for two nights. We had a nice shower and then hit the pillow. I don’t even remember a thing! I know it was about 7pm when we both got to bed. Sweet dreams!

Feelings

Wow, we have so many feelings hitting us it is hard to even think. First of all, even though we are awake, our bodies are not quite all there. I’m talking about jet lag, of course. It is very hard to explain if you have never experienced it. I sort of feel like a car stuck in idle. My mind wants to “DRIVE” but my body just won’t do it. There are times when my mind is just flitting about but my feet will not move. I almost feel paralyzed sometimes. The kind of tired I’m talking about is just not explainable. Okay, I remember how a friend of mine described it. It is like trying to walk in Jello! Can you even get a picture of it?

Another feeling that has hit me is the fact that we are SO FAR AWAY from our family! I told Rick as we went to bed the first night – I feel somewhere between FEAR and EXCITEMENT! We are so excited about being here and we are SO READY to get started on this adventure. But I sure do miss my kids. And knowing that we are separated by a big ocean makes it that much more difficult. I know that they are all in good hands but waves of missing them come over me frequently. I can’t even write anymore about that. I think the fear we are feeling is wondering if we will really be able to do what He has called us here to do. It is such a big job and responsibility and we feel so inadequate!

The other feelings we have already experienced involve culture shock. I’m sure we have not seen the last of these feelings but here are a few we have already run across:

· the food (as I have already stated)

· no KLOVE radio station (or any other Christian radio station that I can find)

· just being among so many Asian people

· seeing very few Africans (if any)

· hearing many different languages throughout the day

· riding the bus and trying to figure out which ones go where

· people driving on the wrong side of the car on the wrong side of the road

· the use of wash cloths (I think we only use those in America! Even the hotel didn’t have any.)

just to name a few!

I hope this will give you a clue as to how to pray for us!

Goodbye!

Goodbyes said, we found ourselves at the airport excited about the adventure ahead. We had carefully packed up our 4 check in bags + 1 excess piece and our carry on bags. To be honest, when I picked up the bags I was sure they all weighed 100 lbs. each. The limit was 50 lb. each and anything over that up to 70 lbs. would be $50 for each piece!

I wish you could have seen us! Rick has figured out how to link lots of big suitcases together so we sort of looked like a small train when we came in the door! I’m sure we looked funny.

When we got to the airport all of the pieces were under 50 lbs. except for the excess piece! Believe me, that was miraculous! There was some discussion about the 70 lbs. bag but eventually they took them all and didn’t charge us anything extra.

Rick had bought me a nice computer bag that doubles as a purse and I had one pull bag. He had a HEAVY backpack with his computer in it and a pull bag. They all checked through fine and finally we arrived at our gate – the last one in the Memphis airport – and settled down. We made a few last calls to folks to say goodbye again. Rick had forgotten to have our phones cut off so we ended up taking them with us.

The plane to Minneapolis/St. Paul was uneventful. In fact, I managed to doze off for a little while (which is highly unusual for me). We arrived and had about an hour to get to our next flight. That gate was packed and I immediately began to have a culture shock! There were many Asians surrounding me and they were all speaking something besides English! And we were still in the U.S.!

I don’t mind telling you that I was really dreading this leg of the flight – the 13 hour leg! I had promised myself that I would get up and walk often on this flight to prevent my feet from swelling. I did so well. I know many of you were praying for me and no feet were swollen at the end of the journey! PTL! I didn’t sleep any but my feet did not swell. Rick slept nearly the whole flight. We finally arrived after being served fried rice and teriyaki chicken for breakfast on the plane! It was delicious but certainly not anything I have ever had for breakfast.

We didn’t get to see much of Tokyo since it was about 5:30 pm when we arrived and already getting dark. Our flight from Tokyo to Singapore was delayed by an hour. But once we got on the flight it was only 40% full so we were able to take a whole row and relax. I was even able to put my feet up and sleep a little. The flight was not bad at all. When we arrived in Singapore it was about 2am here. We got all of our luggage and piled in a taxi headed for the YMCA hotel where Rick had made us reservations. I don’t mind telling you that a hot shower and the bed looked pretty good to both of us. AND YET, we both woke up about 6am! Go figure out jet lag and you will be a millionaire!

I’m going to stop here because I think my next blog is going to be about some feelings we have had so far.

Lori