Golly gracious! On my first day of Loewenstern, I was absolutely exhausted. Peter and I had flown out of Schipol Airport to Doha, Qatar’s Homad International Airport. This was about a seven hour flight, coupled with an eight-hour layover… from 1:00 A.M. to 8:00 A.M. We saw the airport at night and I was so disoriented by the time the sun rose because the airport appeared completely different to me. All I remember of that sleep-deprived blur was wonderfully creepy art in Hamad Airport created by Swedish artists – a lampbear, enormous stoic statues with mini children statues in their eyes. It was really something else.
Afterwards, Peter and I flew out of Homad at 8:00 A.M. to Kigali!! Well, we flew about seven hours to Uganda’s airport, and then waited another hour for a continuing flight to Kigali. And then that flight was an hour. I couldn’t sleep at all. But I am grateful that I wasn’t quite nauseous and for the kind flight attendants (and the interesting plane food!) The worst thing that happened to me on the plane was my first bloody nose. Ever. I put my hand up to my nose and felt two or three drops of blood and thought, “OH NO I’M DYING! CALL DANIKA! CALL LAUREN! S.O.S.! GET MY BIG BROTHER!” So in reality I sat quietly, cleaned myself, patiently waited for water, and before we knew it, we landed in Kigali!! Customs didn’t take longer than twenty minutes. The airport is so small, and the first person we saw among a throng of brightly-colored, beautifully dark people was Cathy Emmerson, the founder of P.R.E.F.E.R. and our host mom! And all the sunshine in the world concentrated on her welcoming expression.
I was so tired. By the time we came into Cathy’s wonderful property, I couldn’t even think about blogging. I scribbled these notes below on my phone and I think it encapsulates what my foggy mind thought:
- SO MANY BEAUTIFUL HILLS
- THE WEATHER IS NICE
- CATHY IS REALLY HIP + COOL
- SHE HAS TWO DOGS I AM SO HAPPY
- MY BODY IS SUPER ITCHY
- KINDA SCARED OF THE WAY PEOPLE LOOK AT US BUT ALSO REALLY EXCITED TO MEET THEM
- AND ALSO THE FLIGHT WAS SO LONG BUT I MADE IT THANK YOU LORD
- GOD IS GOOD: I FEEL LIKE I HAVE ENOUGH OF EVERYTHING! ENOUGH SOCKS, TWO SWEATERS IS PERFECT
- YUMMY GOAT MEAT
I’m going to be good here!
hugsomebody 