moving along

First semester done and gone! Wow, that was extreeeeemely fast. I don't think time has ever passed faster! Except maybe when i lived in france... but that's obvious b/c FR was just too amazing. This semester was awesome. I feel like I have pretty much gotten used to college and as long as I work ahead, I'll do great! The past 2 weeks somehow I got ahead in H/w so when exam time came (and i only had 2 written ones), I was pretty free to hang around and didn't stress AT ALL! My 2 written exams were in French (surprisingly not too hard) and Old Testament (also not bad!) .. then i had like 3 papers due for my other 3 classes. --And those were short, easy papers I wrote ahead, so it really was easy when exam time came! I felt bad for those people who had like 4 exams and couldn't start studying because they had papers to write or things to read etc... i think next semester will be much harder with western civ. (history), NEW testament (and i have one of the hardest teachers apparently), Psychology, and Comm., and then the freshmen required class again called "Christianity, Character, & Culture." ...but hopefully it won't be TOO bad for me! I won't have any classes on Tuesdays and only one at 8am on thursdays!!!! pretty stoked about that-- but those will have to be my work days since MWF are gonna be pretty jam-packed.
What keeps me going is having some AWESOME friends, near and far! I just love Gordon. It snowed a lot before I came here and we went sledding on cafeteria trays! It's just fun .... even though it gets cold, you stay inside or bundle up a lot and drink lots of hot chocolate or lattes.... it's lovely!

So I am in Kin now!! Back in Congo...."Home." it was funny telling people I was "just going to Africa" for winter break. And there's a song by Kenny Chesney called "All I Want for Christmas is a Real Good Tan" ... i think i may just get that while i'm here! Planning on doing LOTS of swimming and tennis;-) My flight here was very interesting .... probably one of the worst flights I've ever taken -- it was so long and draining. Surprisingly, I'm not at all jet-lagged, I think I got enough sleep on the plane.
Alrighty, here goes a long detailed story about my flight, whether you wanted it or not!
On Friday morning, I went to the airport at 3:30 am -- my friend Corrie drove me because she lives 20 mins away from the airport, and I had gone to stay at her house on Wed. after my last exam.

So we got to the airport at 4:00 and didn't expect anyone to be there, but ... we were wrong. In the intl. flight line, there were like 30 ppl in front of me and more and more (Mostly Asians, lol) kept coming in. i waited for 45 mins in line, and then went through SECURITY, which was even worse, 30mins waiting time... so then by the time I got to my gate I only had to wait like 5mins before boarding. I flew to Wash. DC, and slept nearly the whole time... At the DC airport, my flight was leaving at 9:30 and I got to the gate at like 8:45 ... I checked in and the people said that Christiana (my sister meeting me) hadn't checked in yet..that was weird because her flight from Nashville was coming in at 11pm on Thursday night ... so she was supposed to be there the night before.... kinda worried me. WHERE COULD SHE BE? So I went and got a little Starbucks -- muffin & cocoa because it would be the last time to do that for a month... haha i'm pathetic. When I got back to the gate, there was my sister, thank goodness!!!! So then I sat down with her, ready for story time. haha
Her flight had been cancelled to DC last night, and the only way to get up to DC was to take a flight to Baltimore (she had to buy a new ticket), and then these people our uncle knew picked her up and drove her in the morning to the airport in DC. It was a messy, long, involved story, so I won't get into all of it, but she was quite flustered!! Her luggage had also broken open on the way from Nashville to Baltimore so she had to go to walmart and buy a new trunk!! it was just crazy. But we met up and got on our flight to Ethiopia. Christiana had a really big rolling "carry-on" so we pushed as hard as we could to squeeze it into the overhead bin... buuuuut we couldn't do it, even with a guy's help. So i told her to just check it below. Right after the flight I was thinking that they would put it on the ramp that goes into the airport right outside the plane so we could get it in Ethiopia and get on our flight to Kinshasa. I didn't think about the fact that we were on Ethiopian airlines and they might check it and you would have to pick it up in baggage claim in Ethiopia!!! ... Anywho, wasn't worried about that at the time. SO we boarded and we didnt have seats together but my seat was in the very front of economy so i was like, "well whoever's sitting with you won't mind switching and going to sit where i'm supposed to sit b/c it's closer to the front!" Or so i thought. I sat down by Christiana and when the guy who had that seat came, i told him the deal and he was like, "well let me go check it out." he came back and said that someone was sitting in my seat, so he made me move. I went back up front and the flight attendant asked me if i minded sitting in the middle exit row (this was a big plane -- 3 rows across) ... i was like "of course not!! yay for leg room!!" and settled in. -- In between a lady in her upper 40's and an Ethiopian, also middle aged. The Ethiopian couldn't keep still and kept getting out of her seat and talking to flight attendants in her language... which was fine but this cute girl that was sitting behind us who was friends with the Ethiopian kept coming up and sitting by me. While i was watching the movie she kept wanting me to change the channel or find it on her tv (we had our own little screens) and kept turning up my volume til it was making my ears bleed. lol ... she was adorable, but loud behind me! and whenever i tried to lie my seat back she would go "HEY -- I'm not going to sleep! Move your chair!" but i got away with it for a little bit at least.... I slept a while, watched movies for a while, slept,... read a tiny bit, just did anything i could to pass time. Longest flight of my life. We stopped over in Rome after 8 hrs to refuel and i was so bummed they wouldn't let us off the plane. We had to sit there for like 2 hrs, saw some Italian trash guys get on the plane to collect trash, and heard them speaking some italian....:-) i had to pretty much stay in my seat the whole time. miserable. We were served 3 or 4 meals and they were just horrible. worst airplane food ever. it was like fake, and made me feel sick so i didn't want to eat anything. My stomach kept hurting on and off, and the food they kept bringing out was disgusting. Finally we got off the ground again and flew for 7 or 8 more hours to Ethiopia. I tried to sleep a lot, and watched another movie, but the only good movie was No Reservations which i loved!
Finally we got to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It looked exactly like the Kenyan airport -- looked pretty new, but very empty and big. The first thing i realized was our flight was an hour late so we had 10 mins before our flight to Kin was supposed board!!! I got out of the plane and waited for C. Then i realized we had to find her bag because it wasn't sitting on the "gangplank" outside the plane! oh noes!! It was going to baggage claim! So as soon as C got outta the plane, we ran down to baggage claim, which was on the OTHER side of customs. What were we going to do? we didn't need to go to customs b/c we weren't staying-plus there was a long line!! We talked to a guy who worked there and were like "we need to get a bag and get on a connecting flight but we shouldn't have to go through customs!" he tried to be helpful and was like "Oh, fine! Just pass through!" Just pass through? Does that mean go through the line and talk to the customs officials or... just "pass through" like in between the counters and just run through and ignore the ppl in line and behind the counter? wouldn't we get stopped?? WELL ... We ran for it because we had a flight to catch!!

... Got to the baggage claim carousel and no bags were out yet (obviously ... u know how long it normally takes... and we were in AFRICA!) .. i was like "umm... C??? what are we gonna do??? We have to find someone and tell them to just send our bag onto Kin>" and she was like "yahhh ... oh noooo i'm sooo sorrrry!!" i was like "no it's not your fault but we better hurry! our plane leaves in 5mins!!!!!!" it actually was going to leave in like 5. We were so scared. i didn't want to spend a night in E!... we found some ppl standing around and they were NO HELP at all. I prayed for an angel. I didn't know what else we could do. Right then someone paged us in french. "Madames Evangeline et Christiana...ajfkjakjdfka jfkjakfj akfj ajfkd jakdjf kajkd fjakl. Merci." they repeated it 3 or 4 times! I found her (she had run off to find an "info desk" or something ... but there was nothing ANYwhere...) and was like "that's us!! we just have to run!!" and she was like "What?? they did?" i don't know how she hadn't heard our names .. i heard them clear as day. but yeah so we ran upstairs and saw a sign that said "Connecting flights" (thank God for english!) and a man was looking at us (there were only 3 ppl in sight... it was really deserted), Pointing to these 2 other guys who were like "this way!!" and they looked like we should be in a hurry. So we rushed over and followed the people's pointing... got to a security line and we started walking through without putting our bags down. Of course they stopped us cuz our bags had to be x-rayed... then this lady showed up and was like "Are you Evangeline and Christiana? Follow me!" and she was walking really fast, we rushed and told her about our bag and gave her the claim ticket which she took and said she would tell someone and figure it out. So we got on the plane... i think we were the last ones on. We sat on rows across from each other, so that was nice. 5mins later the lady that saved our life came back and handed us the bag ticket and said it had been checked on to congo! So, sighs of relief... then the plane door closed and we just sat there. For what seemed like 3 hours.. but i think it was just 1. I'm not sure what we were waiting for! THey never explained. I sat next to 2 Congolese girls who loved talking and bumping me. while i was sleeping the girl poked me and made me get up so she could get to the bathroom, but other than that it was okay. it seemed like a really long flight but i think it was 4hrs. I watched a bit of Home Alone -- In FRENCH b/c they didn't have it in eng. (it was hilarious!)... and some Everybody loves Ray, which was really dumb. tried sleeping .. they served another awful meal. i still felt pretty miserable. i think i ate 4 bites and threw it out.

The flight attendants were the worst. Really bad service. Even on the flight from DC to ethiopia they seemed in a big hurry to serve the food and give you drinks. Even if you were asleep they would nudge you and rip out your tray so they could throw food at you. And you know when you have to put your seat back upright when you're landing? I saw a congolese man with his head covered in a blanket and he had his seatback, so a flight attendant came to him and ripped the blanket off his head, pushed the botton, and jerked his seat forward while she shouted "put your seats up!" ... it was hilarious but also pretty sad. Such a different culture I guess. They were all Africans... very different! :-) well... we finally landed in Kin.

We got through customs fine, -- didn't have to wait very long -- they didn't even bother asking for our invitation letters ... well on the other side of Customs, I didn't see our protocol man right away, and i was like "well he'll find me... dad told me his name..." so when a guy standing there saw me and asked who was picking me up i said "Mukila Paul" (pretty confidently). And the guy nodded and told this woman to call him! She had his number.... i was like "Oh good yeah this is def the one guy dad wanted to pick us up because everyone knows our protocol man!" well the lady showed me and C a place to sit down away from the chaos and called Paul. She let him talk to me and i was like "i am walt shepard's daughter ... u know him ? ... well i am at the airport..." struggling finding words in french to say to him! and he's like "oui oui, I am coming!" in english. So i was like "YAY ... he knows me he's the guy!" because i was a little nervous i had said the wrong name. My dad had emailed me on wed and told me his name, and i had wrote a note in my phone -- so i looked at my phone. The name was "Papa Maninga." Totally different, but i was thinking ... "hmm ... congolese do have lots of names. it must be the same guy!" so i asked the lady for her phone to call dad. She seemed like a very nice lady and willingly let me use her phone. Dad was like "nooooooooo!!! maninga! i told u in the email!" so i told the lady to quickly call him back and tell him not to come. Right then before i hung up with my dad, Maninga looked at me and smiled. I was like Oh noooooooo.....slash, "so good to see you!!" but i was like "WHAT HAVE I DONE????? poor paul is coming" P.Maninga told me to sit down again and we gave him our baggage claim tickets. we sat for a LONG time just waiting for the carousel to start turning and sending out our luggage. When they started, i went over and stood with M to look for our bags. After a LOOOONG wait, i finally found my 2 bags and one of christiana's ... then finally another one of C's came out, but then we waited and waited and the last bag came out, and it was NOT C's carry on that we had had trouble with in Ethiopia. So we took the bags we had out to the car, and while we walked to M's truck, the lady that let me borrow her phone came up to us and Papa said that she claimed i owed her $5 for a new phone card b/c i used her phone. I go "but i used it for one minute!!" and he goes "tell her thati n french>" so i did, and she widened her eyes in disbelief. Another woman out of no where was like "Une minute??" also in disbelief. I go "OUI!!!" and she imitated me "OUI!!" in an awful voice. Good grief woman!! i didn't give her money... and wasn't about to! but i think Maninga had to give her a few francs to get her to leave us away. She started banging on my window. I wasn't tired until we had landed in Kin. The chaos of the airport was SOOOO bad.... i was sweating so much and getting pushed around a lot. And had made such a dumb mistake. Mukila Paul did show up at the airport, found me, and shook my hand and i had to apologize to him. He talked to Maninga and was wanting an explanation why he wasn't taking me (in the past he had taken dad and my sister to the airport and stuff a while ago) ... maninga explained to him and paul was like "what's walt's number??" so he called my dad! ah i was so embarrassed. he came all the way to the airport for nothing! and then my dad was a little distressed about it..
but urgh . . .. so then we drove home, and it was the longest ride of my life. For half the time Maninga was trying to give us a tour guide in english since C had never been here. .. .but then C fell asleep so then it was me & him and he kept getting phone calls . . . and i didn't feel like talking. there was SO much traffic! i think we got home around 4 after landing at 1. So maybe i exaggerated how long everything took but i really do feel like it was the longest day of my life. So yeah that made it SOOOO GREAT to finally get home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I ran inside and hugged everyone. Surprised i didn't melt down and cry. what a wonderful 2 days!
Moral of this story or lesson to be learned?? Don't fly Ethiopian AA if you can help it!!!
But mannn... is it good to be HOME!!! We haven't heard anything about C's luggage but... I've talked to lots of people who recently flew in here and they all lost their luggage but got it back in 2 days. So maybe we will too -- i think it's just because it's christmas. And being Africa might have a little to do with it as well! hehe...
I swam some laps today & ran a teeny bit... I plan on trying to do that every morning at 9. It feels so odd being back here... but it's a GOOD odd. I don't feel like I ever left because so much is the same! We live in a different house -- my parents have a place on the American School campus now, and though it's much smaller than our old house, it's in a more convenient area -- good community, better electricity (meaning it goes off less) and water, etc... and i think it might be cheaper or the same price. Plus, what could be better than having a big pool w/ 2 diving boards and a volleyball & tennis court plus a running path all around you?

SO -- merry Christmas, one and ALL ... I hope you have a GREAT Christmas and NEW YEARS! Happy Holidays, love you all!! Time to hang out with my family again!:-p

hearts

Exaaams are coming. I'm not really ready but thankfully, I only really have 2 finals and then a few final papers!
But with exams coming, that only means Christmas is coming, and lucky me gets to go to Congo for a whole MONTH! God is so awesome. He worked it out so well! I'm realllllly excited to see my fambly again!
This weekend I decided to get off campus and stay 2 nights at my great aunt's house (her place is like 4 mi from campus). I just needed to GET AWAY from it all. There's too much going on at school so it's way too easy to get distracted. Plus, I can never study in my room because my roommate is in there often and my bed is REALLY tempting ... and so is the internet! Yeah so anyway I got away yesterday and last night i was able to write 2 short essays in 2 hours! They were just rough drafts, but it's such a relieving feeling being done with papers for this whole week. Of course I'll have to write the final drafts Next week, but it's a big accomplishment for me;-) I can concentrate so much easier here. I did all my Old Test. assignments for Thursday, and my comm. assignment for tomorrow... i planned on working on french tonight, but found my aunt's giant tv MUCH more interesting.
This week was just extremely hard and stressful so it's good to get away and take a long bath in a jet tub, make chocolate chip cookies, and sit down and watch a movie or 2. This is what I've done the past 2 nights! A few things outside of school have been bugging me and making me even more stressed out. I'm very thankful for these 2 nights away from my dorm room! It really makes a difference being in a different environment. I should do this much more often! My great aunt is gone in FL until Jan., so that's why I really came... but next semester, even when she's here she said I can come over anytime, and I just might be doing that. Especially around exam times.

OK- Now it's 1am and I really should be getting to bed! woooops.
Tonight I'm very happy. I love my life and my awesome friends. Had a beyond wonderful phone convo with one friend last night and it just made me really happy--and i will stay happy for a long time!
i'm so random. this needs to end now!