UPDATED: And the hits dont stop comin'

I'm sitting here in my hotel room a few miles from O'hare  airport thinking of my travel check list:

Fly 13 hours in the dark because the cabin electricity went dark...check

Hang out in a Japanese Airport for 13 hours while waiting for a flight home...check

Sprint through Hawaiian Airport in a sweatshirt because I'm already late for my connection to Seattle...check

Almost lose my place on the flight because I was running late after having been traveling for over 24
hours...check

Sitting next to a lady on a flight from Hawaii and having to hold her big Samoan baby as she proceeds to fill 4 formula bottles for the flight while taking off...check

Sitting next to Samoan baby wearing dirty diaper for 4 of 6 hours because he wasnt changed...check

Checking in to the wrong hotel youve traveled for nearly 40 hours and there are two of the same hotel within a mile from each other...check.

Being stuck at an airport while the power goes out and have my flight delayed two hours...check

Get on and then off and back on the plane only to be stuck on the tarmac for another 45 minutes because of bad weather in Chicago...check

 Sitting at a cheap hotel outside of O'hare airport writing a blog post when I should be in route to Tokyo because the delays made me miss my flight...CHECK


*UPDATES
July 2011: Flew back after a wedding and my connection broke down and missed my flight back to Japan. Rescheduled a day later and had to take an extra day off work.

August 2011 Flight to Japan from Phillippines was cancelled, had to stay in a hotel and flew out at 5:30 AM the next day.

January 2012: Got sick 2 days before flying back. Felt sick and didnt eat the whole way back.

March 2012: Flew 5 out of seven days. Every single flight was delayed at least a half our. On the flight home our flight was scheduled to leave at 2AM but was delayed until 4AM. We then missed our connection in China. The only flight that was on time was one we wanted to be late. We had to go through the headache of customs in China and ended up getting back to Japan 21 hours after leaving for the airport in Malaysia.

August 2012: Generally, its been a difficult experience flying out of China as you can see above. This time we had an expected 8 hour layover in Shanghai. There is absolutely nothing to do in the international section of this airport. There are 4 restaurants that are identical and a coffee shop. China does not allow any social media so no Facebook or Twitter. Ahead of our flight, Matt (the guy i flew with) got a text from his dad saying our flight was delayed to the next morning. We had nothing in the airport so we thought that might be a mistake. How can a guy in the US know before the people in the airport right? Well we wait till 20 minutes before take off (11:30PM) . They tell us it has been switched to another gate. Finally after the flight was scheduled to leave. There was an announcement that there was a delay. We went to the counter to check on it.  BOOM we had a delay until 7AM the next morning and they were going to put everyone in a hotel.

So at midnight we had to leave and go through customs. Customs in China is not pleasant. Generally, I always get the feeling that there is little to no communication between people at the airport. The airline knows whats going on but the customs people dont. So we have hundreds of people trying to get through  customs and the agents have no clue whats going on. An hour later we get through and head to the bus. One would expect it to be the hotel right by the airport. NOPE, it was 45 minutes away. By 2:30 we got to the hotel and had a wake up call of 4:30. I woulda been happier just sleeping at the airport. The only saving grace of the day is that I woke up minutes before being able to watch the US Womens Soccer take gold against Japan.

DECEMBER 2012:
 After traveling for nearly 30 hours, it was smooth sailing until we got on the runway in Chicago heading to Grand Rapids. After about 30 minutes, the captain comes on explaining that we were overweight and we either need to get rid of people or bags and he chose bags. He said that about 15 of them would not make it. Knowing my luck (see above), something was going to be missing. I get to Grand Rapids to find that one of my bags never made it on the carousel. I had two bags, one with presents and one with all of my clothes and jacket. The one with my clothes did not make it. I had to open a present just to be dressed for church Christmas eve. The bag finally was shipped to me at around midnight Christmas morning.

Why I chose to go back; part 1 my essay

As I sit here getting ready to head back to Japan this Tuesday, I began to reflect on a paper I had to write for an english class my senior year.  It was to be entitled: "This I believe" and was meant as a reflective piece on what I truly wanted for life. I looked back on it and realized that the same foundations in this essay still hold true and may provide some meaning as to why I'm going back. If I get around to it, I will post my actually thoughts on returning :).

 This I Believe: The Journey that is Life

            A normal tombstone would read something like: John Doe, January 1865- June 1925. They all have their birth and death prominently shown. However, the most important part of that whole tombstone is that space between the two dates. This is where differences are made, love is won and lost, beliefs are challenged, and life is lived. I believe that life is about the trials and tribulations, not a means to an end. The journey that makes everyone’s life unique is the most important part.

            Often people are too focused on what they want to do next. They want a crystal ball to see the future and find out what is to come. Even I spend more time worrying about something than actually living in the moment. Life is about the moments you take advantage of. Every experience we have leads us to something new. College is a time for indecision to hit and where many struggle to take advantage of situations in front of them in order to hold off for the future.

            In my college experience, I was caught up looking to the future during my sophomore year as opposed to accepting the journey. I really had no real ambition as to where I wanted to go and did not really look into where I am. I would spend time sitting around waiting for situations to happen instead of making them happen. This is a depressing outlook on life. Eventually, I had enough and decided to get more involved in my school and community. I involved myself in many different school activities, trying things once just to say I tried. I joined Program Board, moved back on campus and got involved in hall council, became president of a student organization, and now am an RA.  I even went to a swing dancing club meeting once.  Even though I may be going into the teaching profession that does not mean that my entire existence should be devoted into the teaching field. There is no telling what the future may hold anyway. Who is to say that a connection made in small way could not prove to be a huge part of that hyphen that is life?

            At this point in my college career, I am happy with where I am and what I have done over the years. Some may look at my transcripts and wonder how I could waste nearly 180 credits and 5 years. Though I will not admit every class I took had a profound impact on my life, the overall experience has given me the strength of character to push myself through obstacles. Had I just looked at the means to an end from the beginning, there is no way I would be getting myself into a major that was so time-consuming. Each road that my life has turned for the last five years has made me who I am today. 

It is the journey that makes life worth living. Looking at historical figures, no one stares at the history of Abraham Lincoln and talks about when he was born or the fact that he died. They want to know about his presidency, what got him to that point, the Emancipation Proclimation, the Civil War, and the journey that he is remembered for. History would be useless if life’s journey was not chronicled. We learn so much from others journeys that greatly impact the way we live now.

When my time is done, I want to be known for what I did and whose lives I have positively impacted.I do not want to be known specifically for two distinct dates in time.  I want to try new things and take many different journeys that will allow me to look back and say that I lived not that I existed.

My 15 minutes and Adjusting

There is a saying about how everybody gets their own 15 minutes of fame. I've always pictured mine as being on some crazy reality show embarrassing my family's name through late night binges and creative editing. Unfortunately, I got mine for my least favorite subject in school: Geography.

Its been interesting to say the least dealing with the emotions and events of the past month. I went from living a daily routine to daily emotional roller coasters. I went from living in a culture I knew very little about and getting used to it to heading back to a culture I knew a lot about and not understanding it. Since being home, my mind has been in a place thousands of miles from me. There is no real way to prepare for the events that we all went through in Sendai. The truth of it all is that God kept us all safe for a reason and its ok not to fully comprehend why.

Some of us were meant to experience this and go right into helping on the ground floor. Some were meant to take this experience home to connect with others and utilize the lessons in it to become a stronger person for their tasks at home. Others were meant to come home, share our story and provide a personal connection to the events then go back and get to work. The truth of it all as that no one side is wrong. They are all right and essential in their own way. Its just a matter of figuring out which is your piece to the puzzle.

In coming home, I felt lost in everything. The first few days, I just wanted to wall myself off to the world and ignore everyone outside of my friends that shared my experience. On top of that, I went through so many time zones that my body couldn't figure out what time it was. I basically slept for 2 hours at a time and was up most nights. Up until going home, we always had this own buffer zone of 30 or so people that went through the same experiences and emotions. Getting home, that outlet is harder to reach. Just flying home and randomly conversing about living in Sendai, I started to realize that there is a much different perspective on the issues and everything that went on. Most of it is based in the overall idea that the worst case scenario is the most interesting so that is what most people get. Its hard to relate that we weren't hanging on to a floating piece of debris for dear life but at the same time were deeply affected in other ways.

Luckily for me, I had a group of friends I traveled home with that kept in touch during the tougher times of adjusting to home. Also, my family pulled me to come on vacation in Florida. Vacation was honestly the last thing on my mind but at the same time it was good to be where no one really knew me but my immediate family. It gave me time to readjust to everything without people coming from the woodwork to get my story and ask me the same questions 453 different ways. Though my mind was never quite in Florida, it gave me time to readjust and get ready for whatever came next.

Most importantly, it gave me time to make a decision on a time-line to come back to Japan, which had weighed like a ton of bricks. With a lot of factors, probably another blog post worth, I chose to move back to Japan at the end of April. But thats all I'll talk about taht decision here or else I'd go on and on (like I already am ;)).

Getting back home, I felt more business as usual. I got back to driving on the comfortable side of the road literally and figuratively. A part of me felt as if I never left but the other part of me felt like this ghost that was just watching everything from the outside. Its surreal to be at a place you never expected to be for at least another year. At the same time, I felt very blessed and fortunate to be home. I needed this time to mentally recharge and gain a better perspective for what to do with the events life handed me. Though, I have no clue what is in store for tomorrow, I am content in where I am today.

*After typing some of this Japan had another decent earthquake, bigger than all the other aftershocks. Though we can say eh its only a 7.2 there are many people that don't have the luxuries of sturdy structures and places that we have. Please continue your prayers for Japan and your generosity to those still in need. Our school continues to partner with others for relief efforts through your donations. Please take time to just check this site out to see what they have done so far   Friends of MeySen.

A side note for anyone curious: Here is an article and video about me from my hometown. I apologize to any residents with mobile homes for my comments and humor that were taken out of context :).

Local video while I was in Japan
News Article in the Muskegon Chronicle