Did you see the movie ' The Terminal" with Tom Hanks?
Me, Marna, Roelf, Janica and Karlien have got a glimpse of how he must have felt sleeping in the terminal...
The 5 of us have another connection flight than the rest of the group. They are now in Japan - also flying out today to India. We only fly out tonight at half past ten. We arrived at the airport last night half past nine. What an experience! We 'slept' in one of the Emergency Exit rooms in the terminal.
I want to reflect back on the last couple of days in Malaysia. 10 Minutes before we arrived at the airport we as team leaders received an envelope with the instructions for the first race. It is a race against time. We need to check out with ALL our baggage and find our own transport with a limited buget. We had to have proof of everything we bought and the transport we used. We also had to do tasks, finding logo's, taking picture of ladies in traditional clothing, getting brochures, visiting the twin towers, playing a game in the park, buying food for the big team at a specific grocery store. All against time. We, the RED team, the 4 ladies, me, Marna, Elsabe and Monica planned very good. One thing we forgot was to ask how long it would take the 'cheaper' busride to Kuala Lampur Central. It took about an hour and a half to get to KL sental before we could start the race. Aai! But , we kept our heads up and hoped for the best. When we arrived, we found out that the other teams had already finished their tasks and was on their way to our residence for the night. That was really bad for us, but we pulled trough and when we arrived at the train terminal we saw another team. The train was delayed with one hour. So, we caught up with them and passed them at the grocery store because, as usual, we girls got everything planned out!! So, in the end, we unofficially came second.I think this story is very applicable to life. We as a team learned a lot and it prepared and equipped us for the race of life...
In Malaysia we went to a village in Longkap. We slept in one of their churches.It was very interesting and challenging. The kids were beautiful and pure in heart. The womans meeting was especially good to me. But the food... for me it was a big challenge. For those that don't know me, I am allergic to any fish and all seafood. Fish with rice is about all they eat - or fish with everything. So, I ate plain rice!!!!! Once is nice, but...oh, well, that is life. I filled up with bread , biscuits and tweenies!!!! NOT good for the figure :D!
Back in KL we did a bit of shopping before going to Klang. There we learned a lot about diffirent cultures. Espescially the Manymar culture. I have never heard about them before. We got to know them well and built good relationship with them. Sunday morning we played a cricket match against some Pakistani people. Unfortunately we lost, but it was great and extremely warm/humid! Sunday evening we attended church and experience diffirent cultures going to church. This was very interesting and informative. After a long night, travelling back to KL we slept a bit and started to pack again for our diffirent trips to India. Five of us via Hong Kong and the rest via Japan to India. Unfortunately we can not download photos on to this computer. We will upload as soon as possible. Thank you for all your sms's and prayers. I really appreciate it. Please keep on praying for us and especially for Karlien whose luggage is still 'somewhere' between here and Malaysia.
Blessings
Marliaan