The Weekly Wrap-Up: February 12-16, 2018

The weary traveler has returned! I promise that I will have the most epic of blog posts about my trip, but it must wait until I get my prayer letter out. Then I can give you the behind-the-scenes exclusive on every fun-filled moment.

I will, however, give you a little heads-up on my trip home. I'd prefer to detach it from the rest of my time in the Philippines, so it's beneficial to talk about it now instead of attaching it to another post.

Short story is this: I was supposed to leave the Philippines at 12:10 Wednesday morning. Their time, of course. I was supposed to arrive in Indianapolis at 8:00 Wednesday evening. Our time. Instead, I left the Philippines around 6 Wednesday morning and arrived in Indianapolis around 1 Friday morning. In between, I spent two hours on a runway in Oman, a night in Qatar, and the better part of a day in Chicago. If you ever get the urge to not take a flight you're scheduled to be on, please do everyone a favor and decide this BEFORE you get on the plane and check your luggage.

Needless to say, it's taking me a while to recover fully. Not only did I spend roughly 72 hours in transit, I also spent most of it in a tin can with germ-ridden strangers. So I've been fighting a bad cold along with jet lag.

Ah, well. Makes life interesting.

Fortunately, I was able to get back into my work routine fairly easily. We had a staff briefing on Monday, so that always helps get me into that numb-brain work mode we all know and love. I honestly can't remember if anything useful came out of that. Probably, but you couldn't prove it by me.

I quickly started to work my way through emails and other correspondence. It only took me most of Monday to get that done so that I could turn my attention back to Korean. I had one group left to finish this week, which I'm happy to say is mostly done. I just need to create the proof files and send them off. So I was able to be productive.

I think next week will be better on the work front. I won't be as tired (we hope), and I'll have a new language. Plus, I have my performance review to look forward to. Yippee. Who doesn't love that?

See you all next week!

Sawasdee!

I'm home!

Been home for a few days, actually, but things have been a bit crazy since getting back. Jet lag hasn't been too bad, and I'm hoping it will stay that way instead of being a delayed reaction. I have been sick, though, so that might be a factor.

I will do my best to give a more thorough accounting of my trip as soon as possible. I'm sorting through about 750 photos and videos, so I definitely have a lot to talk about. I'm also writing an article about the trip and planning a chapel presentation.

For now, though, just be assured that it was a great trip, and I'm so thankful I was able to go!

 

On Jet Lag

No, I'm not ready to write about my trip, yet. Today went a long way to help me process things, but I still need to read my journal one more time and comb through the 1000+ pictures I took for the best ones to share.

For this particular post, I would like to address the oft-referenced, but rarely examined, topic of jet lag.

Here is how dictionary.com defines the subject:

jet lag 
–noun
a temporary disruption of the body's normal biological rhythms after high-speed air travel through several time zones.

Generally speaking, I have usually taken after my mother when it comes to jet lag. It rarely affects her, and she can often jump right back into things upon returning home. She frequently flies to the other side of the world, and more often than not, she just shrugs off the ill effects of completely reversing her body's clock.

My father, on the other hand, has not faired as well. He can handle being a few hours off, but last year, he was in Thailand. He did well while he was there, but it took him almost a month to fully recover when he arrived home.

On previous trips, I haven't really had to deal with jet lag. Traveling to Latin America doesn't really throw off normal rhythms, and I adjusted easily to the 5-6 hours difference in Europe. I attribute this partially to my youth, and partially to the fact that I have a rather fluid sleep cycle anyway. I can allow myself a day going and coming to adjust, and I'm right as rain. I have a general philosophy when it comes to travel - you have to immediately put yourself on the local rhythm. Otherwise, you adjust too gradually, and this equals a miserable trip. Jumping right in helps shock your body into a faster adjustment.

However, things change rather dramatically when you literally shift everything forward half a day. The trip there wasn't a problem. I arrived in Thailand just after midnight on a Saturday, went to bed around 1:30, woke up at 6:30 in the morning, and took the day to rest. I didn't take a nap, I just relaxed, then went to bed around 10. After that, I was fine.

On the return trip, I left South Asia early in the morning on Wednesday, spent 15 hours in an airport in India, slept four hours on the eight hour flight to London, and then was awake until I arrived home around 7 on Thursday evening. After two full days of travel, I was more than ready to get some shut-eye. I was determined to follow my policy, however, so I stayed up as late as possible. It wasn't until I realized I had fallen asleep sitting at my kitchen table that I relented.

That night was weird. I woke up a couple of times, not sure where I was, convinced I was still traveling, trying to find my bags. Within a few minutes each time, though, I was able to get back to sleep, not waking completely until after 9. I took Friday easy, didn't go out, which was good, because my brain was soaked in fog. Most of the time, I didn't know what day it was. I went to bed early again, and I felt quite rested on Saturday, though my body was aching from the travel and other things.

But there is a lingering weariness. I am seesawing on when I go to bed and when I wake up. This morning, I was up at 5. I felt rested, but I don't generally get up so early. Also, I am still having trouble figuring out where I am when I first wake. It is incredibly disconcerting, and I don't like how muddled my brain gets.

So, that's my state of mind right now. I didn't get anything done at work today because I was trying to figure out what from the trip needed to be done and then what regular stuff needed to be done. I also spent the entire afternoon debriefing with the rest of the group who went from HQ. That helped me stop drifting so much. It's still hard, though - my brain and my body feel like they are on two separate planes of existence. I'm just waiting for them to decide when and where to reconnect.

All that to say this:

I hate jet lag.

0322

That would be the current time. Clearly, I have some adjusting to do.

BUT, my pain is your gain. So, here we go!

I'd just like to say first that 8 hours on a plane is way too much. It's like sitting in a car for eight hours with 150 other people without stopping to get out and stretch. And depending on who you sit next to, this can be a very interesting experience. I'm going to have to work on my endurance. There are a lot more interesting places to go that take twice the amount of time.

Anyway, I'm here now, and it's lovely! As Troy (our host/guide/master of all things) was driving through Spain (not something I'll be attempting any time soon, btw), I felt like I was in Pennsylvania or out West. It felt so familiar, and yet so foreign at the same time. I'll see more of the country tomorrow (today), but just the brief glimpse I got today was beautiful. Minus the rush hour traffic - that just looked ugly, and I'm very thankful we didn't have to deal with much of it.

We probably got to Troy and Julie's house around 0930, and then I don't remember much of anything until 1330. I think that nap is what is keeping me up right now, but I'm not sure I would have made it the rest of the day without it. Ah, the perils of travel! We had a lovely lunch, and then Samantha and I talked for about two hours. She is the other single senorita on the trip, and she's from Pennsylvania, and she makes me laugh. A lot. Like, every time she says anything, I'm laughing. Though that could have been because I was tired. But I'm pretty sure she's funny all the time.

Then one of the senora's made dinner (really early for Spain) and we got to meet Hannah and Ethan, Troy and Julie's kids. Hannah is a junior at ECA, and Ethan is in 8th grade and collects swords. Awesome kid. :)

We were off to an advanced English class/discussion group after that. I admit, I was nervous, because this whole TESOL thing is completely new to me. It was a lot of fun, though, and most of the people who came were fairly fluent. I had some one-on-one time with Elena and Laura, and we talked about movies, hunting, writing, Protestantism and everything in between. It was an excellent experience, and it was a great opportunity for me to learn more about Spain. It definitely makes me feel better about the English camp this weekend, though I am still nervous. I have faith, though, that it is going to be awesome!

Okay, hopefully I'm more tired now. We'll see. If you could pray for something specific, though, I'd appreciate it. I have some kind of respiratory thing and a very sore throat, and I would like both to go away, so please pray for that to happen. I really don't want to be sick the whole time I'm here.

I'll post pictures and such at a later date. Next post will hopefully be at a more Godly hour. ;)