Surprise! I'm Home!

Normally, I'm pretty bad at naming blog posts, but for this one I came up with several- The 36 Hour Friday, Goodby Cambodia, Hello America!, and Look! The Water Here Won't Kill Me! 

You can probably guess from the above titles that I am home! Its wonderful to be back in the states again! Here is a recap of my last days in Cambodia and my 36 hour long travel day.

 I was kept pretty busy up until the day I left with teaching, cleaning, worship band, Leah duty, and whatever else needed to be done. Below is a video of Strey Hang, myself, Kayla, and Seth leading worship at the last small group I attended.  Seth kept telling me not to, "Sing so frilly." I can't help it that I'm a legit singer! We only had one rehearsal, so don't expect anything too amazing.

Then I had to pack. I'm not very good at remembering to pack important things like my glasses, so I was pleasantly surprised when everything came home with me! The red rolling duffel was something that I found at the market. I haggled the most on it and managed to get the lady down from $30 to $20. Haggling is something that I miss.

All packed!

One last load of laundry drying on the roof.

My flight wasn't until late, so there was time for one last game of Settlers before it was time to head to the airport. Boo, our amazing tuk tuk driver, was sad to see me go.

Boo and I after my last tuk tuk ride.

I was at the airport two hours early and there was no line for anything so I had a lot of free time on my hands. I was 2/3 of the way through The Great Gatsby before I boarded. The plane lifted off at 11:50 and suddenly, I was on my way home! This started what I like to call, "The 36 Hour Friday". Because I crossed the International Dateline, December 12 was 36 hours long instead of 24.

Goodby Cambodia!

Curled up in my seat. It felt like I had my own reading nook!

The obligatory passport and ticket picture.

After a 5 hour flight, I landed in Seoul for a 4 hour layover. They really knew how to do security! There were about 100 people in line ahead of me and I was through in 5 minutes. everyone there was wearing boots and scarves. I even saw some puffy coats! Being in the tropics for so long, I had forgotten what cold felt like. The airport was freezing, so I huddled under my blanket and ignored the stares from everyone around me.

My blanket sure did come in handy!

Finally, it was time to board the plane that would take me home!

Get ready, America! I'm coming back!

The flight could not have gone more perfectly. Between the two flights, I somehow managed to get 7 hours of sleep as well as watch two movies and three Doctor Who episodes and read several more Sherlock Holmes short stories. We even landed 35 minutes early!

I found these chocolate biscuits things for $.80. They were pretty good!

There was no line at customs and my bags were the first to come out. They were too heavy for me to lift, so this very nice man got them onto my very squeaky cart for me. My mom and brother were there to pick me up and it was wonderful to see them in person again! After a two hour car ride I was home!

I'm back!

Trying to keep warm. My kitties missed me!

Of course, I couldn't stay home for long. I was there for about a half hour before I was asking if we could go see my littles. I had arranged beforehand with their mom to surprise them on the day I came back. As you can see, they were very excited that I was home.

Two of my very awesome friends decided to spend and hour in the freezing cold decorating my car. I've never felt more loved than I have this week coming home and realizing how many people missed me. I don't think that they realized how much I missed them!

Bob looked amazing!

My personal favorite window. You can definitely tell who wrote it!

I haven't been jet lagged at all (Thanks, God!), but I'm using it as an excuse not to unpack. All of the gifts were take out and my personal stuff has been consolidated into one suitcase which is currently sitting in the living room and is being used as a cat toy.

Making a mess in the living room.

I've been pretty busy since I've gotten back with hugging my friends, babysitting, and getting rehired at the library- I start tomorrow! It's wonderful to be home, but I'm going to miss Cambodia and the friends that I made there. Thank you all for following this blog, and supporting me through this journey. To see more of what I did in Cambodia or to stay updated on my latest adventures, feel free to friend me on Facebook if we aren't already friends. Thank you!