Our Good Good Father and Sports Day

Last week was spirit week. Our students dressed in their pajamas and as some of their favorite animals. Of course we had the traditional Wacky Wednesday. But the highlight of the week was Sports Day on Friday. But I have to give some back story to give God all the glory!

On Monday, Pajama Day, the day started off clear skies. Around 8:15am, 15 minutes before school started, came a torrential downpour. Many of our students came to school completed soaked, dressed in their pajamas. I decided to look at the forecast for the rest of the week. Guess what it said… Rain. Everyday and the highest percentage was on Friday, Sports Day. The floodgates opened (literally and figuratively). Parents were messaging asking about Sports Day and what our backup plan was. I didn’t have one. We literally put all our eggs in this one basket to take students off site to a park that was about 45 minutes away. If we didn’t go, there was no backup option. I did the only thing I knew to do, I prayed. I prayed for it not to rain on Thursday and Friday. I prayed for the coming storm to dissipate or pass over us. I know that God is bigger than the weather. He can do anything. And even if it rained, God would have a great backup plan for us.

Even my admin were texting me about the forecast. I stood firm, believing in God for a miracle. Putting my faith in God the Father instead of the weather apps. My students were also praying. Every morning during our Praise and Prayer time we were praying for clear skies and cool weather. [Just a reminder we are in the tropics, in the middle of May, our normal temperature is 30C and above (90s for those using the Fahrenheit scale)].

So the weather apps said rain every day, and the skies sure looked like rain. However, it barely drizzled throughout the week. We might have had a thunderstorm at night, but nothing that was expected during rainy season and a storm forecasted. So fast forward to Thursday. We again prayed for Sports Day and clear skies and cool weather. Our PE teacher, who was helping coordinate Sports Day, was praying for no rain on Thursday as well. And you know what??? God answered! The weather apps said it was raining, but what did we have? Clear skies! Blue skies! Blue skies are God’s little love letters to me, and when I see them here my heart leaps out of my chest (because they are so few and far between). God was letting me know He was and is with us. I knew that God was going to provide the right weather we needed for Sports Day to be a success.

Blue sky and white puffy clouds. My heart receiving this sweet love letter from the Father. All while all the weather apps were saying that it was raining. God is bigger than the weather!

Friday morning, the sky is clear. Blue skies can’t be seen, but the AQI is green! We have had one green AQI day in the past 10 months. That is a clear sky for us! The temperature : 20sC (low 70s). This was the best weather we could have ever had for Sports Day. God answered our prayers. He is such a good, good Father. Sports Day was a success, students had a great time playing all the games and growing in sportsmanship. But the best part, God was glorified in it all. Walking away, we all talked about how God provided the best weather for Sports Day. God kept all the students safe. God made the day a great success.

God is bigger than this world. The miracle of the weather still makes me stand in awe. In the middle of April we start getting high 20s (80s) and 30s (90s) weather. It is humid. I was fully prepared for it to be hot and humid in the middle of May. So to have clear skies and low 20s (70s) degree weather is something that only God can do! God sees us! He cares about the small things and He cares about the big things. He isn’t far away. He is with us through all things! Praise be to God!

Sports Day!!!!

Quarantine... what's it like?

A hotel room. 7 days. Not allowed to leave. Meals delivered by knocks at the door. Covid tests administered at the beginning and end of the week. These are the basic ideas behind hotel quarantine.

I arrived at my hotel at 11:30pm on the 20th of August. Thankfully it was before midnight so that my first official day of quarantine would be the 21st. I was given a piece of paper with my room number on it and told to go to the room and have a good night. The room was your basic hotel room, with a queen size bed and a small desk by the window. I quickly surveyed the room and checked the contents of my carry-on to find toiletries and clothes so that I could take shower before going to sleep. The best thing about flying to Asia, arriving at night (helps with the jet lag).

Dressed in the PPE suit to go to the hotel. I broke the zipper on the suit… whoops.

Everyday is the same.

Breakfast is delivered at 7am on the small coffee table outside of my door. The first breakfast was fried rice, which I asked for something else because it contained carrots. So from then on, my breakfast was two fried eggs and two pieces of Texas toast. They also brought coffee and juice to go with it, but I preferred to drink water.

My daily eggs and toast. Some days (two out of the eight) I was lucky enough to get bacon!

After breakfast, I read my Bible and worshipped. It was such sweet time to talk with Jesus about quarantine and the plans He has for this school year. I held onto the promises He had told me before I left. There were moments that I worried, but I was always lead back to His promises. There was some time that I didn’t know if I would be released after 7 days, I struggled because I felt like God had said 7 days, but everything around me was saying it would be longer. I held tight to God, praying for 7 days, but also praying for my heart to handle whatever happened. I knew God was (and still is) in control! His timing is what got me here and His timing was going to get me out of quarantine. Praise the Lord, I learned on 27th that I would be released from quarantine on the 28th! God is faithful!

Daily set up for Bible reading and journaling!

The rest of the morning I would talk to family and friends in America. My morning was the easiest to talk to people because it is the evening in America. Also, I wasn’t sleeping through the night (thanks to jet lag) so I would talk to people early in the morning too. I am so thankful for technology to talk to people. I couldn’t imagine being stuck in a room for 7 days (or 14) without having a way to communicate with the outside world!

Lunch would be delivered at 11:30am. I never really knew what to expect for lunch. There usually was some type of meat and a vegetable. I could also count on there being two pieces of Texas toast. Usually, I ate the vegetables and the toast. Sometimes the meat was a little sketchy or it was fish. There was also a salad on the tray, but I tend to stay away from salad for fear of carrot contamination. I didn’t want to risk it. So I ate the things that I could easily see didn’t contain carrots. I had packed peanut butter and tortillas in my checked bag for the days that I didn’t eat the meal they provided. My bags didn’t show up until the 25th, but you can bet I had peanut butter as soon as I found it!

After lunch, I would work on things for school. We had our parent orientation on the 23rd, so I attended that to meet the parents and share a little bit about myself. The rest of the week I would check in on teachers to see how the first week of school was going. I also answered emails about the online schedule for the following week and did some curriculum mapping for math and science. It was also around this time that I would get sleepy (thanks jet lag), so I would take a nap. The goal was to take a 1-2 hour nap, but the first couple of days the nap was 3-4 hours, which definitely messed up my sleep schedule.

Dinner was delivered between 5pm and 5:30pm. Dinner was similar to lunch, never really knowing what to expect. My favorite meal was beef with onions and bell peppers! That was delivered twice. The rest of the meals I kind of picked at, usually eating all the vegetables and the Texas toast. I ate a lot of Texas toast. I knew I liked bread, but that was a lot of bread for one day and then eating it for 7 days. Let’s just say my body is not very happy with me right now. So I am detoxing from gluten for the rest of home quarantine).

After dinner, I would usually watch a movie or show until I fell asleep. Sometimes, sleep wouldn’t come or I would get bored of watching movies/TV, so I would turn on worship music and just pray for the city, pray for my friends in lockdown, pray for the school, pray over my transition. I am super excited about what God in store for this next year.

All in all, hotel quarantine wasn’t too bad. I feel like I made the best out of the situation. It definitely has been hard not seeing people and not hugging people (I’m not a huge physical touch person, but I do love hugs). Being alone with your own thoughts for seven days (plus 14 days at home) can be overwhelming. There was a couple of days that were harder than others, but I am comforted by the fact that I was never truly alone! God was (and is) with me.

After my 7 days, I was released on the 8th day. And by released I mean I was told 10am, then 1:30pm, then 2pm, then 3pm that I could leave my room. They were waiting on paperwork from the government that confirmed my release. At 3pm I was allowed to check out of my hotel room, pay the $30 for 19L jug of water that I ordered, and head to my hotel. I had to don the blue PPE suit (smurf suit as it is called here by expats) and make my way the 12km to my new apartment. My new apartment didn’t know I was coming, but after some google translate support, we finally convinced them that I was allowed to move in!

Suitcases Packed

Read to move to the new apartment.

Suitcases Packed

Ready to move into the new apartment

The Smurf Suit

The whole view of the PPE suit. Flattering??? So glad when I was able to take it off!

View from my apartment

My apartment has a balcony! So even though I am in home quarantine, I can still go outside and get some air!

It takes how long??? My Journey Across the World

I think I spent just under 28 hours at airports and in airplanes in order to make it back to Asia.

My first flight left CVG (Cincinnati) at 11:10am on Thursday the 19th. They said to be at the airport 3 hours early. I got there 2.5 hours before my flight and the airport was empty. It took me 10 minutes to check in my bags and confirm my documents. Then it took maybe 8 minutes to go through security. They even had to search my bag because of all the chocolates I had in it ;). So less than 30 minutes to get to my gate. I had 2 hours to spare. I decided to eat a bagel before heading to my gate. The flight took off on time. Next stop Atlanta.

My second flight was from ATL to ICN (South Korea) a 14.5 hour flight. Due to a late arriving plane, my flight was delayed 30 minutes. I was hoping that we could make up that time in the air. On this flight I had the whole seat row to myself. Perfect for sprawling out! I started the flight with a movie, but got bored so I decided to use the plane’s wifi and free messenging to chat with people in Asia and America. Then I decided to lay down thanks to having the whole row to myself and take a nap. Not the most comfortable place to sleep but definitely more comfortable laying down than sitting up. After my nap I started one of the books I downloaded. I read about 60% of the book before my eyes got sleepy and I decided to take another nap. When I woke up I finished the book and played some games on the inflight entertainment. Then before I knew it, we were only and hour and a half away from Korea. I decided to watch one of the movies I downloaded to my phone.

We touched down in Seoul at 6:30, 30 minutes later than expected (guess we didn’t make up much time in the air). I got off the plane at 6:44. I was greeted by two Delta agents. My connecting flight was leaving in 45 minutes and the gate was going to close at 7:10. We were in a hurry. Phil, one of the agents, escorted me across the airport. After 14 hours of sitting on a plane, I was sprinting through the Korean airport. My legs were burning! Phil was super nice and were we able to take some shortcuts through the airport. Even got to jump the line at security. I made it to my gate at 7:11 😳. Thankfully they were still willing to let me board. They checked my ticket, my passport, and my documents to confirm that I could have entry into the country. Everything was in order but they weren’t letting me on the plane. They received a phone call and Phil informed me that my baggage wasn’t on the plane yet and so they won’t let me on the plane. What?!? I just started praying. God please let me on this flight. If I didn’t get on this flight, the next flight wasn’t until the 25th. Thankfully another phone call came and I was able to board the flight and my bags would come later.

I was on the flight. My heart racing! I was so thankful to be on the flight. And now my mind was racing through what it was going to be like landing in the country without my bags. What was the process going to be like? How was I going to get to the hotel? Do I tell them about my bags? Needless to say, my anxiety was all over the place. I decided to sleep for the 4 hour flight while listening to Christian music. I didn’t know what to expect and I was nervous about not having my bags, but I knew that God was in control. He got me on the flight. He would get me into the country and to the hotel. And the bags would come. I cast my worries on Him.

After arriving in the country, I filled out the health declaration form, letting them know I haven’t had any Covid symptoms in the past 14 days. Then I waited at immigration to get my visa on arrival. After I got my visa I went through immigration and they kept my passport! They passed my passport on to the driver escorting me to the hotel and then they passed it on to the hotel. It was just weird to not have my passport on me. I went to baggage claim to see if by some miracle my bags got on the plane. When I didn’t see them I contacted an airport employee and filled out the missing luggage form. Everyone was very helpful.

After filling out the form it was time to wait for my car that was taking me to the hotel. Thankfully I didn’t have to wait long. The nurse found me and gave me the blue PPE suit everyone has to wear that included gloves, booties, glasses, and a mask. Basically you are covered head to toe in blue. After I had on the blue suit and booties and mask (I broke the gloves and the glasses didn’t fit my head) we walked to the van that was taking me to the hotel. From there everything was smooth. The street were completely empty so it only took 30 minutes to get to the hotel. Once at the hotel they told me my room number and then I went to my room to begin my quarantine.